Bibliography
Works by Jan Vansina
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Books
1954
Les tribus Ba-Kuba et les peuplades apparentées. Annales du Musée Royal du Congo belge. Sciences de l’homme. Monographies ethnograhiques, 1. London: International Africa Institute.
1959
Esquisse de grammaire Bushoong. Linguistique 23. Tervuren: Annales du Musée Royal du Congo Belge.
1961
De la tradition orale. Essai de méthode historique. Tervuren: Annales du Musée Royal du Congo Belge 21. Translated in English (1965), Spanish (1966), Italian (1976 with new chapter), Arabic (1981), Hungarian (1984); Penguin paperback 1972. Abridged in Swedish, Polish, and Russian. Selected chapters in Russian (2004) and Chinese (2006).
1962
L’évolution du royaume rwanda des origines à 1900. Académie royale des sciences d’Outre-Mer. Classe des sciences morales et politiques NS 26 (2), Brussels.
1963
Geschiedenis van de Kuba. Tervuren: Annales du Musée Royal du Congo Belge 44.
1964
Le royaume kuba. Annales du Musée Royal du Congo Belge 49. Tervuren.
1965-66
Kingdoms of the Savanna: A History of the Central African States until European Occupation, Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 1966; French translation 1965.
1966
Introduction à l’ethnographie du Congo, Kinshasa/Brussels. (But two of the fifteen chapters in this work were written by A.Doutreloux and J.B. Cuypers).
1972
La légende du passé: traditions orales du Burundi. MRAC. Archives 16. Tervuren.
1973
The Tio Kingdom of the Middle Congo: 1880-1892, London.
1975
With five other authors (“The Leonardo Scholars”): Resources and Decisions: North Scituate, Mass.
1978
Children of Woot: Essays in Kuba History. Madison: University of Wisconsin Press.
1984
Art History in Africa. London: Routledge.
1985
Oral Tradition as History. Madison: University of Wisconsin Press.
1990
Paths in the Rainforests: Toward a History of Political Tradition in Equatorial Africa, Madison: University of Wisconsin Press; French translation, 1991.
1992
Habitat, Economy and Society in the Central African Rainforest, Providence R1: 16. [Pamphlet].
1994
Living with Africa. Madison: University of Wisconsin Press.
2001
Le royaume nyiginya au Rwanda ancien, Paris. Translated in English in 2004.
2004
How Societies are Born: Governance in West Central Africa before 1600, Charlottesville: University of Virginia Press.
2005
Antecedents to Modern Rwanda: The Nyiginya Kingdom. Madison: University of Wisconsin Press.
2010
Being Colonized: The Kuba experience in Congo 1880-1960. Madison: University of Wisconsin Press.
2014
Through the Day, Through the Night: A Flemish Belgian boyhood and World War II. 1933-1951. Madison: University of Wisconsin Press.
2014
Pengantar Penulis: Untuk Edisi Indonesia, Tradisi Lisan Sebaga Sejarah, ogyakarta, Penerbit Ombak. [Indonesian translation of Oral Tradition as History].
Edited Volumes
1964
With Mauny, R. and Thomas, V. The Historian in Tropical Africa, London.
1977
With P. D. Curtin, S. Feierman, and L. Thompson: History of Africa, Boston.
[Four chapters and new chapters for reprint by Longman, London, 1995].
1996
With Adenaike, C., In Pursuit of History, Portsmouth, N.H.
Articles & Book Chapters
1954
“Noto [sic] sur les Twa du Territoire de Mweka,” Zaire, 7: 729-32.
“Les valeurs culturelles des Bushong,” Zaire, 9: 899-910.
1955
“Initiation Rituals of the Bushong,” Africa, 25, no. 2: 138-155. [French summary by G./Hulstaert in Aequatoria, 1955, 18: 109-110].
“Laam: gezongen kwaadsprekerij bij de Bushong,” Aequatoria, 18: 125-130.
1956
With John Jacobs. “Nshoong atoot: Het koninklijk epos der Bushoong,” Kongo-Overzee, 22: 1-39.
“De handelingen der voorouders. Een handschrift waarin de genesis der Bieng verhaald Wordt,” Kongo-Overzee, 22: 257-300.
“Le régime foncier dans la société kuba,” Zaire, 9: 899-926.
“Migrations dans la province du Kasai, une hypothèse,” Zaire, 10: 69-85.
“Een etnografische studie der Kuba: Probleemstellingen en method,” Folia Scientifica Africae Centralis, 2: 6-7. [Hereafter Folia].
1957
“L’état kuba dans le cadre des institutions politiques africaines,” Zaire, 11: 485-492.
“Systématique des termes de parenté bushing,” Kongo-Overzee, 23: 286-302.
“Réflexions sur le rôle de l’art dans la société kuba,” Folia, 3: 77-79.
“De verwantschapstermen in het Bushoong,” Handelingen van het XXII ste Vlaams Filologenkongres, Leuven: 236-266.
