Importance and Status of Oral Approach in Historical Studies

Importance of the Subject and its application record

History is the collective action of men in the past times, and science considers the recognition and analysis of these actions in line with improving the human's life at present. Recognition and analysis of the human's past action is conducted by the historians, and historians carry out this important task through analyzing the documents. Historians try to respond to their questions about the past events through thinking about and analyzing the documents. Thus, the more the range of documents used by them is wider and they have access to more sources, the more is the extent of their thoughts about the past and the quantity of the questions they pose in this regard, and this important task plays an important role in promoting the history knowledge and more link between the past and present. Oral history (or in other words historical resources taken from oral approaches in collecting historical documents) shows its importance from here.

Apart from the amount of using the document in recognizing and interpreting the past, it finds a doubled value from the viewpoint that oral approach gives numerous documents to the historian and helps him or her recognize different aspects of the humans' action (and the structural aspects in which theses actions have been formed). Historical data helps the scientific historical nature when it helps the historian in responding the questions the answers of which he or she does not know. From this viewpoint, the data generated from interviews, and filming and explanations concerning the events and works and buildings would be more beneficial to the history researcher in terms of its viability, enjoying more dynamism and the capability of transferring the dialogue ruling the time of the event or the time of producing works, and provides the grounds for responding to the posed questions properly through paving the dialogue grounds and more cooperation of the historian (interviewer or the one who uses the product of the interview) or the opposite side ( an interviewee who himself or herself has been involved in an event or a witness on its occurrence or the production of a work).

The importance of the originated documents around the humans' action and their share in a comprehensive and more real approach toward the collective actions and cooperation of mankind becomes more tangible when we remember that the dawn of the human's historiography in the fifth century BC in Greek – in light of the historiography of Herodotus and then Thucydide in a way that it provided the grounds for the formation of the history science and emergence of historiographical resources – was based on such method. In the ancient Greek, the historical documents that the historians like Herodotus and Thucydide focused their commentaries on its basis were a report that the eyewitnesses gave about the events. Documents, narration of eyewitnesses and the historical method of extracting historic subjects were from their core. However, Herodotus and Thucydide did not accept these narrations blindfolded and produced their data by using customary ways in legal courts and criticizing the witnesses present in the courts – through criticizing these eyewitnesses and cross-questioning them toward creating a full and cohesive historic image (see: General Conception of History Pages, 36-37). Of course, this aspect of the importance of oral data in historiography is related to its share in forming the history science and emergence of the first manifestations of historiography. Before fifth century BC, whether before the invention of script with which the human gained access to written culture and left historical resources, or before the legacy of human's collective life had non-written form, the portion of oral approach in the mankind history and its importance in preserving its legacies was significant and one's cultural and civilizational achievements would be guarded within this framework. Whether before the invention of script or after that, the human considered the chest-to-chest keeping of one's social and religious legacy as an important mission over a long period due to ideological motivations and the type of holiness attached to one's ideological teachings and regarded their writing as a kind of humiliation and was less willing to keep them in written form. Moreover, in the entire ages, the ruling classes directly or indirectly hindered basic and effective parts of historical events to be wirtten or they wrote them as desired. Thus, as if the men of every age have somehow resisted negatively against the rulers. They deemed obligatory the chest-to-chest keeping of the memory of these types of the events and spared no efforts in this line. Undoubtedly, an important part of the Iranian ancient legacy especially what has remained in the form of Shahnameh (Book of Kings) by the great poet Fredowsi at the top, have been preserved in this way.

In this regard, we should not forget this most optimistic assumption that using oral approach in recognizing the past was influenced by different interpretations of various individuals and groups of every period around the events and so public perceptions were transferred to the next generation in an oral form alongside the wirtten sources of every period.  Undoubtedly, these public perceptions which were emerged in the people's behavioral manners directly or indirectly and part of the community's discourse atmosphere was impressed by it, contributed to the way of writing the historical resources of that era or the next eras if not in writings of the same period. From this viewpoint, the written resources of every period or written culture of every era has mixed willy-nilly with the oral culture of that period or the period before that (which of course have linked together like chain's rings and it is not possible to separate them completely) and this shows the significance of oral approach in forming historical documents. Thus, an important part of the human's historical legacy which has remained in the form of myths and has the human's social-ideological attitude in itself, is revealed more important. Although the myths of most nations are nothing but the relations among different Gods or cover elements with spiritual nature, the myths with little tolerance can be considered without any certain time or place and the human's ideological course from the beginning to realizing monotheism can be regarded as a process the most important part of which has been generated through myths and quoted chest-to-chest. (See: History in Scale, pages 32-38). From this viewpoint, the human's collective customs and traditions whether it is known as folklore or behavioral manners is also considered as part of this mythical or ideological legacy.

