100 Questions/46
Machine Translation Edited by Mandana Karimi
2026-09-07
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 answers will be published on this portal by the end of the week. The goal of this project is to open new doors to an issue and promote scientific discussions in the field of oral history.
In this project, a question is asked every Saturday, and we ask experts to present their views in the form of a short text (about 100 words) by the end of the week. All answers will be published together so that the audience can compare and analyze the views. The content is the opinions of the senders and does not necessarily reflect the opinions of the Oral History website. Although the answers are supposed to be about 100 words, in order to be polite and not to leave the discussion incomplete, in some cases, more than this number of answers are also accepted.
This time, we asked the experts to send their answers by Sunday night so that all the answers can be published on Tuesday.
From the intertwining of these answers, using artificial intelligence, we have arrived at theories about oral history that will be published in the near future.
Question 46
Is oral family history (genealogy) necessary? If so, how can it become widespread?
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Answers to Question 46:
Gholamreza Azari Khakestar
Family history has been a key topic throughout time, and it has always focused on important and influential families that have played a key role in governments. Oral family history is very important for examining family traditions, customs, narratives, and political and administrative careers. Therefore, recording oral family history allows us to learn about the ups and downs of a family and family stories and narratives. The most important way to learn about this subject is to teach students about the importance of oral family history and encourage people to preserve and protect their family heritage.
Hassan Beheshtipour
This issue can be examined from psychological, identity, and transfer dimensions and a one-dimensional perspective should be avoided. The most important points are: Necessities: Creating an "identity anchor" and self-knowledge in adolescents, transferring lived wisdom and experiences of facing crises, preventing forgetting ancestors, and discovering repetitive behavioral patterns across generations. For generalization, technology and virtual challenges can be used and recording memories can be linked to family occasions. Also, compiling simple question-and-answer booklets and transforming it from a heavy responsibility into a workshop for storytelling and collective entertainment is effective. Respecting privacy and respecting the unspoken is also essential. Finally, oral history is a sweet opportunity to connect generations.
Mohammad Mehdi Abdollahzadeh
I was doing research on the reactions of the people of our city to the events of the unveiling of the hijab, the uniformization of clothing, the presence of the Red Army, the ban on mourning, and the famine during the time of Reza Shah. I did not find any significant documents or evidence about them. I interviewed about a hundred people on this subject for three years, and in my questions, I asked them to tell me what they had heard from the elders who lived at that time about these events. Most of them had interesting memories and spoke with care and motivation about their lineage, the times, and their family life during that period. It would be good to teach the skill of interviewing family elders from a genealogical standpoint from school.
Gholamreza Azizi
Yes. It is necessary to address oral family history as a branch of family history, because much of the information in this field is not contained in documents, but in the memories of family members. The best way to make this method widespread is to teach it in the educational system; a system that instills patriotism in students, not extreme patriotism, nor ethnocentrism, nor chauvinism. From this perspective, to recognize and honor the homeland, it is better to start with the family; because the family is the smallest constituent institution of the homeland, and recognizing it is the first step towards a deeper connection with national identity.
Abolfat’h Mo’men
Oral history is not exclusive to a particular group or class. Initially, this method was developed to address the underprivileged and the unseen. Therefore, collecting oral histories of families, whether rulers and celebrities or middle and lower strata, is essential. This issue plays a key role in the compilation of local, regional, and tribal history, as families are effective in preserving norms, values, and political and social developments. Examining genealogies, such as those of the Banisadr family and the Chahardoli tribe of Hamedan, reveals influential individuals. Genealogy and attention to family, local, and regional history, along with interviews, documents, and images, complete the missing pieces of this puzzle.
Abolfazl Hassanabadi
Family is the smallest unit of historical study and one of the most important tools for producing historical memory. One of the basic functions of oral history is to create connections between generations. Interviewing families is not simply a collection of historical information, but rather a transmission of intergenerational memory, because an important part of the information, such as women's memories, migration experiences, kinship relationships, traditional occupations, rituals, upbringing methods, neighborhood relations, and family crises, is usually not seen in official documents. Oral history can record this silent history and turn it into the first historical archive of a family.
Hamid Ghazvini
Family, regardless of its size, has an important individual and social position. This institution has a direct impact on the upbringing, personality formation, and role-playing of individuals in various fields. Families are also the creators, stabilizers, and transmitters of subcultures and the reinforcers of cultural and social customs and traditions. Therefore, the oral history of families gains importance depending on their connection with historical individuals and events. The comprehensiveness of this subject depends on two conditions: first, that the recording of family history is considered necessary by the members, and second, that people have the determination and effort to address it.
Artificial Intelligence
Yes, oral family history is necessary because it builds identity, connects generations, and carries lived experiences that cannot be recorded in official documents. This history strengthens collective resilience and self-awareness. To make it more widespread: teaching interview and narrative research skills in schools; designing simple audio and video recording applications with question-based guides; producing podcasts and engaging television programs based on family narratives; holding local festivals and awarding prizes for the best oral collections; and supporting libraries and cultural centers by providing free digitization facilities. In this way, history will move beyond the monopoly of texts and become an everyday conversation. (DeepSeek)
Yes, oral family history and genealogy are necessary because they preserve part of the individual and collective identity, memories, experiences, values, and lifestyle of past generations, and prevent the forgetting of family heritage. For it to become widespread, the culture of recording memories must be taught from childhood and in schools. Holding family workshops, encouraging the elderly to narrate memories, creating simple and free digital archives, and using social networks are also effective. Libraries, cultural centers, and media can also encourage families to record and transfer this valuable heritage to future generations by teaching interviewing, recording, and preserving information methods. (ChatGPT)
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