Rethinking the Form of Oral History

This chapter examines the form of oral history sources and what scholars argue constitutes an “oral” source. It compares popular definitions drawn from the fields of oral history and tradition, and analyses these from an indigenous perspective using the voices of Ngāti Porou people. This chapter proposes a specific Māori definition of oral history called “kōrero tuku iho,” and explores the many ways in which tribal peoples describe and define the form of oral history. These include broader perceptions of what constitutes an “oral literature,” the concept of ownership and oral history, the living nature of oral sources, the shaping and dissemination of oral history via word of mouth, and the intergenerational construction of oral memory in formal speech making, narrative, performance, songs, carvings, incantations and prayer.