These myths and tales (one as an explanation of the past events without having certain time and place and the other as exaggerated explanation of the events with such features which the exaggerated aspects have distanced it from the reality) are seen significantly as the inheritor among human culture in a period when the human had achieved to written culture and had left certain symbols among all ancient nations and tribes including India, China, Iran, Mesopotamia, Egypt and Mediterranean area, and can be seen clearly in the Babylonian and Hebrew myth of creation, Homer's Iliad and Odyssey and Hesiod's Works and Days and Iranian and Indian myths. As it was mentioned before, after Herodotus which historiography with scientific traits grew extensively, the main nature of Greek historiography which highlighted the documents originated from the narration of eyewitnesses was stressed on oral resources. Great Greek historians (including Herodotus, Thucydide, Thucydide and the Greek Polybius who wrote for Romans) chose war as the subject of historiography and this allowed them to obtain the necessary documents in identifying various aspects of their desired subject by using oral information of the fighters whose numbers were not less like all the periods. Using oral information on recognizing the events was not specific to Greek or Roman historiography. Main part of the resources used by the Muslims which provided the grounds for emerging Islamic historiography had non-written nature. This Muslims' approach toward the past whether influenced by the human tradition and the Arab days of Ignorance or by considerations resulted from the extensiveness of Islamic Empire and different insight and attitude of the religions, tribes, sects and nations, caused the Muslims to focus on it for a long time and had a significant role in the evolution of Islamic historiography.

However, the Islamic original teachings and a kind of occult tourism and excursion inside these teachings which allowed the Muslim nations and non-Islamic religions to challenge and provided the grounds for a type of domestic cultural world in the Islamic territory, had an impact on oral approach toward history. At any rate, a kind of obsession prompted the Muslim scientists to accept historical information only through direct quotation and personal hearing from the experts for preventing from the entry of forgery and manipulation in historical news even when the written forms had been common. From this viewpoint, regardless of the first stage of the Muslims' attention at the past which was merely an oral work and involved mostly the information about history of Islam, in the next stages which focused on registering and recording the events tried to first obtain oral information about the events and then resort to write them – for more confidence (History Science in the realm of Islamic Civilization, Volume 1, pages 32-121).

Post-Renaissance developments which transformed the historiography of modern human and considered him an influential axis in the way toward historic events were also effective in providing the facilities which helped the historians in accessing more information for recognizing different aspects of social life, and a kind of social approach and departure from mere military and political historiography placed on the agenda of historians, just like in the emergence of philosophy of history science, the elevation of this knowledge and appearance of historiography transcended from the Age of Enlightenment onward was effective. No doubt that the human-centeredness of the new age at least until the Age of Reason and periods after it thought that the humans were equal together in terms of enjoying reason and insightful will and so everybody is able to be effective and history-maker through using his or her reason and will in the history evolution. Such interpretation had this message for the historians that numerous human resources could be used for better recognition of history and that these resources could be valid everywhere they were. Such insight which was nothing but social approach as Walter used the title of " Philosophy of History " for it, provided the grounds for the men of the same age all of whom did not enjoy necessary opportunities to write and had entrusted this important task to historians according to living circumstances and provided numerous resources in line with recognizing the past more precisely and completely.

