The Relationship Between Oral History and Biography

Hamid Ghazvini
Machine Translation edited by Mandana Karimi

2026-9-22

Biographies and retelling of the lives and times of famous people have always been of interest to researchers and those interested in history and culture. In addition to cultural and historical aspects, biographies also carry information and knowledge in the same field, in proportion to the work experience of the person in question. How biographies are written and what data is used to write them is a matter of careful consideration and reflection.
A biography usually provides the audience with reliable information about a person's life so that a clear and reliable picture can be reached through it.
A biography is not only an important source for getting to know the person and getting acquainted with the process of personality formation and growth in individual and social aspects, but it can also familiarize the audience with layers of thoughts, emotions, and actions that have received less attention. Basically, through biographies, we can understand the why and how of many behaviors.
Regardless of the narrative or research structure of biographies, the question arises whether oral history interviews can be valid data for writing a biography and, in other words, to what extent can oral history data be used in a biography?
To answer this question, one point must first be noted: biographies rely on a set of narratives about the lives of individuals, which ultimately form a single narrative of the life and times of that individual.
In this way, the process that presents the background of an individual, their actions and life is the narrative. The narrative format transforms the reality of human life into a whole through plotting.[1]

Whether they are about events or experiences, narratives bring us important information about how people think or feel.[2]

Some researchers suggest five stages of preparation, data collection, storytelling, analysis, and reporting for life history studies. This group of researchers believes that in qualitative research, people's stories should be heard.[3]

It is no exaggeration to say that recorded interviews are one of the most important new sources for historical research. Oral sources have been widely used in recent decades and, if critically evaluated, can enhance the significance of any project.[4]

In other words, an oral history interview that is produced with a critical perspective can be a strength and enhance the biography.
However, each person’s personality is the product of a complex and multi-layered process that must be properly understood. The goal of biography is to identify these contexts and roots, and oral history, with its ability to go into detail, can provide a good basis for this. Oral history is not only about the performance of individuals, but also about goals, failures, and successes, beliefs, and how they were later thought about. In the past, despite the necessity of investigating the lives and times of famous people, biographers, who were faced with a lack of sources and a lack of detailed and accurate narratives, were content with a general description of the character's efforts and actions along with a few anecdotes from their life, while many questions and ambiguities remained unanswered. And today, with the help of oral history, it is possible to see the details and answer many questions and ambiguities.
Of course, biographers usually use autobiographical notes and memoirs, which are faced with several serious disadvantages such as incompleteness, references to satisfactory memories, exaggeration, and one-sided presentation of issues, while in oral history, such disadvantages are less due to the active and purposeful dialogue between the narrator and the interviewee. If the main character or those around them or those in the know have agreed to an oral history interview, questions will be asked regarding the need for history and representing the community.
Accordingly, the oral history interview, which may initially have goals other than biographical writing, will become an important and undeniable source in studies related to the biography of individuals. A source that takes into account less-seen or uninformed angles.

Share