“Enkele eigenaardigheden in de politieke struktuur der Kuba (Belgisch Kongo),” Handelingen van het XXII ste Vlaams Filologenkongres: 297-302.
“La deuxième conférence sur l’histoire et l’archéologie africaine,” (Londres 16-18 juillet
1957), Zaire, 11: 865-872.
1958
“Taalgeografische toestand in het Kubagebied,” Aequatoria, 21: 1-4.
“La chanson lyrique chez les Kuba,” Jeune Afrique, Elisabethville, 27: 31-36.
“La famille nucléaire chez les Bushoong,” Africa, 28: 95-108.
“Les croyances religieuses des Kuba,” Zaire, 12: 725-758.
“La valeur historique des traditions orales,” Folia, 4:58-59.
1959
“Mikɔ mi Yool, une association religieuse kuba,” Aequatoria, 22: 7-20 , 81-92.
“Over het verzamelen van mondelinge overleveringen,” Congo-Tervuren, 5: 85-91.
1960
“Recording the Oral History of the Bakuba: Methods and Results,” The Journal of African History [herafter JAH] Vol. 1, no. 1: 45-54; 257-270.
“Les sciences humaines à l’IRSAC,” Douzième rapport annuel, IRSAC :127-133.
1961
“De funktie der overlevering in de maatschappij,” Anthropologica, 2: 80-92.
“Chronologie des règnes du Rwanda,” Africa-Tervuren, 7: 22-23.
“Notes sur l’histoire du Burundi,” Aequatoria, 24: 1-10.
“Les zônes culturelles de l’Afrique,” Africa-Tervuren, 7: 41-46.
“South of the Congo,” in Oliver, R. (ed.), The Dawn of African History, Oxford University Press: 82-87.
1962
“The functions of oral tradition and their influence on the historical content of these sources,” in T. Ranger and E. Stokes (eds.), Historians in Tropical Africa (London): 119-26.
“Trade and Markets among the Kuba,” in Bohannan, P. and Dalton G. (eds), Markets in Africa, Evanston: 190-210.
“Ethnohistory in Africa,” Ethnohistory, 9: 126-136.
“A Comparison of African Kingdoms,” Africa: 32: 324-335.
“Long-distance Trade Routes in Central Africa,” JAH, 3:375-390.
Introduction to d’Hertefelt M., Trouwborst A., and Scherer, J. Les anciens royaumes de la zône interlacustre méridionale: Rwanda, Burundi Buha. MRAC Monographies ethnographiques 6, Tervuren. [Reprinted by Routledge in 2017].
“Chronologie,” in Coupez, A and Kamanzi, T. Récits historiques rwanda: 58-59.
“La fondation du royaume de Kasanje,” Aequatoria, 25: 45-62.
1963
“The Foundation of the Kingdom of Kasanje,” JAH, 4:355-374.
“Les régimes fonciers rwanda et kuba: Une comparaison,” in Biebuyck D. ed. African Agrarian Systems, London: 348-363.
“Notes sur l’origine du royaume du Congo,” JAH, 4: 33-38.
1964
“Kongo, Kuba, Mongo,” Encyclopaedia Britannica. [Reprint ed. 1971].
“Introductory summary,” in Thomas, V. et al ed. The Historian in Tropical Africa¨: 59 103.
“The Use of Process Models in African History,” Thomas, V. et al ed. The Historian in Tropical Africa: 375-389.
With P. C. Curtin, “Sources of the Nineteenth-century Atlantic Slave trade,” JAH, 5: 185-208.
“Noms personnels et structure sociale chez les Tyo (Teke),” Bulletin des Sciences de l’Académie Royale des Sciences d’Outre-Mer, NS 4: 794-804.
“Ruanda-Urundi,” Grolier’s Encyclopedia.
1965
“A Traditional Legal System: The Kuba,” in Kuper H. and Kuper L., eds. African Law: Adaptation and Development, Los Angeles: University of California Press, 99-119.
“The Documentary Interview,” African Studies Bulletin, 8: 9-23.
“De volkeren van Centraal Afrika,” Panorama der volkeren, 3 (Den Haag): 295-340.
“De geschiedenis van Congo voor Stanley,” Africa-Tervuren, 12: 29-36.
1966
“More on the Invasions of Kongo and Angola by the Jaga and the Lunda,” JAH, 7: 421-429.
1967
“Quelques questions d’histoire des Tio (Bateke),” Voix Muntu, 4: 13-24.
“A la recherche de l’histoire de l’Afrique,” Présence universitaire, (Kinshasa), 25: 24-38.
“Note sur la chronologie du Burundi ancient,” Bulletin des séances de l’ARSOM, NS 7: 429-444.
“History in the Field,” in Jongmans, G. and Gutkind, P C.W. eds. Anthropologists in the Field, Amsterdam: 102-115.
“The Use of Oral Tradition in African Culture History,” in Bennett, N. and Gabel, C. eds. Reconstructing African Culture History, Boston: 57-82.
