Jan Vansina

Jan Vansina (b. Antwerp, Belgium, 14 September 1929) is a historian and anthropologist specializing in Africa. He is the foremost authority on the history of the peoples of Central Africa.
Biography
Vansina was first trained as a medievalist and ethnographer but became known as one of the most prominent Africanist scholars. In his work, he focuses on the history of African societies prior to European contact, and is widely regarded as the foremost authority on the history of the peoples of Central Africa. He has published widely on the subject, including a landmark text on the factual interpretation oral history. On Vansina, historian David Beach writes, "In 1985, Jan Vansina's Oral Tradition as History provided a worldwide theoretical framework on oral tradition that rendered nearly all of its predecessors obsolete."
Vansina obtained his doctorate in history from the Catholic University of Leuven in 1957. He is a professor emeritus at the University...