Cultural Shortcomings Locked in Stalemate

Indeed, economic concerns lower the "threshold of pain” in a society to a great extent. Economic distress is much more likely to cause social turmoil than other issues. One is much more likely to express dissatisfaction by a delayed wage or monthly handout than is so by an unreleased book, unconstructed museum or insufficient educational services. Generally, the first cries of pain are let out from economically injured throats; but this is not all.

Florida Frontiers: Author captured diverse oral histories

Author and activist Stetson Kennedy celebrates the 2009 reprint of his 1942 book 'Palmetto Country' with Florida Historical Society executive director Ben Brotemarkle at the Library of Florida History in Cocoa. / PHOTOS FOR FLORIDA TODAY Carrying a cumbersome audio recorder that he called “the thing,” Stetson Kennedy traveled through rural backwoods, swamps and small towns from north Florida to Key West, collecting oral histories, folktales and work songs.

World Expo 2020: The Arab Spring Advances

Some compelling and rather unexpected imagery arose in my mind’s eye as I read through Diaries of an Unfinished Revolution, the recently published and justly acclaimed oral history of the Arab Spring compiled and edited by Layla Al-Zubaidi, Matthew Cassel, and Nomonie Craven Roderick. In eight Arab lands, from Tunisia to Syria, Diaries of an Unfinished Revolution introduces a representative spokesperson who chronicles the perils and perplexities of this collective struggle for human decency.

The changing stature of oral history as evidence

In November of 2007, the T’silhqot’in First Nation’s Aboriginal title case before the BC Supreme Court came to a close, largely in favour of the First Nation. Their Aboriginal title to about half of their claimed lands was recognized, and it was acknowledged that their Aboriginal rights on this land had been infringed without justification. It was also found the BC forestry regulations do not apply on their Aboriginal title lands. To win their case for the existence of their Aboriginal title to their traditional territory, the T'silhqot'in First Nation relied on the oral history testimony of their community’s most knowledgeable members. In Justice Vickers’ decision he gave careful consideration, not only to the oral history evidence, but also to the issue of oral history as evidence. As a result, the decision in the T'silhqot'in case is one of the most clear and thorough treatments of oral history as evidence that any court in Canada has yet provided.

World War Words: The Creation of a World War II–Specific Vocabulary for the Oral History Collection at The National WWII Museum

Many interpretative institutions today focus increasingly on narratives, storytelling, and the personal experiences of historical and everyday figures. Providing access to oral histories through a vocabulary focused on describing these stories and experiences is a unique and effective way to share these narratives. This article is a case study of the development of a controlled vocabulary for the oral history collections at The National WWII Museum. Storytelling has played a central role at The National WWII Museum since its opening as the D-Day Museum in New Orleans in 2000.

Is Oral History Good for You?

What happens when medical science invites the humanities into its world? How do we, can we, measure and evaluate the qualitative process and product of oral history to quantitative researchers? Can we incorporate a quantitative tool into the oral history process to persuasively argue that some patient populations would benefit from the inclusion of a patient-centered, oral narrative intervention? This is the story of one effort to test the effectiveness of oral history interviewing in a clinical setting by its inclusion in a treatment program for veterans with prostate cancer. Prostate cancer is the most prevalent cancer in males, but currently there are no definitive treatment guidelines. This lack of medical consensus on treatment causes significant psychological distress for many patients, and, increasingly, medical professionals are interested in finding alternative ways to address their patients’ concerns.

Remembering Forced Labour. A Digital Interview Archive

“Forced Labor 1939-1945” commemorates the more than twelve million people who were forced to work for Nazi Germany. Nearly 600 former forced laborers from 26 countries tell their life stories in detailed audio and video interviews. The interviews have been made accessible in an online archive at www.zwangsarbeit-archiv.de. Sophisticated retrieval tools enhance a user-friendly research and a close-to-the-source analysis of the interview recordings. National Socialist Germany created one of the largest systems of forced labour in history. Not until 60 years after the war did the debate over compensation help to revive the memory of the long-forgotten victims of forced labour. While the survivors strive for a living remembrance in the country where they lost their youth, historians increasingly ask about individual and collective patterns of memory. Today, however, only a few survivors remain to recount their experiences.

ORAL HISTORY: A Collaborative Method of (Auto)Biography Interview

Storytelling is a natural part of the human experience. Human beings communicate meaning through talk. Oral historians have harnessed this tradition of transmitting knowledge and created an important research technique that allows the expression of voice. While storytelling has a deep history, the adaptation of this human process into a legitimated research method is relatively new. Oral history was established in 1948 as a modern technique for historical documentation when Columbia University historian Allan Nevins began recording the memoirs of persons significant in American Life.

The Reasons of Establishment and Consequences of Afghan Immigrants’ Self-run Schools in Isfahan (Iran)

The present study aims at finding the motives of establishment along with evaluating the consequences of Afghan immigrants’ self-run schools in city of Isfahan. As a practical research, this paper includes the principles of oral history studies. Moreover this paper employs observation, interview and questionnaire, as three main tools to collect data. The research population includes teachers, principals and also founders of self-run schools for Afghan immigrants in Isfahan. Totally 37 participants, 24 filled the questionnaire out and 13 took part in interviews.

WRITERS WRITE: The importance of oral tradition

Let’s just try our grandparents for a beginning. They tell us and our kids stories of their yesteryears, over and over again. Until finally we hear them tell it so many times we wonder why they keep on repeating these old times. Unconsciously, this is the way our minds work to pass history on. There was a time when writing, reading, books, radio, TV and electronics of today were not present to record and pass information along for the next generation. When people sit around the campfire or kitchen table sharing stories of the past, this is called “oral tradition.” Stories of growing up, life at home, with family, at work, school or in the neighborhood. Just plain talk and sharing the events, not even thinking that these are the words that will be remembered forever in a child’s mind.