1968
“The Use of Ethnographic Data as Sources for History,” in Ranger T.O. ed. Emerging Themes of African History, Dar es Salaam: 97-124.
“Mondelinge Overleveringen,” Spiegel Historiael, 3: 520-524.
“Religions et sociétés en Afrique centrale: Religions Bushong et Tio,” Cahiers des religions africaines, 2: 95-107.
“Cultures through Time,” in Naroll R., and Cohen R. A Handbook of Method in Cultural Anthropology, New York: 165-179.
1969
“The Bushong Poison Oracle,” in Kaberry, P. and Douglas, M. eds. Man in Africa, London: 245-260.
“The Kingdom of the Great Makoko,” in McCall, D., Bennett, N., Butler, Jr., Western African History, Boston: 20-44.
“The Bells of Kings,” JAH, 10: 187-197.
“Anthropologists and the Third Dimension,” Africa, 39: 64-68.
“40 notes for Coquery,” in Vidrovitch, C. ed., Brazza et la prise de possession du Congo, Paris.
“Du royaume kuba au territoire des Bakuba,” Etudes congolaises, 12: 3-54.
1970
“Kuba Art and its Cultural Context,” African Forum, 3/4 13- 27.
“How the Kingdom of the Great Makoko and Certain Clapperless Bells Became Topics for Research,” in Curtis, P. ed. The Historian’s Workshop, New York: 223-243.
“Les savanes du sud,” in Deschamps Hubert ed. Histoire générale de l’Afrique noire, Paris, 1: 369-396.
“Comment reconstituer la société bateke de la fin du XIXe siècle,” Revue française d’histoire d’Outre-Mer, 57, no. 208: 253-267.
1971
“A Traditional Legal System: The Kuba,” in Cohen, Y, ed. Man in Adaptation: The Institutional Framework, Chicago: 135-148 [reworking of 1965 article].
“Les mouvements religieux kuba (Kasai) à l’époque colonial,” Etudes d’histoire africaine, 2: 157-189.
“Les savanes du sud,” in Deschamps H. Histoire générale de l’Afrique noire, Paris, 2: 221-246.
“Just Stories or Myths?” Ba-Shiru, 2: 1-5.
“Aperçu général sur l’histoire des peuples de l’Afrique orientale,” Cahiers d’histoire mondiale, 13: 25-50.
“Once Upon a Time: Oral Traditions as History in Africa,” Daedalus, 100, no. 2: 442-468
“Inner Africa (ca.1500-1800),” in Josephy, A. M., The Horizon History of Africa, Volume 1, New York: 260-273, 382.
1972
“Ndop: Royal Statues among the Kuba,” in Fraser D. and Cole H.M. eds. African Art and Leadership, Madison: University of Wisconsin Press: 41-55.
“Ca.100 notes,” in Brunschwig H., Brazza l’explorateur: les traités Makoko: 1880-1882, Paris.
“Les Kuba et l’administration territoriale de 1919 à 1960,” Cultures et développement, 4: 275-325.
1973
“L’influence du mode de compréhension historique d’une civilisation sur ses traditions d’origine: l’exemple kuba,” Bulletin des séances de l’ARSOM: 220-240.
“Lukoshi, Lupambula: Histoire d’un culte religieux dans les régions du Kasai et du Kwango (1920- 1970),” Etudes d’histoire africaine, 5: 51-97.
1974
“Probing the Past of the Lower Kwilu Peoples (Zaire),” Paideuma, 19/20: 332-364.
“Comment: Traditions of Genesis,” JAH, 15: 3(1): 7-322.
“Les langues bantous et l’histoire: le cas Kuba,” in Perspectives nouvelles sur le passé de l’Afrique noire et de Madagascar: mélanges offerts à H. Deschamps, Paris : 171-184.
“Frobenius redivivus,” Cultures et développement, 6: 397-401.
“The Power of Systematic Doubt in Historical Enquiry,” History in Africa, 1: 109-127. [Hereafter HA].
“The Dictionary and the Historian,” HA, 1: 149-152.
“Early Kuba Sites,” Nyame Akuma, 5: 38-39.
1975
“Südkongo,” in Baumann, H., Die Völker Afrika’s und Ihre traditionellen Kulturen, Wiesbaden: 649-683.
“Die Völker des Balese-Komo-Gebietes” and “Die Völker des Maniema” in Baumann, H.
Die Völker Afrika’s und Ihre traditionellen Kulturen, 747-756 and 767-774 [translations of portions of Vansina’s Introduction à l’ethnographie du Congo, 1966].
“Sir E. E. Evans Pritchard: ethnographe de l’esprit,” Cultures et développement, 7: 641-661.
“La houe et la hache,” Problèmes de l’enseignement supérieur et du développement en Afrique centrale: Receuil d’études en l’honneur de G. Malengreau: 205-220.
“Kuba Chronology Revisited,” Paideuma, 21: 134-150.
With Coupez A and Evrard E., “Classification d’un échantillon de langues bantoues d’après la lexicostatistique,” Africana Linguistica, 6, Tervuren: 133-158.