Form this viewpoint, the record of more serious effort toward what is called today in an inappropriate phrase "Oral History" dates back to post-Renaissance developments and post-Industrial Revolution. Although the human's technological achievements of this age were not able to be at the service exploiting oral resources for comprehensive approach toward the past like what happened in the twentieth century, intellectual fields of addressing this issue started from the same days. Although the human of new age criticized previous approaches toward history including mythical or legendary approaches which was an imperfect type of influence of oral cases in history, it provided the grounds for emergence of various approaches and using different views in this line with humanistic insight, and this was the beginning of scientific attitude for using oral cases in historiography. Perhaps, the importance that Francis Bacon in this period – of course in a critical way – divided science into three large categories of poem, philosophy and history in view of the existence of three imagination, memory and perception faculties and considers memory as the basis for history is related to the interpretation of the status of oral cases in the historiography of the modern age. (Science Philosophy, pages 74-75; General Conception of History, pages 78-79). In this regard, we should also consider the importance of Vico's historiography. He should be considered rightly as the real founder of philosophy with its today's interpretation. In his special look at history, Vico paid special attention to the history's mythical and epical ages and regarded former nation's myths as representation of their political, economic, family and social life and considered as important their study in understanding the history more and more. The importance he attached on linguistics and the lingual structure of every age and its relation with the lingual past of any nation can also be interpreted in this line. (General Conception of History, pages 93-94). However, what is known as social life and brought up its necessity through serious criticism of those German historians with Leopold Von Ranke at the top, was created in twentieth century and in light of such approach, they concentrated on using oral methods in recognizing the history. Meanwhile, although the efforts by historians like Karl Lamprecht achieved nothing in anti-Ranke movement, social approach toward history in America and France faced with more fortune. The US historians Fredrick Jackson Turner and James Harvey Robinson who considered intermediate understanding of the history, concentrated on addressing all human's activities with special viewpoint and approach of such sciences as anthropology, economy, psychology and sociology. French analysts pursued such approach more seriously and scrutinized the past structural analysis within an interdisciplinary framework for which history had a great status. A number of historians like the Brazilian Gilberto Freyre who had worked with famous historian of Annales Fernand Braudel and had been influence by his ideas, in reviewing Brazil's history, triggered more updated and social issues like language history, nutrition, childhood and housing as part of the past. In this line, in collecting his data, he used the oral method seriously by providing and sending questionnaires for thousands of people who had been born during the years between 1850 and 1900. (The Relation between Sociology and History, pages 428-32) About Annales School which used linguistics, anthropology, sociology, economy and law in analyzing history, they took main part of the information about their contemporary issues through interviews or the results of the questionnaires, and the emergence of Subaltern's method of historiography which triggers lower classes and groups of the society including workers and immigrants, has been influenced by their special methodology.

The cultural history also noticed by Annales' companions and addressed the more objective and at the same time, more cultural issues of the society, paved the way for using oral methods of collecting data in addressing history. From this viewpoint, addressing historical culture which triggered qualitative aspects of the society and thus had valued concept per se, was possible only through more qualitative and valued ways like interview and observation and other oral ways of studying history and collecting data. Meanwhile, the vast impacts resulting from feminism ideology should not be forgotten. Feminism is a political, cultural and social movement its activities of which started since the beginning of fifteenth century, was organized in 17th and 18th centuries and turned into an active ideology in 19th and 20th centuries. Feminism is an active movement with critical approach the struggle of which is not limited only to academic and political levels, but it goes beyond the deep beliefs of the society and challenges the thinking models and sometimes personal and close relations of sections of society, and is covering the entire scientific and cultural sections.( Modern Political Ideologies, pages 242-43) Efforts for gaining the rights of equality with men, having a critical and skeptical approach toward historical sources and sometime history, changing the approach toward family and social norms, the circumstance of the relation between man and woman, the rate of women's freedom and attitude to society, state, economy with gender approach, all mean the infiltration of feminists thoughts in different aspects of collective life. Particularly in recent decades when the scope of feminist activities has grown significantly and is going ahead proportionate to French feminist approach and post-structuralism and disintegration, and cultural, psychological and linguistic approach and at the same time pays attention to the poor, weak strata, tribal and religious minorities and the women of third world in light of social and economic considerations, and has created schools with Liberal, Marxist-Socialist, and Radical approaches (Modern Political Ideology, pages 253-54), it has turned to using field research for infusing their thoughts and directing public opinion and has helped a lot in extending oral methods in collecting the needed information and stabilizing the status of this historical approach. Another influential current which has helped promote usage of oral approaches in conducting Humanities' research and has also influenced feminism, is post-modernism and more important than that globalization. The phrase "post-modern" which was first used in the fourth and fifth decades of twentieth century in the debate over Spanish literature and before the Second World War or Latin American Literature in the period between the two wars, in the next stage was used in architecture and created a kind of discontinuity from architectural ideas of modernism age and not accepting the continuity of modernism. Then, "Toynbee" used this phrase in an insulting way for the decline of western civilization and found a kind of ambiguous nature its usage by Liotar. In his view, post-modern was a recess period which showed that post-modern era is a period under which the modern era has come to an end but its substitute period has yet to be named. While in this interpretation the necessity of continuity was also brought up alongside the necessity of discontinuity, another interpretation known as post-structuralism which came into existence since 1960s and addressed structural inefficiency, candidly paid attention to a kind of discontinuity not continuity. In general, post-modern in its large meaning can be regarded as criticizing the culture which seeks to gather various achievements which are the product of modernity but do not gather together and are not compared and identified. From their viewpoint, there are no preferable authorities, thus opposing to any linking and giving integrity to discourse and removing distinctions. They do not believe in fact, rationality, knowledge or any search for a coherent epistemology and are of the view that the duty of post-modern is to create chaos and to disparage all the efforts which occur toward creating certainty, connecting and composing. From their viewpoint, there is no objective report around reality and everything is uncertain. (Modernity and Critical Thinking, pages 258-61; Modern Political Ideologies, page 264).

