Oral History Reader

Alistair Thomson is Emeritus Professor of History at Monash University in Australia and was previously Professor of Oral History at the University of Sussex in England. He has served as President of Oral History Australia and of the International Oral History Association and has published thirteen oral history books.Alexander Freund is Professor of History and Chair in German-Canadian Studies at the University of Winnipeg, Canada. He co-founded the UWinnipeg Oral History Center and founded the German-Canadian Archive at the UWinnipeg. He is the author of Being German-Canadian: History, Memory, and Generations (2021), and is currently researching oral history and power, refugees in post-1945 Winnipeg, and immigrant fathers and their Canadian-born sons.Robert Perks has been Secretary of the UK Oral History Society and an editor of Oral History journal since the late 1980s. After an early career as a museum curator and in television, from 1988 until 2021 he was Lead Curator of Oral History and Director of National Life Stories at the British Library. Over forty years he has been an advisor to oral history projects in the UK and around the globe, notably in Ukraine, Russia, India, Greece, Ireland and China.

"The fourth edition of The Oral History Reader is a dazzling collection of writings from practitioners in the field. Thompson, Freund and Perks have identified the critical signposts that mark conceptual shifts and new theoretical directions in oral history. Alongside key concepts that shape interviewing, interpretation of memories, and empowerment that ground our practice, this new edition adds new reflections on the globalization of oral history, the call to indigenize and decolonize oral history, and offers us ways of understanding the challenges and opportunities presented by AI to our field. This book is certain to inspire practitioners of our craft from across the world."Indira Chowdhury, Oral Historian, Bengaluru, India“Oral history has reshaped the way we understand the past by centering the voices of ordinary people and redefining historical evidence, authority, and memory. Now a thriving global and interdisciplinary field, it continues to innovate through public engagement, decolonization, advocacy, and emerging technologies. The fourth edition of The Oral History Reader showcases this remarkable evolution wonderfully and reaffirms its place as an essential guide to oral history theory and practice, relied upon by students, scholars, and practitioners for more than a generation.”Stephen M. Sloan, Professor of History, Executive Director of the Oral History Association“The Oral History Reader has become an indispensable guide to practice and theory in an international context. This updated edition is no exception, responding to critical developments in the field including decolonial and indigenous oral history and the challenges and opportunities of AI and digital technologies. Invaluable to students and experienced practitioners alike.”Lynn Abrams, University of Glasgow"The Oral History Reader is an excellent anthology of classic and recent writing, providing a comprehensive overview of critical and emerging debates in oral theory and practice. This updated edition reflects the rich variety and global nature of oral history research and highlights vital developments in the field over the last decade, including efforts to indigenise and decolonise oral history and engage with the advent of AI. The Oral History Reader is an essential and timely resource for all students, teachers and researchers using oral history."Jennifer Harding, Professor of Media and Culture, London Metropolitan University

• Introduction to the fourth edition. PART I: CRITICAL DEVELOPMENTS. Introduction: The history of oral history. 1. Alex Haley, Black history, oral history and genealogy. 2. Sherna Gluck, What's so special about women? Women's oral history. 3. Paul Thompson, The voice of the past: oral history. 4. Michael Frisch, Oral history and Hard Times: a review essay. 5. Alessandro Portelli, What makes oral history different. 6. Anna Sheftel and Stacey Zembrzycki, Who's afraid of oral history? Fifty years of debates and anxiety about ethics. 7. Hilary Francis, Inge Boudewijn, Antonia Carcelén-Estrada, Juana Francis Bone, Katy Jenkins and Sofia Zaragocin, Decolonising oral history: a conversation. 8. Ricia Anne Chansky, Oral history and the climate crisis: listening in the aftermath of disaster. 9. Charlie Morgan, Andrew Flinn, Doug Boyd, and Julianne Nyhan, Democratising access? The interface of new technologies and archived life stories. PART II: INTERVIEWING. Introduction. 10. Studs Terkel with Tony Parker, Interviewing an interviewer. 11. Kathryn Anderson and Dana C. Jack, Learning to listen: interview techniques and analyses. 12. Nēpia Mahuika, Indigenous oral history in method and practice. 13. Katrina Srigley and Lorraine Sutherland, Decolonizing, indigenizing, and learning Biskaaybiiyang in the field: our oral history journey. 14. Alexander Freund, Inclusion or imposition? The life story interview as knowledge production. 15. Graham Smith, Remembering in groups: negotiating between 'individual' and 'collective' memories. 16. Belinda Bozzoli with Mmantho Nkotsoe, Interviewing the women of Phokeng: consciousness and gender, insider and outsider. 17. Jodie Boyd, Just like you want me to be? Gay and lesbian oral history projects and the frameworks of public history. 18. Erin Jessee, Managing danger in oral historical fieldwork. 19. Tracey Loughran, Kate Mahoney and Daisy Payling, Reflections on remote interviewing in a pandemic: negotiating participant and researcher emotions. 20. Carla Pascoe Leahy, Selection and sampling methodologies in oral histories of mothering, parenting and family. 21. Fanny Julissa García and Nara Milanich, Money talks: narrator compensation in oral history. PART III: INTERPRETING MEMORIES. Introduction. 22. Alistair Thomson, Making sense of memories: four approaches to oral history interpretation. 23. Christopher Browning, Remembering survival: inside a Nazi slave-labour camp. 24. Mark Roseman, Surviving memory: truth and inaccuracy in Holocaust testimony. 25. Katie Holmes, Does it matter if she cried? Recording and interpreting emotion. 26. Ann Laura Stoler, with Karen Strassler, Memory-work in Java: a cautionary tale. 27. Andrea Althaus, Linde Apel, Lina Nikou and Janine Schemmer, Tuning in: emotions, relations, and dynamics in the analysis of an archived interview. 28. Bridger, Emily, (Un)Remembering sexual violence in South African history. 29. Katherine Borland, 'That's not what I said': interpretative conflict in oral narrative research. PART IV: MAKING HISTORIES. Introduction. 30. Elise Chenier, Privacy anxieties: ethics versus activism in archiving lesbian oral history online. 31. Amy Starecheski, South Bronx soundwalks as embodied archiving practice. 32. Linda Shopes, Editing oral history for publication. 33. Helen Foster, Finding poetry in the sound archives: creatively repurposing oral histories for re-presentation and engagement. 34. Nikhila Nanduri, Graphic narratives from the hills: a wood-carving tradition in Uttarakhand, India. 35. Rama Lakshmi and Shalini Sharma, Building a safe space for unsafe memories: the Remember Bhopal Museum. 36. Cahal McLaughlin, What happens when an interview is filmed? Recording memories from conflict. 37. Joana Craveiro, 'A Living Museum of Small, Forgotten and Unwanted Memories': performing oral histories of the Portuguese dictatorship and revolution. PART V: ADVOCACY AND EMPOWERMENT. Introduction. 38. Jennifer Brier, 'I'm Still Surviving': Oral histories of women living with HIV/AIDS in Chicago. 39. Alana Harris, and Laura Mitchison, Us and Them: disability ethics, oral history and inclusive praxis in the reuse of asylum photography. 40. Vittorio Felci, Aya Altom and Anders Høg Hansen, Reflecting upon authority in the creation of the 'We are proud of them' story map'. 41. Pilar Riaño-Alcalá, Oralities, voice, and affect in oral history work in the afterlives of violence. 42. Carol Payne, 'You hear it in their voice': photographs and cultural consolidation among Inuit youths and elders. 43. Barbara Brockmann, Collecting family oral histories in an elementary classroom: Shaping stories as they shape us. Select Bibliography. Useful Contacts. Index.