“It’s Not the Song, It’s the Singing: Panel Discussion on Oral History,” in Grele, R. J. ed.
Envelopes of Sound: The Art of Oral History, Chicago: 50-105.
1976
“Ethnographie de l’Afrique noire,” in Salmon, P. ed., L’Afrique noire: histoire et cultures, Brussels: 86-118.
With W. De Craemer and R. Fox, “Religious Movements in Central Africa: A Theoretical Study,” Comparative Studies in Society and History, 18: 458-475.
“Nsheng: een negentiende eeuwse stad in Midden Afrika,” Africa Tervuren, 22: 47-56.
“L’Afrique centrale en 1875,” La Conférence géographique de 1876: Receuil d’études de l’ARSOM, Brussels: 1-31.
1977
“Tradizione orale e storia orale: risultati e prospettive,” Quaderni storici, 35: 340-358
1978
“Oral Tradition, Oral History: Achievements and Perspectives,” Benardi, P., Poni, C. and Triulzi, A, eds. Fonti Orali, Milan: 59-74.
“Une recension imparfaite: un cas de parti pris,” Cahiers d’études africaines, 17, no. 66/67: 368-373.
“Makoko Ilo,” in Julien, C.A. ed. Les Africains, X, Paris: 145-175.
“The Kuba State,” in Claessens, H. and Skalnik, P. eds. The Early State, Assen: 359-380.
“Oral Traditions as History and as Literature,” Journal of the Faculty of Education, University of Tripoli: 30-35 [in Arabic].
“For Oral Tradition but not against Braudel,” HA, 5: 351-356.
1979
“I stati precoloniali,” in Triulzi, A. ed. Storia dell’Africa, Florence: 15-37.
“Finding Food and the History of Precolonial Equatorial Africa,” African Economic History, 7: 9-20.
“Bantu in the Crystal Ball I,” HA, 6: 287-333.
1980
“Bantu in the Crystal Ball II,” HA, 7: 293-325.
“La tradition orale et sa méthodologie,” General History of Africa (UNESCO) vol 1: 167-190. [All volumes of this history exist in Arabic, French and English. This one translated into Italian, Portuguese, Chinese, Korean, Swahili, Hausa, and perhaps in German, Spanish, Fulani].
“Memory and Oral Tradition,” in Miller J. C. ed., The African Past Speaks, Folkestone: 262-279.
1981
“Le phénomène bantou et les savants: Le sol, la parole et l’écrit.” 2000 ans d’histoire africaine. Mélanges Mauny, vol 1, Paris: 495-503. [Also in Revue française d’histoire d’Outre-Mer, LXV (1978), no. 241: 133-155].
Preface to Neyt F., Traditional Art and History in Zaire, Louvain-la-neuve: 5-9.
“Lignage, idéologie et histoire en Afrique équatoriale,” Enquêtes et documents sur l’histoire africaine, 4: 133-155.
“Cup,” Vogel, S. ed., For Spirits and Kings: African Art from the Tishman Collection, no. 143, New York: 231-232.
With J. Stengers, EIC –The Cambridge History of Africa, vol. 7, Cambridge [Vansina’s part: 327-358, 788-791].
“Tentative Hypothesis: Long-term Population History in the African Forest,” in Gregory, J. ed., African Historical Demography, vol. 2: 757-760.
“Ethnography as History: The Past of the Peoples of the Equatorial Rainforest of Africa,” Kiabara, Port Harcourt, Nigeria, 4: 157-191.
1982
“The Trials of Mwasi,” Daedalus (Spring): 49-70.
“Towards a History of Lost Corners in the World,” Economic History Review, 35: 165-178.
“Quand l’évènement est rare,” in F. Braudel ed., Etudes africaines offertes à H. Brunschwig, Paris: 3-13.
“Die Gegenwärtige Situation der Historische Anthropologie in der VSA,” in Wernhart, K. ed. Ethnohistorie Heute, Vienna, English translation – Herodot, Göttinge, 91: 111-126. Original 1986.
“Art et société en Afrique tropicale,” Canadian Journal of African Studies, 16: 389-393.
1983
“The History of God among the Kuba,” Africa, 38: 17-40.
“Is Elegance Proof? Structuralism and African History,” HA, 10: 317-348.
“The Peoples of the Forest,” in Birmingham, D. and Martin, P. eds. History of Central Africa, London, vol. 1: 75-117.
1984
“Western Bantu Expansion,” JAH, 23: 129-145.
“Equatorial Africa and Angola: Migrations and the Emergence of the First States,” General History of Africa IV: Africa from the Twelfth to the Sixteenth Century: 551-577.
With L. D. Ngcongco, “Southern Africa: Its Peoples and Social Structures,” General History of Africa IV: Africa from the Twelfth to the Sixteenth Century: 578-596.
1985
“Central Africa: 1500-1800,” in Ajayi J. and Crowder M. eds. Historical Atlas of Africa, London. [Map #37].
