Oral History, Community, and Work in the American West
Oral History, Community, and Work in the American West
Edited by Jessie L. Embry
360 pp. / 6.00 x 9.00 / 2013
Paper (978-0-8165-3017-5) [s]
Nurses, show girls, housewives, farm workers, casino managers, and government inspectors—together these hard-working members of society contributed to the development of towns across the West. The Essays in this volume show how oral history increases understanding of work and community in the twentieth century American West.
In many cases occupations brought people together in myriad ways. The Latino workers who picked lemons together in Southern California report that it was baseball and Cinco de Mayo Queen contests that united them. Mormons in Fort Collins, Colorado, say that building a church together bonded them together. In separate essays, African Americans and women describe how they fostered a sense of community in Las Vegas. Native Americans detail the "Indian economy" in Northern California.
As these essays demonstrate, the history of the American West is the story of small towns and big cities, places both isolated and heavily populated. It includes groups whose history has often been neglected. Sometimes, western history has mirrored the history of the nation; at other times, it has diverged in unique ways. Oral history adds a dimension that has often been missing in writing a comprehensive history of the West. Here an array of oral historians—including folklorists, librarians, and public historians—record what they have learned from people who have, in their own ways, made history.
Oral History, Community, and Work in the American West's focus on the ethnic, religious, individual and collective agency, rising political awareness, the relationship to landscape, and shared spaces and the diverse and divergent communities in the West offers the reader a more comprehensive view of how we got here through the eyes of everyday people, talking about everyday things.
—Rose T. Diaz, contributor to Nuestras Mujeres, Hispanas of New Mexico: Their Image and Their Lives, 1582-1992
Although each chapter is written by a different author, the core theme of the book is the important role oral history serves in not only researching the region, but expanding the understanding of whose stories make up the fabric of the modern West.
—Stephen Sloan, director for the Institute of Oral History
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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.From Revolutionary Circles to the Military Arm of the Islamic Government
In those days, it became clear that certain institutions had to be established very quickly—institutions suited to the temperament, expectations, and lingering aspirations of the younger generation; young people who had been politically active before the Revolution and, in some cases, had been directly entangled in arrests, imprisonment, ...Authenticating Oral History: From Possibility to Necessity
The use of oral history as one of the historical sources has long been one of the principal challenges facing oral historians and those who employ it in contemporary historiography. The development of international standards for oral history, as well as IRIB standards, was intended to address the criticisms raised in this regard. The relationship between Diplomatics in written records and oral history is reciprocal.100 Questions/27
What is the place of research ethics in compiling 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 answers will be published on this portal by the end of the week.
