Oral History Interview & Importance Part 8

Required Equipment & Accessories

Oral history interviews require equipment & accessories and the scholar shall procure and prepare all such equipment prior to their departure for interview. In case of audio or visual interviews, proper and quality equipment shall be in hand. There are few considerations as follows:

Tone in Oral History

Another fried shared a memory. The memoirs of this friend is also published; however, I feel like the tone of the book was different. He was speaking smoothly but in the book it was as if a literary person was talking. One might think that the ambiance in the session resulted in such difference and it might be true; the story of the narrator shall be experienced under different circumstances to give a verdict.

How can we be a historiographer of oral history?

Concerning the responsibility to record important events of revolution and war etc., some of organization, institutions, offices, organs, communities, universities, foundation etc., tried to step admirably towards increasing knowledge and motivation, for capable and interested people by holding classes, training course, workshops, congress, magazine and book publication, making weblogs, groups, association etc., in which the efforts of art center were more notable. Regardless of efforts, the shortage of qualified human force is noticeable in this field; it causes fine and particular memoirs not to be unavailable for public and to be forgotten forever.

Oral History Interview & Importance Part 7

To Schedule & Coordinate an Interview

In oral history projects, interviews shall be scheduled and conducted upon preliminary coordination. If it is recognized that interview is the cornerstone of every oral history project, then time considerations and methods of conducting an interview are of critical importance. This requires communication and precise dialogue between the scholar and the narrator.

Systemic Approach in Oral History

Some say that theoretic discussions on oral history suit the academic elite and consider themselves the man of action. These individuals believe that it shall suffice to operate a recorder and a camera and be good in communication to become an oral history interviewer. This group argue that theoretic content of oral history belongs to academic studies or shall be presented as a scientific article in seminars and conferences or design science magazines! However, theoretic competence and believe in them is where oral history interviewers or oral history historiographers originate from.

Oral History Interview & Importance Part 6

Importance of Pre-interview Data Collection

One of the fundamental requirements of oral history interview is having sufficient information & awareness on the interview content and surrounding aspects. Unfortunately, there have been cases where the interviewer, with the least information, has started the interview and the outcome has been unsuccessful. Such circumstances expose the interview to multiple damages as follows: ...

Oral History Interview & Importance Part 5

Goal Setting

Interview in oral history is a research methodology and like any other scholar method requires a specific target. Remember that recording the memories of people with no specific historiographical target is no oral history. Many institutes or the media attempts to record and publish the memoirs of political and cultural and social activists or army commanders in different formats in commemorations or to honor the name and memory of the activists in any field; however, it is not clear which need of the audience and history such attempts address.

Interviewer & Interviewee in Oral History

Limited number of experienced, knowledgeable and skilled interviewers required impose challenges in conduct of historical studies in the field of oral history. Hence, a selection mechanism shall be defined to conduct interviews with witnesses, agents and stakeholders in intended historical incidents or a limited number of eligible applicants have to be trained. Lack of prioritization and interview of people whose story is no priority by skilled interviewers, results in loss of opportunity to conduct important interviews.

Oral History Interview & Importance Part 4

Narrator Identification & Selection

As discussed before, oral history is a participatory process in history development so that different information concerning political, cultural and social events are recorded and published in a targeted interview. It is important since the perspectives and narrations of a number of people are gathered in recording historical events.

Research & Targeted Questions in Oral History Interviews

Oral history interviews are means of collecting information. It is through interviews that historians in this type of historiography receive information from the interviewee. The interviewees are sources of various types of information; however, the interviewer is interested only in a specific type of data. Hence, the interviewer has to employ systematic strategies to manage and steer the interview.
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A Narrative of Public Movement of June 5 1963

There is a story about Grand Mosque of Shiraz, in which most of June 5 events happened, that I like to note before addressing memories of June 5, 1963. The current director of bureau of Education who had intended to restore the mosque, started it in 1944. But when he evaluated impairment of the mosque, he concluded it would be better destroy the mosque totally and take its bricks to Kazeroon in order to build schools.

A Memory by Iran Torabi about Meeting Imam Khomeini

There were heavy surgeries that night until morning. Some of the wounded of the air force got martyrdom, and some guards died too. I was busy delivering one of the operated when I heard shouting and cursing in the recovery room. A guard and an air force officer had lain down on the stretcher, and were waiting for surgery. The guard had a medal around his neck supposed to be for the guards, and the Air Force officer recognized it.
The 336th Night of Memory-3

Sardasht Chemical Bombing

The 336th Night of Memory was held on Thursday, June 23, 2022, with the presence of a group of chemical warriors from Sardasht region and the treatment and health staffs of chemically injured and veterans in the Surah Hall of the Arts Center, with the performance of Dawood Salehi. In this ceremony, General Ali Sadri, Dr. Hamid Salehi, Dr. Mohammad Hajipour and Dr. Khosro Jadidi, witnesses of the chemical bombing, shared their memories.

Like a War-Torn Area

I participated in the demonstration for the first time on Tuesday, August 30, 1977 (the 14th of the holy month of Ramadan). In the morning, I heard people had gathered in front of house of Ayatollah Sayyid Abdullah Shirazi. My brother and I went to Naderi Crossroad with the intention of joining the people. The number of people kept increasing, as much as the street became completely closed. The distance between Ayatollah ...