Preface in Vangroenweghe, D., Rood Rubber: Leopold II en zijn Kongo, Elsevier.
With A. Isaacman, “African Initiative and Resistance in Central Africa (1880-1914),” Africa under Colonial Domination (1880-1935), General History of Africa 7: 169-193.
With J.Stengers, “King Leopold’s Congo (1886-1908),” in Oliver R. ed. Africa from 1870 to 1905, Cambridge: 327-358, 789-791.
“Esquisse historique de l’agriculture en milieu forestier (Afrique équatoriale),” Muntu, 2: 5-34.
“L’homme, les forêts et le passé en Afrique,” Annales ESC, 40: 1307-1334.
“Oral Tradition,” in Kuper A and Kuper J. eds., Social Science Encyclopaedia: 565-566.
1986
“Knowledge and Perceptions of the African Past,” in Jewsiewicki, B. and Newbury, D. eds., African Historiographies, Beverly Hills: 28-41.
“Afterthoughts on the Historiography of Oral Tradition,” African Historiographies: 105-110.
“Do Pygmies have a History?” Sprache und Geschichte in Afrika, 7:431-445.
1987
“One’s Own Past: African Perceptions of African History,” Shaw, B. ed., Africa and World History, Colorado Springs: 13-29.
“The Ethnographic Account as Genre in Central Africa,” Paideuma, 33: 433-444.
“Vers une histoire des sociétés mongo,” Annales Aequatoria, 8:9-57.
1988
“Kuba,” in Schmalenbach, W. ed., Afrikanische Kunst, Munich: 257, 259.
With S. Lwanga Lunyiigo, “The Bantu-speaking Peoples and Their Expansion,” Africa from the Seventh to the Eleventh Century, General History of Africa 3: 140-193.
With J. Devisse, “Africa from the Seventh to the Eleventh Century: Five formative Centuries,” Africa from the Seventh to the Eleventh Century, General History of Africa 3: 750-793.
1989
“Western Bantu Tradition and the Notion of Tradition,” Paideuma, 35: 289-300.
“A Past for the Future,” Dalhousie Review, 66: 8-23.
“Een bananenraadsel in Burundi,” in Borsboom A., Kommers J., and Remie, C. eds., Liber Amicorum A. Trouwborst: 413-420.
“Deep Down Time: Political Tradition in Central Africa,” HA 16: 341-362.
1990
“Expansion et identité culturelle des Bantu,” in Obenga, T. ed., Actes du colloque international “Les peuples bantu,” Paris, vol. 1: 273-289.
“Reconstructing the Past,” in Schildkrout, E. and Keim, C. eds., African Reflections, Washington: 69-87.
Preface to Parreira, A., Economia e sociedade em Angola na época da Rainha Jinga, seculo XVII, Lisbon: 15-16.
“Traditions of Migration in Equatorial Africa and Historical Reconstruction,” in E. J. Alagoa ed., Oral Tradition and Oral History in Africa and the Diaspora: Theory and Practice, Lagos: 16-24.
“History of the Central African Civilization,” in Beumers, E. and Koloss, H. J. eds., Kings of Africa: Art and Authority in Central Africa, Maastricht: 13-18.
“Kings in Tropical Africa,” Kings of Africa: Art and Authority in Central Africa: 19-26.
“The Kuba Kingdom (Zaire),” Kings of Africa: Art and Authority in Central Africa: 71-78.
“Entries (on Kuba Art),” Kings of Africa: Art and Authority in Central Africa: 139-148.
“Population Movements and Emergence of new Sociopolitical Forms in Africa,” Africa from the sixteenth to the eighteenth centuries, General History of Africa, 5: 46-73.
“The Kongo Kingdom and its Neighbours,” Africa from the sixteenth to the eighteenth centuries, General History of Africa, 5: 546-587.
“Photographs of the Sankuru and Kasai River Basin Expedition Undertaken by Emil Torday (1876-1931) and M. W. Hilton-Simpson (1881-1936),” in – Edwards, E. ed., Anthropology and Photography, 860-1920: 193-205.
“Some Perceptions on the Writing of African History, 1948-1992,” Itinerario, 16: 77-91.
“Forty Years of African History,” International Journal of African Studies, 14: 391-398.
“Vocabulaire politique et histoire des Basaa du Bas-Kasai,” in Müller, E. W. and Brandstetter, A. M. eds, Forschungen in Zaire: In Memoriam Erika Sulzmann (7/1/10-17/6/89), Mainz (Mainzer Beiträge zur Afrika-Forschung) 1: 455-480.
1993
“UNESCO and African Historiography,” HA, 20: 337-352.
“Comment l’histoire se construit: la conquête du royaume kuba (1899-1900),” Civilisations, 11: 43-49.
“Könige und Sklaven,” Lettre, Berlin, 22: 26-32.
“Zairian Masking in Historical Perspective,” in Herreman, F. and Petridis, C. eds., Face of the Spirits: Masks from the Zaire Basin, Antwerp: 235-247. [Also in Dutch].
