The Rukuba and their Neighbours in the Archival Materials an Evaluation of Historical Source – Materials
Amango Achadick Kudu, Ph.D
Department of History
Nasarawa State University, Keffi
E-mail: aakudu@yahoo.com
ABSTRACT
Until recently, documentary source-materials had remained almost unchallenged, as the only reliable source of historical reconstruction. However, considering (also) the interplay of such obvious variables as culture, time, language, purpose, etc, acting upon the process of generating such source materials, their susceptibility to critical scrutiny becomes irresistible. This paper identifies the archival materials as one of such documentary source materials, and examined the extent to which they can be relevant to the reconstruction of the Rukuba and their neighbours. The idea of “relevance” immediately calls for a comparison between what obtains in the archival materials and what respondents in the field are saying. It therefore became necessary to conduct oral interview among the ethnic groups involved. The findings, matched against some few written documents on the Rukuba and their neighbours showed clearly the inadequacies of archival materials as a source-material for reconstructing the history of these groups. It is then suggested that the use of archival materials must be done in collaboration with oral interview and other written documents.