Such vision may be negative from one aspect and is not used in history which needs stability and exigency approach. But from this viewpoint that it talks about the independence and discourse stability of every age and believes in continuity rather than discontinuity, it has in itself the permission of the complete discourse recognition of every age and a kind of duplication and transformation of that age which is of great importance for totality of Humanities including history and oral approach in collecting historical data (as a process which is used in studying contemporary currents more comprehensively). Also globalization as a paradigm which has on the agenda the removal of artificial restrictive borders of politics, economy and culture created in modern times, generally matches with post-modern process and has opened a new horizon before human which both creates opportunities and threatening. Globalization as an opportunity (and the opposite side of universality meaning threat) is seeking to navigate fixed and pre-determined meanings and presents a kind of mobile and at the same time relative meaning form different aspects of collective life and its values and norms which respects native identities and concurrently publicizes a kind of global unity, convergence and generality. Globalization within itself brings up multiplicity of languages and thoughts, plurality of thoughts and political and cultural tolerance, democratic structure, pluralistic rule and cultural and interactive tolerance and allows the individuals, groups, nations and leading figures and various races and ideas of people to break artificial borders and use communication facilities and electronically technology to share in their and world fate in the form of "global thinking and local function". Undoubtedly, this part of the traits owns more to the growth of industry and technology in modern times has provided the grounds for making the researchers more dynamic, has caused the emergence of oral approach in history and opening of larger horizons for using various votes and ideas.

As a result, although using oral resources in writing the history has existed in all the times, after post-Renaissance period, it was impressed by important currents like humanist and its inseparable rationalism which transformed the historical vision and attitude of the humans; a social approach started from 18th century and prevailed in 20th century and led to more collectivity in historical researches, confronting with positivist approaches special for German historians who believed in recognizing the facts and the existence of written documents about them, the contribution of Annalists who addressed the history with a more comprehensive, social and cultural approach and took into consideration the interdisciplinary understanding, feminism which is trying to highlight the role of women in national and trans-national structures with a critical and recently unorthodox approach and is pursuing an effective social and cultural approach, modernism and what is raised as post-modern and questions and breaks constancy, positivism, continuity and unity in all the fields and finally globalization which has smoothed the possibility of being for all and has turned influencing into an accepted principle; the growth of technology especially communication technology which has provided the grounds for transferring messages and data in audio and visual ways, and using oral resources as one of the main historical resources which can be used in historiography have turned an inevitable obligation. Using Pad Casts and web casts and other audio visual devices have provided the grounds for extensive involvement of human in the appearance of part of historical resources and have increased the richness of the knowledge of history and parallel fields. Using this method especially since the seventh decade of the twentieth century has been noted by academic circles and some prestigious universities in the world have made significant investment in this regard until today and have gained fruitful results. Using this method in its modern way was first founded in 1948 in Columbia University and after the establishment of Oral History Association in 1966 and then the Oral History Department in Harvard University in 1967 grew increasingly and was known and accepted as a serious debate in the world's historical and research circles. (Oral History, page 1)