“Nieuws over de ‘oorsprong’ der Tuutsi,” in Wymeersch, P. ed., Liber Amicorum Marcel d’Hertefelt. Anthropological Essays, and in special issue of Cahiers africains, 415, série 1, (1994): 315-323.
“Arts and Society since 1935,” General History of Africa VIII: Africa since 1935: 582-632.
Notes for A. Mazrui, “The Development of Modern Literature since 1935,” General History of Africa VIII: Africa since 1935: 553-581.
1994
“La naissance des formations politiques complexes en Afrique centrale précoloniale,” Omaly Sy Anio, Tananarivo: 33-36; 47-60.
“Antécédents des royaumes kongo et teke,” Muntu, 9, 7-49.
1995
“A Slow Revolution: Farming in Subequatorial Africa,” Azania, 29-30: 15-26.
“Valleys of the Niger,” JAH, 36 /3: 491-495.
“New Linguistic Evidence and ‘The Bantu Expansion’,” JAH, 36: 173-195.
“Historians are Archeologists your Siblings?” HA, 22: 369-408.
“The Roots of African Cultures,” in Curtin P. et al. History of Africa, London.
“Equatorial Africa Before the Nineteenth Century,” in Curtin P. et al. History of Africa, London.
“A Clash of Cultures: African Minds in the Colonial Era,” in Curtin P. et al. History of Africa, London.
1996
“Quilombos on São Thomé, or in Search of Original Sources,” HA 23: 453-459.
“Sources vs Text: An ‘Integrated Edition of Sources’,” HA, 23: 61-65.
“Venture into Tio Country,” in Adenaike and Vansina eds. In Pursuit of History: 113-126.
“Epilogue: Fieldwork in History,” in Adenaike and Vansina eds. In Pursuit of History: 127- 140.
With C. Adenaike, “Prologue,” in Adenaike and Vansina eds. In Pursuit of History: xi-xv.
“History (Africa): AD600-c AD 1885,” in Jane Turner, The Dictionary of Art, vol. 1, New York: 223- 225.
“Kuba,” in Jane Turner, The Dictionary of Art, vol. 18, New York: 484-489.
“From Memory to History: Processes of Luba Historical Consciousness,” in Mary Nooter Roberts, ed., Memory: Luba Art and the Making of History, New York: 12-14.
1997
“Histoire du manioc en Afrique centrale avant 1850,” Paideuma, 43: 255-279.
“Slender Evidence, Weighty Consequences: On One Word in the Periplus Maris Erythraei,” HA, 24: 393-397.
“The Doom of Early African History?” HA, 24: 337-343.
1998
Preface for R. Ceyssens, Balungu, Paris: v-viii.
“The Politics of History and the Crisis in the Great Lakes,” Africa Today, vol. 45 no. 1: 37-44.
Entries: “Bantu: Dispersion and Settlement;” “Forest Region, Central Africa, History;”
“History of Africa: Seventh to Sixteenth Centuries;” “Kagame Alexis;” “Zaire: Peoples and Cultures,” in Middleton, J. ed., Encyclopedia of Africa South of the Sahara, New York: vol. 1: 155-160; vol. 2: 145-147; vol. 2: 318-322; vol. 2: 417-418; vol. 4:403-405.
“Raffia Cloth in West Central Africa, 1500-1800,” in Maureen Fennell Mazzaoui ed., Textiles: Production, Trade and Demand, Aldershot: 263- 281.
“It Never Happened: Kinguri’s Exodus and its Consequences,” HA, 25: 387-403.
“Combining Evidence in Nkparom C. Ejituwu,” E.J. Alagoa ed., Festschrift, Port Harcourt (Nigeria): 45-59.
Preface, in Volavka, Zdenka, Crown and Ritual: Royal Insignia of Ngoyo, Toronto: ix-x.
“Government in Kasai before the Lunda,” International Journal of African Historical Studies, 31/2:1-22.
1999
“Pathways of Political Development in Equatorial Africa and Neoevolutionary Theory,” in Keech McIntosh S., ed., Beyond Chiefdoms: Pathways to Complexity in Africa, Cambridge: 166-172.
With E.Sebestyén. “Angolan’s eastern Hinterland in the 1750’s: A Text Edition and Translation of Manuel Correia Leitão’s ‘Voyage’ (1755-1756),” HA, 26: 299-364.
“Enfermement dans l’Angola ancient,” in Bernault, Florence ed., Enfermement, prison et châtiments en Afrique, Paris: 83-97.
“Linguistic evidence and historical reconstruction,” Journal of African History, 40: 469 73.
Preface and Supplément, L’évolution du royaume rwanda 2nd ed: 1, 83-102.
2000
“Du nouveau sur la conquête lunda au Kwango,” Congo Afrique, 341: 45-55.
“Useful Anachronisms: The Rwandan Esoteric Code of Kingship,” HA, 27: 415-421.
