A Spring Note

A Conversation for Today and Yesterday Inspired by Nature

Spring song is heard. The earth shows its colorful face. Nature is on the path of excellence and leaves winter behind. It is as if this eternal teacher reminds people that the past is not unrelated to today and tomorrow. In order to reach spring, one must experience winter and note that the ...

Comprehensiveness and Amnesia in “Oral History”

According to the author, it can be claimed in some ways that Iran is the land of cultural "epidemics"! At any time, it is possible to witness that a wave of attention to a cultural field in the country starts at once, and several centers pay attention to a common work widely. The example of writing encyclopedias is a prominent example of this type of cultural epidemic that we witnessed its ...

An overview of the challenges of news interviews and oral history interviews

A Reporter Who Absolutely Ignored Oral History Book

In the late 2010s, I accepted an oral history project at the suggestion of a friend; without knowing the depth of the prerequisites, dos, don'ts and challenges of the oral history interview. I did an hour-long interview a week, and when it was over, I felt that the amount of energy spent was more than news interviews and it didn't go as smoothly as I thought.

A Critique on Oral history of War Commanders

“Answering Historical Questions and Ambiguities Instead of Individual-Organizational Identification”

“Oral history of Commanders” is reviewed with the assumption that in the field of war historiography, applying this method is narrated in an advancing “new” way, with the aim of war historiography, emphasizing role of commanders in creation of its situations and details.

Three Achievements of Cultural History for War Researchers

Perhaps the claim that the most important influence of cultural history on war studies was the deconstruction of the concept of "history" and the concept of "war" is not an exaggerated one. Cultural history actually deconstructed the concept of war and the history of war. Cultural history tells us not to see the war exclusively in the contexts, manifestations of the people who were only on the battlefield, but also see the contexts adjacent to it.

ORAL HISTORY WORKS AND UPCOMING PROBLEMS (1)

In order to understand more about the problems of producing books on the subject of oral history or memoirs, the oral history website has conducted short interviews with some experts and practitioners, which will be presented to the readers in short notes and in several parts. Haste: Haste is a big problem in research works, but it is more visible in oral history. This problem is more related to the clients.

Oral History; Science or Method

Now the question is whether oral history, which has a deep relationship with history, is a science or a research method under the science of history! To get the answer, it is better to take a look at the background of oral history. Oral history is one of the new research achievements in history, which describes and identifies past events based on the views, hearings and actions of witnesses and related people.

Consequences of misusing the title of oral history

Using the title of oral history for any memoir text or autobiographical book is one of the harms that can be seen in the works published by many small and large cultural publishers and organizations in recent years. These centers, which sometimes have government budgets, ignore the nuances and details of such projects, and generously use the title of oral history for any memoir or biography, and consider themselves to have a high record and a high possibility of activity in this field.

Which Option is Preferable?

Text, With or Without Questions

Oral history, as it has been stated many times, is the result of a problem-oriented and purposeful conversation between two people, one of whom is the questioner and the other the answerer. Sometimes the question is raised that should the text resulting from the oral history interview be compiled and published in the ultimate fidelity to the original structure or it is possible to make some changes such as deleting questions?

Spring

Another Page and Mood of Life

Spring, calmly and soulfully, arrived on the bed of Nowruz (New Year) and with the month of Ramadan. In fact, the earth and the sky have sung a happy song with a common voice; they have opened a new book and brought a new look. Its new spring in that try to be cheerful! People of the word have defined cheerfulness as joy, happiness, sincerity, purity of intention. It is a manifestation of consent, ...
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Documentary Pathology of the US Embassy Documents

The Necessity of Scientific Rereading and Content Analysis of Documents
More 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.
Experts Answer to Oral History Questions

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.
A Portion of Abbas Douzduzani’s Memoirs

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, ...