What is oral history?
Although "oral history" is an unexpressive term and encompasses only the texts and recourses resulted from using technological techniques for recording and registering historical information and data which is used in the name of oral history, it is considered as a set of efforts which collects and preserves the historical data resulted from the individuals' personal experiences and other involving groups or eyewitnesses by using special techniques and tools concerning historical events. Most tools used by active researchers in this area are tape recorders, video cameras, microphones for audio recording, audio and video cassettes, computer and internet, personal and public websites and tools like these which provide the possibility of saving information and then keeping and transcribing them in order to be used in researches (whether by the researcher and in his or her era or by other researchers and next eras) (Audio Technology/Recording/ Recording…P.1). Such approach is a qualitative process which covers interview with ideal individuals and understanding the type of its interpretation with the considered event. Such approach starts when a decision is made on conducting research about an issue and efforts for collecting its data and covers a process until the acquired information is transcribed through interviews and questionnaires (and other normal ways) and turned into part of historical resources. Originally, oral approach boosts through the dialogue between interviewee and interviewer – of course, the two sides, especially interviewer play an important role in all phases – but it's not limited to this.(What is oral history P.1, 'why oral history?)

Because the ordinary people can leave information by building personal websites or referring to public sites about family, folklore, norms and behavioral traditions, organizational, ethnic, partisan, professional issues, personal experiences, images, documents, songs, stories and issues like these and make efforts in keeping the current legacy of the community they live in and provide the grounds for the researchers to use their data. Meanwhile, more common strata of the community which usually have less opportunity to influence in the current of rise of documents and other written documents can play an effective role. At the same time, the soldiers of war times, workers (and especially those who were working during especial times like strikes, revolutions, movements, etc.), women and immigrants and other sections like these have attracted the attention of researchers more than others. However, today, the area of oral approach function in collecting information has gone beyond the Humanities fields and has sometimes covered different industries and techniques. Oral history of astronomy, philosophy of history, melting industries and issues like these are among them.
(Oral history in space-science and technology P.1, 2- Importance of oral histories.P.1)

However, we should remember that the scope of using oral approach for collecting data and the rate of its importance during research is determined by the researchers. This is the researcher who knows previous findings and determines what information should be searched. He or she makes a proper decision and selects good persons for giving information.  The responsibility of planning, drafting or supervision on the questions and guiding the research group is up to him or her. It is he or she who directs the course of interview toward ideal aims, decides how to transcribe the data and to use them, and conducts the determination of a good place in historical, geographical and cultural texts and collecting the data from written sources by effectively involving in the course of interview and directing the interviewee. This is the researcher who knows the existing gaps in the documents and searches for various people in order to fill this gap and provides the ground of interviewing them and other steps of collecting data. The researcher is also responsible for determining the research subject with ascertainable traits. (Managing and oral history project, P.1) At the same time, it should be noted that the desired subject should be according to the researcher's organizational or individual considerations and his or her organizational or individual desires and match with the interviewee's considerations. It should also be done in due time and have the necessary potential for collecting information with oral approach. Moreover, its borders should be clear.

An organization, a skill, an office, a biography, a certain period, legends, folklores, family incidents, ethnology characteristic, ethnology, moral issues, economy, climatology, geography, movements and feasts are all part of the subject the researcher should analyze them carefully and study about them. (Developing A re-2-search Focus, P.1). The researcher should know ethical and legal considerations and the results produced from them and use them and in case of team work, force them to observe these considerations. (Ethical and legal considerations, P.1). However, the important role of researcher and his or her contribution in directing the process of collecting data in historical studies has intertwined with interdisciplinary research (See: Documentaries of central taxes, P.1)

Critical viewpoints:
Although oral approach in collecting historical data is of great importance in terms of its positive characteristics, since it is new and has multiple natures, it is somehow ambiguous and some points should be considered concerning its large usage in historical studies. Some of these viewpoints are as follows:

