Oral Literature in the Digital Age: Archiving Orality and Connecting with Communities
By: Mark Turin, Claire Wheeler and Eleanor Wilkinson (Eds.)
Thanks to ever-greater digital connectivity, interest in oral traditions has grown beyond that of researcher and research subject to include a widening pool of global users. When new publics consume, manipulate and connect with field recordings and digital cultural archives, their involvement raises important practical and ethical questions. This volume explores the political repercussions of studying marginalised languages; the role of online tools in ensuring responsible access to sensitive cultural materials; and ways of ensuring that when digital documents are created, they are not fossilized as a consequence of being archived. Oral Literature in the Digital Age is an essential guide and handbook for ethnographers, field linguists, community activists, curators, archivists, librarians, and all who connect with indigenous communities in order to document and preserve oral traditions.
Contents
Introduction by Mark Turin, Claire Wheeler and Eleanor Wilkinson Part 1. Principles and Methods of Archiving and Conservation
1. The Archive Strikes Back: Effects of Online Digital Language Archiving on Research Relations and Property Rights by Thomas Widlok
2. Access and Accessibility at ELAR, A Social Networking Archive for Endangered Languages Documentation by David Nathan
Part 2. Engagements and Reflections from the Field
3. Researchers as Griots? Reflections on Multimedia Fieldwork in West Africa by Daniela Merolla and Felix Ameka in collaboration with Kofi Dorvlo
4. American Indian Oral Literature, Cultural Identity and Language Revitalisation: Some Considerations for Researchers by Margaret Field
5. Ecuador’s Indigenous Cultures: Astride Orality and Literacy by Jorge Gómez Rendón
6. From Shrine to Stage: A Personal Account of the Challenges of Archiving the Tejaji Ballad of Rajasthan by Madan Meena
7. Mongghul Ha Clan Oral History Documentation by Ha Mingzong, Ha Mingzhu, and C.K. Stuart
Oral Literature in the Digital Age was published on 23 May and can be read for free online here, where it is also available in inexpensive PDF, paperback and hardback editions.
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Attack on Halabcheh narrated
With wet saliva, we are having the lunch which that loving Isfahani man gave us from the back of his van when he said goodbye in the city entrance. Adaspolo [lentils with rice] with yoghurt! We were just started having it when the plane dives, we go down and shelter behind the runnel, and a few moments later, when the plane raises up, we also raise our heads, and while eating, we see the high sides ...The Arab People Committee
Another event that happened in Khuzestan Province and I followed up was the Arab People Committee. One day, we were informed that the Arabs had set up a committee special for themselves. At that time, I had less information about the Arab People , but knew well that dividing the people into Arab and non-Arab was a harmful measure.Kak-e Khak
The book “Kak-e Khak” is the narration of Mohammad Reza Ahmadi (Haj Habib), a commander in Kurdistan fronts. It has been published by Sarv-e Sorkh Publications in 500 copies in spring of 1400 (2022) and in 574 pages. Fatemeh Ghanbari has edited the book and the interview was conducted with the cooperation of Hossein Zahmatkesh.Is oral history the words of people who have not been seen?
Some are of the view that oral history is useful because it is the words of people who have not been seen. It is meant by people who have not been seen, those who have not had any title or position. If we look at oral history from this point of view, it will be objected why the oral memories of famous people such as revolutionary leaders or war commanders are compiled.
