Jan Vansina

January Vansina ( born 14 September 1929 in Antwerp) is a Belgian anthropologist. He studied medieval history in Leuven. His teachers would, among other things Albert de Meyer and Jozef Desmet, who were both students of Ernest Cauchie and positivists.

Vansina examined the oral historical tradition in sub-Saharan Africa, particularly of genealogies. He is considered one of the founders of the American African Studies.

Works

  • Oral Tradition (1961, English translation 1965)
  • Living with history, 1994
  • Art history in Africa: an introduction to method (drawings by C. Vansina, London, Longman, 1984).
  • Kingdoms of the Savanna. Madison, Wisconsin: University of Wisconsin Press 1966.
  • Paths in the Rainforests. Madison, Wisconsin: The University of Wisconsin Press, 1990.
  • Antecedents to Modern Rwanda: The Nyiginya Kingdom ( Translated from the French by the author ). Africa and the Diaspora series. Madison, Wisconsin: University of Wisconsin Press, 2004.
  • How Societies Are Born: Governance in West Central Africa Before 1600 Charlottesville, Virginia. University of Virginia Press, 2004.
  • Being Colonized: The Kuba Experience in Rural Congo, 1880-1960. Madison, Wisconsin: University of Wisconsin Press 2004
September 14 Positivism Name Authority File
430643
de