1- It seems that the phrase "Oral History" is a deficient concept and has opacity and ambiguity. This ambiguity stems from here that principally, there is no reality named oral history in the real world. History in theoretical aspect (anthology) refers to the past periods regardless of any relation with historian and from this viewpoint, it is worth equally for the elite of various fields who have been seeking to extract their desired subjects. In epistemological aspect, it refers to the historian's interpretation of the past with any viewpoint who has borrowed from the community of his or her age has and the written form of these interpretations in any period (whether the period of occurring that event which first-hand historians write their interpretation of them or next periods which the historians write them according to their time-bound discourse which of course has the past discourse legacy in itself) creates the historiography of that period.  Meantime, it is not clear which of the dual aspects is involved in what is used as oral history. Certainly, oral history cannot be considered history in theoretical perspective (History – as – event). Just as political, social, cultural, economic, military, dignitaries, class, and global, public, local history and so on are remembered, there is no conception named "oral history". Naturally, the past events involve one of the above multiple aspects and they are the realities of collective life about which oral or written conception do not apply. Epistemologically, history comes from the annexation of historian with reporting the historical realities (or perception of the historians of the time when an event has happened or a little after its occurrence) and the result of his or her work which is nothing but the science of history and historiography (in written aspect) sticks a different nature depending on which aspects of collective life (cultural, economic, military and so on) the historian is annexed to and is introduced with one of these titles (cultural, economic, military and so on). Here, the conception titled "oral history" is not applied too. At best, what is called oral history (of course it is better to be called oral information about events or other titles) is used when the historian is annexed to historical issues (cultural, political, military and so on) and his or her interpretation of the past aspects is formed and the time of the events' occurrence or a time near this time helps the historian to have a more comprehensive and correct of the events. Thus, such approach is considered only one of the resources of historiography which involves various collective viewpoints and perceptions in the process of historiography and makes closer to reality the conception of being discourse of history science and historiography. In other words, historical objectivities and what is called as "Fact" has taken the form of epistemology in the shadow of the historians' subjectivity and turns into historiography and the resources resulted from oral approach makes only the process of this current more dynamic.

2- Sufficient or insufficient, what is called oral history is not historiography at all. Historiography is a relative and mobile concept which is related to the society's discourse atmosphere especially the discourse focusing on the time the event has happened. In this regard, it is worth mentioning that whatever has taken place in the past is not history (in the concept introduced in the area of history knowledge). This is the discourse atmosphere of the society and the historian's attitude (which has taken his or her insight, knowledge, method and values from this atmosphere) which selects as history part of the past which has been effective in the collective life, and in view of the natural aspects of this part of the past, he or she writes about it with cultural, political, economic and other titles for the posterity. It is from this viewpoint that the history distances form the area of slight and individual events and takes the form of collective nature and searches for the patterns dominating the society in any age according to collective self-consciousness in order to be used in the contemporary life. The historiography of any age in this meaning is nothing but reflecting the important events of every period which have been interpreted by the historian. Although it is possible that the historians do not pay attention to the portion of groups like guilds, workers, women, families, average people, and important and critical social and cultural aspects of some periods, the reality is that the historian have wirtten about the status quo which have not been important for these classes, thus, from this viewpoint, they are considered the real manifestation of the history. It is correct to consider oral approach as an effort for highlighting the portion of these classes and groups, but oral history and the texts resulted from it cannot be considered historiography (in the concept mentioned here). Also, we cannot remind of the concept called "oral historian" as some imagine. (Step-by-step to oral history, P.2, An introduction to some theoretical problems of oral history, page 151).

3- We should remember that oral approach in collecting data and the texts produced in this way has discourse characteristic at any rate and is determined under the influence of  the narrators' viewpoints, psychological traits and sentiments, and their social benefit-seeking, achievements and a kind of time and place distance with the occurrence of the events. This determination is in nature a post-interpretation of historical facts and from this viewpoint that the discourse atmosphere of new eras are always transforming and petit discourses of every age have their own effect in the path toward the events, it is possible that such interpretations lessen or increase under the influence of these affairs and to be an interpretation which has shined according to the conditions of its determination time – which is necessarily is not the time of the incidents' occurrence. From this aspect, the texts produced from oral approach can be considered a kind of history-building rather than historiography and historical retrospect. Although considering  the relation between mind and language, oral culture and the texts produced from it can be regarded as intellectual and form one aspect more dynamic than written culture (which has a defined and limited framework and the relation between mind and language is more fixed), we should take into account that what the narrators express is in the form of verbal language which although it maybe the same as the verbal language of the time of the event's occurrence, it cannot be necessarily the same as the conceptual language of the time of the event's occurrence. The texts resulted from oral approach to a large extent is related to the amount of the understanding and power of the memory those who have been interviewed, and regardless of probable profit-seeking and ethnic, political, partisan, religious and other interpretations, the result form this viewpoint that the mind and language of the considered people is a relative category, has more relative aspects in comparison with historiographical texts.

