The Oral History Weekly; A New Window
Mohammad Mehdi Abdolah Zadeh
Translated by Mandana Karimi
2025-8-28
The ups and downs of everyday life sometimes cause me to forget certain duties and missions, including oral history—especially its form related to the Holy Defense! But when Wednesday comes and I receive an issue of the Oral History weekly journal, a new window opens before me. Each title, article, viewpoint, and memory becomes a chapter for reflection in that realm.
Although the scientific aspect of the journal is useful to me, its psychological value improves my mood even more. For years, the friends who run the journal have remembered me and continuously send it to me without any expectation, which strengthens my bond with the large family of oral history. This very fact has made me consider myself a member of this journal and share my opinions about its content on occasion.
Once, I wrote to the journal’s officials asking why the weight of theoretical content in the journal is weak. By reading more content titled oral history, I realized we are still at a crossroads and perhaps this is exactly the path this weekly journal is taking. Because with the occurrence of the Islamic Revolution and the Holy Defense, the need to document events from these two occasions led many people—who had only heard the name oral history but had neither read an article or book about it nor attended a class—to enter the circle of oral history.
I am confident that with the continuous development of theoretical and practical knowledge among scholars and practitioners of oral history projects in our country, the effects will become visible in the quality and quantity of the content in this weekly journal.
Number of Visits: 1378
Share
The latest
- Narrative and the "War of Narratives" in the Era of Resistance and Imposed Wars
- Memories of Mohammad Boloori
- Call for Fundamental Questions in the Field of Oral History
- 100 Questions/49
- The Third Regiment: Memoirs of an Iraqi Prisoner of War - 49
- Jasem Ghazbanpour's narration of the first day of the war in Khorramshahr
- Memoirs of Ali Fadaei
- The Relationship Between Oral History and Biography
Most visited
- The Third Regiment: Memoirs of an Iraqi Prisoner of War - 48
- 100 Questions/48
- The Relationship Between Oral History and Biography
- Jasem Ghazbanpour's narration of the first day of the war in Khorramshahr
- Memoirs of Ali Fadaei
- The Third Regiment: Memoirs of an Iraqi Prisoner of War - 49
- 100 Questions/49
- Memories of Mohammad Boloori
100 Questions / 43
How can narrators and interviewers reach a common understanding?We asked several researchers and activists in the field of oral history to express their views on oral history questions. The names of each participant are listed at the beginning of their answers, and the text of all answers will be published on this portal by the end of the week.
Documentary Pathology of the US Embassy Documents
The Necessity of Scientific Rereading and Content Analysis of DocumentsMore than four decades have passed since the publication of the first collections of documents from the US Embassy in Tehran. However, despite the relatively easy access to this treasure trove of documents, systematic research exploitation of it has not been adequate. We still do not have a “comprehensive picture” of the content of these 11,000 documents.
100 Questions / 42
What is the importance of the narrator and interviewers shared understanding of the past in oral history?We asked several researchers and activists in the field of oral history to express their views on oral history questions. The names of each participant are listed at the beginning of their answers, and the text of all the answers will be published on this portal by the end of the week.
Validation: Challenges and Necessities
Where does truth stand in oral history? How can the correctness of a narrative be recognized? Does fact-checking matter? If there is exaggeration in the reporting of some accounts, how can it be detected? Is it possible to record an event accurately through the recording of a narrative? Readers and users of oral history works are often faced with these questions, and sometimes encounter doubts about some oral history works.