“Historical Tales (Ibitéekerezo) and the History of Rwanda,” HA, 27: 375-514.
“Yesterday’s Memories and the Ambiguity of Immediate History,” African Studies Review, vol. 43 no. 3: 135-143.
Preface to K. Arnaut, ed., Re-visions: new perspectives on the African collections of the Horniman Museum, London and Coimbra.
“Portuguese vs Kimbundu: Language Use in the Colony of Angola (1575-1845),” Bulletin des séances: Académie royale des sciences d’Outre-mer vol. 47, no. 3: 267-281.
2001
Comment on Ehret, “Bantu Expansions,” International Journal of African Historical Studies, vol. 34, no. 1: 52-54.
2002
Vellut Jean-Luc, further comments, H-Africa.
Preface for L. Heywood ed., Central Africans and Cultural Transformations in the American Diaspora, Cambridge: xi-xiii.
2003
“Papers of an African King, collected by Jacques Hymans,” HA, 30, 455-460.
2004
“Bananas in Cameroun c.500 BCE? Not proven,” Azania, 38: 174-76.
“A Note on Self-translation,” HA, 31:483-490.
“The Many Uses of Forgeries: The Case Douville’s Voyage au Congo,” HA, 31, 369-387.
2005
“L’histoire de l’Afrique centrale dans la perspective du temps long,” in Jean-Luc Vellut ed., La mémoire du Congo: le temps colonial, Tervuren: 22-27.
“Ambaca Society and the Slave Trade c.1760-1845,” JAH, 46, no. 1: 1-27.
2006
“Linguistic Evidence for the Introduction of Ironworking into Bantu-speaking Africa,” HA 33, 321-361.
“How to distil Words and obtain Culture History,” HA, 33: 499-511.
2007
“Foreword,” in Michael O. Afolayan ed., Higher Education In Postcolonial Africa, 46: xi-xiii.
“On Ravenstein’s Edition of Battell’s Adventures in Angola and Loango,” HA, 34: 321-347.
“Africa: The Past in the Present,” in Middleton J and Miller Joe C. eds., New Encyclopedia of Africa, vol 1, [one of the prefaces]: li-lvii.
“Bantu, Eastern, Southern, and Western, History of (1000 BCE to 1500 CE),” in Middleton J. and Miller J. eds., New Encyclopaedia, vol 1: 217-221
“La survie du royaume kuba à l’époque coloniale et les arts,”Annales Equatoria, 28: 5- 29.
“Preface,” in Dibwe diaMwembu, Donatien, Faire de l’histoire orale dans une ville africaine: La méthode de Jan Vansina appliquée à Lubumbashi (R-D Congo), Paris: 9-20.
“Communications between Angola and East Central Africa before c.1700,” in Achim von Oppen and Beatrix Heintze eds., Angola on the Move: Transport Routes, Communications, and History, Frankfurt, 2008: 130-143.
2009
“History in Africa: Is a Journal of Method still Necessary?” HA, 36: 421- 38.
“Save the Bacon: Primary Sources from Fieldwork,” HA, 36: 465-71.
“Philip Curtin: some recollections,” HA, 36: 13-15.
“Koloniale Geschiedenis en Congo,” in V. Viaene et al , eds., Kongo in België: Koloniale cultuur in de metropool, Leuven: 29-40.
Preface for D Newbury, The Land Beyond the Mists, Athens Ohio 2009: xi-xii.
2011
“Philip Curtin (1922-2009) A Memoir,” in Proceedings…American Philosophical Society, September: 313-318.
2012
Preface for Michael Jindra and Joel Noiret eds., Funerals in Africa: Explorations of a social phenomenon, NewYork and Oxford, ix-xii.
“Les rescapés,” in Cristiana Panella ed., Lives in Motion Indeed: Perspectives of Social Change in Honour of Danielle de Lame, Tervuren: 273-293.
“History in Novels and Memoirs: Alfons Vermeulen on Rural Congo (1899-1904),” History in Africa, 39: 123-142.
2016
“De Vita Sua,” Society, 53, no. 3: 240-245.
INTERVIEWS
1984
Interview, Itinerario, 8: 19-39.
1986/7
Interview by Laura Fair for the UW-Madison Oral History Project
1987
“Oral Tradition/Interview,” Volkskrant, Amsterdam, July 5: 5.
1993
Interview by Ann McDougall, “Reflexions on African History: An Interview with Jan Vansina,” Newsletter of the Canadian Association/African Studies, Fall: 4-11.
1994
Interview in Jan Van Pelt, De vrije vlucht der hersenen, Antwerpen, Houtekiet.
1995
Interview by Neil Whitehead, “An Interview with Jan Vansina,” Ethnohistory, 42(2): 303-316.316.
2001
Interview by Van Arnaut Karel and Hein Vanhee: “History Facing the Present: An Interview with Jan Vansina,” H- Africa, 1 November 2001.
2004
Interview by Florence Bernault, Afrique-Histoire, 4.