4- The texts produced from oral approach, are used to a special amount in historical studies and their application as part of historical resources – not historiography – is limited to contemporary periods. However, whether contemporary period is in the area of history field or parallel fields or not, it is not known exactly. Although interdisciplinary study and understanding historical developments in an intermediate approach of the leading sciences in Humanities have been seriously noted by historiographical schools since early twentieth century, and particularly the historians and sociologists' mutual use of each other's scientific approach and achievements has been accepted, such schools are more inclined to study subjects the historical time of which have expired and so to speak, have been put in the area of history science. What is related to the contemporary time when the witnesses of the events are still alive, involves more in study area of subjects such as sociology, law, economy, psychology, and political science and only in one interdisciplinary state, historical sciences such as historical sociology, social-historical psychology can address it. Applying oral approach in historical studies as an emerging knowledge is less used in very far pasts. This approach and the texts resulted from it are of great importance in terms of the role it plays in historical studies of the future ages. Oral approach leaves raw materials and numerous historical facts from which the future historians – when the present age is put in the area of historical studies – use. Thus, encouragement for using such approach by the researchers of parallel fields will lead to the richness of this science (history) in the future and contribute the historians of next generations to identify today society's discourse atmosphere and self-consciousness dominating it more and more.

5- In using oral approach for collecting data, the researchers should have a critical approach in all stages of the work and apply actively the solutions of internal and external criticism used in precisely identifying the data of historical resources. Viewpoints such as criticizing voluntary evidence by involuntary evidence (which helps the interviewer distinguish better the wrong remarks of interviewee form his or her right remarks); considering the time and place distance of the occurrence of an event about which the interviewee is talking; comparative study of the narrator's remarks with different narrators; noting to the principle of the affairs' solidarity and providing the grounds for a process in the form of which the developments are achieved and analyzing the interviewee's data within the framework of that atmosphere, relation or lack of relation and the kind of the narrator's relation with the subjects they are speaking about and solutions like these are among the cases which help the researchers in this way. However, using these methods regarding the resources of historiography the discourse atmosphere of which has expired and has somehow stabilized in a way that their subjects can be criticized with theses methods, is not possible in oral approach completely ( in terms of more mobile discourse atmosphere it has). Thus, the data resulted from oral approach – on this condition that the researcher has not emendated in it and has analyzed it according to the discourse atmosphere – can be used as a historical resource or historiography after it finds a stable discourse atmosphere and so to speak, is placed in the area of history science studies. It can also be used in more effective recognition and analysis of the past after criticism. I repeat again that these data at the time of emergence are not historiography and get closer to this concept in the future. Nevertheless, the positive traits of oral approach can be compared between documents and books and are more important than the books written concurrent with the emergence of these texts. However, they do no have such values at the time of emergence and at best have a level equal to the documents being left by different agencies, parties and groups normally and unconsciously – and of course perhaps consciously; but they are important for the historian in the future.

Conclusion:
History of science is the study of the humans' social reaction in the past ages and the basis for this study is based on interpreting historical documents. History of science is the result of the overlap of two horizons of outcome and past and what is highlighted as the history's past horizon has been remained in the form of historical documents and these documents as the heritage of historical manifestations are a lot. From this viewpoint, the more the amount of the documents are and the more the variety are, the more the past recognition and more effective analysis are in line with responding to the current considerations of the society. Oral approach in collecting historical data and what is called "oral history" is of great importance as an approach used in interdisciplinary studies and helps the historians to identify better the closest past to the present time. While helping the historians to identify better the events of the contemporary period and provides the grounds for different strata of the society to participate in the general trend of identifying the history and somehow paves the way for boosting collective cooperation and intellectual pluralism, the historical data resulted from oral approach leave many data (historical facts) for the posterity which helps the historians of the next periods to identify the society's structure of the past ages more thoroughly and to make the history science more fruitful than ever. Although oral approach does not have a long record in history or historical studies and its age dates back to before the invention of script, following the post-modern developments and especially since the twentieth century during which audio and visual technologies have growingly increased, it has been noted largely and has attracted the attention of the historians as one of the effective ways in collecting historical data.

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By Dr. Seyyed Abolfazl Razavi
Translated by: Mohammad Baqer Khoshnevisan