An Introduction to the book of Interview in Oral History

Interview in Oral History is a collection of the selected articles of the 4th Professional Oral History Conference and Workshop held on 25th and 26th February 2008 at “Resistance Literature and Culture Research and Studies Center” in Tehran, Iran. The difference of the 4th conference with the previous ones was that the previous conferences had a general look at oral history debate.

Re-Writing History(The Iran-Iraq war 30 years later)

In the 30 years since the start of the Iran-Iraq war, our understanding of the conflict has undergone periodic shifts. Today, thanks to the release of Iraqi documents that were previously classified, the willingness of participants to discuss the war, and the persistence of researchers, more is being learned about the war than ever before.

The Sun for Intellectuals

“Shams Al-e Ahmad” passed away; in silence and quietness. He went and the “cradle” whose owner narrated “The Revolution Word” stopped moving. Like his brother, he went in silence and what is remained from him are everlasting works which would show the way for next generations.

The Hardships of Living in the Past

A long alley forward; a way toward the “past”, a long alley that goes back forever, and an alley that goes forward to “future”, these two are against each other but both will reach to “eternity”. All the artists would work on one of these: past, present and future; no matter if they are at their “motherland” or “exile”, in “travel” or “settled”.

žCompanion of memories

Memories are facts which have found their place among all humans, they have always been preserved very well form the beginning. Every human''s life book envelops memories which are basics and frameworks of every relationship.

My job is not writing narratives

Mrs. Maryam Shanaki is one of oral history pioneers in Iran-Iraq eight-year War. She went to Abadan in 1981-82 with her tape recorder and began recording oral memoirs of the girls who had remained in Abadan. This work was the initial step of women oral history compilation in eight-year Holy Defense.

Oral History and Oral Writing in Historical Texts (Relying on Tarikh-e Beyhaghi)

"The past accounts are categorized into two parts and there is no third one; they should be heard from someone or read from a book." Beyhaghi

The Beaver Night & Beside the Oven

What a lot of mediocre soldiers and militants whom have turned into national heroes by the dexterity of the poets, minstrels, artists, and historians. What a lot of wonderful heroes who are buried under the dust of history, because they have not found any way to the mysterious world of artists and writers. Religiously speaking, poets and historians do not write the esteem and reverence of the God's devotees.

Communicative Archives, Documentary Researches

Written, documentary and oral history are three methods of historiography that each one has its own special purpose, credit, and usage; but in our country, documentary and oral historiography under the impression of a phenomenon called Islamic Revolution have created new waves in the study and compilation of history. Collection, record, and publication of documents obtained from pre-revolution police, security and political organizations and the US embassy have helped researchers in their documentary researches and completion of this kind of researches.

Human Being and His Memoirs

Although oral history is a relatively new approach in historiography, its background goes back even to the pre-civilization age and the invention of writing and many nations would obtain their historical identity by oral quotation of events. Also the first sources of the great historians such as Herodotus, Thucydides, and Plutarch have been these very oral narrations of witnesses of events.