2017
Interview by Szilárd Biernaczky, “Investigating Oral History: Interview with Professor Jan Vansina,” Acta Ethnographica Hungarica, Vol. 61, issue 2.
Interviews
1978
Interview by Laura Snail for the Humanists at Work series, part of the UW-Madison Oral History Project.
Transcript | Audio
1984
Interview, Itinerario, 8: 19-39.
1986/7
Interview by Laura Fair for the UW-Madison Oral History Project
1987
“Oral Tradition/Interview,” Volkskrant, Amsterdam, July 5: 5.
1993
Interview by Ann McDougall, “Reflexions on African History: An Interview with Jan Vansina,” Newsletter of the Canadian Association/African Studies, Fall: 4-11.
1994
Interview in Jan Van Pelt, De vrije vlucht der hersenen, Antwerpen, Houtekiet.
1995
Interview by Neil Whitehead, “An Interview with Jan Vansina,” Ethnohistory, 42(2): 303-316.316.
2001
Interview by Van Arnaut Karel and Hein Vanhee: “History Facing the Present: An Interview with Jan Vansina,” H- Africa, 1 November 2001.
2004
Interview by Florence Bernault, Afrique-Histoire, 4.
2017
Interview by Szilárd Biernaczky, “Investigating Oral History: Interview with Professor Jan Vansina,” Acta Ethnographica Hungarica, Vol. 61, issue 2.
Selected Discussions of Vansina's Work
1964
H. Moniot, “Les voies de l’histoire de l’Afrique: la tradition orale,” Annales EPS 19(6):1182-1194.
1968
B. Jewsiewicki, Book review and summary of “de la tradition orale,” Studia Metologizne, Nr 7-Nadbitka: 184-195.
1970
“Mutiligira Traditioner,” in Limberg, L. ed., Afrika: Problem in modern historia, Malmö: 34-45.
1977
J. P. Chrétien et al, “Histoire africaine: constatations, contestations,” Cahiers d’études africaines, vol. XVII, 66-67(2/3): 373-378.
1980
K. Brown and M. Roberts eds., “Using Oral Sources: Vansina and Beyond,” Social Analysis, 4.
1990
M. R. Doortmond and Toyin Falola, “Interpreting Oral Traditions as an Historical Source and the Use of Models: An Assessment of Vansina,” in E.J. Alagoa ,ed., Oral Tradition and Oral History in Africa and the diaspora: Theory and Practice, Lagos: 51-63.
1993
Bope Nyim aKwem. “La perception kuba de leur histoire à travers l’oeuvre de Vansina,” Annales Aequatoria, 14: 409-26.
1994
R. W. Harms, J. C. Miller, D. S. Newbury, M. D. Wagner eds., Paths Towards the Past, Atlanta: 1-14.
1995
Wyatt MacGaffey, “In and Out of Africa,” Transition, 68: 133-42.
1996
Catherine Coquery-Vidrovitch, “Le témoin et l’acteur,” Cahiers d’études africaines, 143, (36-3): 477-88.; John Middleton, “The Historian’s Gaze and the Philosopher’s Gaze,” Cahiers d’études africaines, 143, (36-3): 477-88; 489-93.
2000
A. King, “Pioneering African Studies: Jan Vansina and Roland Oliver,” African Affairs, 99: 129-34
2002
B. Jewsiewicki, D. F. De Lame, D. Newbury, and A. Nsanze, “On Jan Vansina’s Le Rwanda ancien: Three Commentaries,” African Studies Review, 45, no. 1: 127-154
2006
Selma Leydesdorff and Elizabeth Tonkin’s “Introduction” in Oral Tradition: xi-xv.
2008
D. Newbury, “Contradictions at the Heart of the Canon: Jan Vansina and the Debate over Oral Historiography in Africa 1960-1985,” History in Africa, 34, 2007: 213-54.
2018
“Jan Vansina Remembered” – special section in History in Africa, Volume 45, June 2018
Contributions:
Schoenbrun, David L. “Crafting Early African Histories with Jan Vansina.” History in Africa 45 (2018): 99–112. doi:10.1017/hia.2018.18.
Chirikure, Shadreck. “Motion with Caution: Jan Vansina and the Last Two Thousand Years of the Southern African Past.” History in Africa 45 (2018): 113–29. doi:10.1017/hia.2018.17.
Kriger, Colleen E. “Words and Things and ‘The Kuba Miracle.’” History in Africa 45 (2018): 131–43. doi:10.1017/hia.2018.20.
Robertshaw, Peter. “Rivals No More: Jan Vansina, Precolonial African Historiography, and Archaeology.” History in Africa 45 (2018): 145–60. doi:10.1017/hia.2018.14.
de Luna, Kathryn M. “Compelling Vansina: Contributions to Early African History.” History in Africa 45 (2018): 161–73. doi:10.1017/hia.2018.10
Hunt, N.R. (2022), Jan Vansina (1929–2017). American Anthropologist, 124: 641-645. https://doi.org/10.1111/aman.13762