Experts answer to oral history questions

100 Questions/19

Translated by Mandana Karimi

2026-3-6

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 opinion of the Oral History website. Although the answers are supposed to be based on about 100 words, in order to be polite and not to leave the discussion incomplete, in some cases, answers longer than this are also accepted.

We asked the experts to submit their answers by Sunday night so that all answers can be published on Tuesday.

Question 19:

Is historical narrative different from the viewpoint of men and women?

Answer to question 19:

Gholamreza Azari Khakestar

The representation of oral history accounts by women is usually associated with more different details from the ones men represent. The most important differences are: 1. A careful look and a micro element perspective in presenting historical narratives; that is, women often present events with a focus on the daily dimensions of life and events.

2. Empowerment in storytelling and transmission of family histories; women play a significant role in recounting their traditions, rituals and family memories, and that their narration is much more reliable in these areas.

3. While classic historical accounts are often masculine and women's presence is pale, the contribution and role of women in recording and transferring historical narratives has dramatically increased.

4. Women's narratives in the field of social history are usually precise, tangible, and associated with the details of everyday life; in contrast, the narratives of men focus on political, military and economic issues.

In sum, the most important difference between narratives of women and men in oral history can be considered in the subjects of attention and the type of attitude to events and historical developments.

Mohammad Mehdi Abdullahzadeh

Personality is unique because the interaction of location and genetic factors, such as education and learning, gender, individual roles, culture and expectations of others, social norms, personal experiences, and behavioral patterns affect the formation of an individual's personality. As a result, the character of men and women generally has some differences and commonalities. These differences influence at the angle of view, the importance of specific aspects, and their interpretation and analysis in view of events and narratives, because the narratives of the reconstruction of their earlier experiences are influenced by their personality. As the ladies are more emotional and sentimental, and are more interested in humane aspects and details, but men’s views are more general and more short-sighted. In any case, the narrations of both sexes are of interest and use.

Hassan Beheshtipoor

According to the previous questions, all about the oral history, I guess you mean the narration of man and woman in oral history. Accordingly, it can be written: In oral history, the difference in narration of men and women is much more prominent than classical historiography, because both the narrator and the collector with different life experiences enter the history of oral history. These differences are due to confrontation and type of exposure to life. Men are usually formed around the structures, events, and formal roles. In contrast, women pay more attention to the details of everyday life, human relationships and emotional experiences. The identification of the interviewer and the narrator affect the quality of the narration. when both the narrator and the interviewer are both women, more confidence space is formed and stories are expressed in details, while men, both the narrator or the interviewer, usually have more considerations and avoid entering some personal layers. These differences are a part of the nature of their history and their recognition to achieve a more complete picture of the past.

Shafigheh Niknafs

There is no difference between male and female memory performance, but history is different from their point of view in content and in performance, because experiences and memories of their memories are different for the retention of memory. Women are quoted in the narrative of family events, emotions and quotes. Unlike men, they see themselves as the axis of the story and see themselves in a network of family relations, neighbors and relatives. Women narrate the history as alive, intertwined with the customs and everyday life, and reflect the social and cultural history. As in a quotation “When women narrate their oral history, they do more than tell their stories. They document the world they were in.”

Abolfazl Hassanabadi

The discussion of gender in oral history is one of the controversial issues in the past half century. This is particularly important for female oral historians. The question is in which stage gender is important in oral history? Experience has shown that the presence of the interviewer and the narrator can create more sense of security and trust in the interview time, especially in issues such as women’s lived experiences, work in gendered spaces or family issues, women may be able to express stories against the female interviewer that they never ask before the male interviewer. This is more important in eastern communities. In sum, the majority of the homogeneous can help to deepen the data, but more importantly, professional skills, research ethics and build trust relationships.

Abolfat’h Mo’men

The course of the narration of men and women is different from what they have experienced in events. So, in the narrative of social, political and cultural events, the number of people who have experienced it can have different narratives. When women and men remember any event, they are strongly dependent on gender differences. That is, women remember better than men. On the other hand, women consider themselves as a collaborative and participatory activity based on their beliefs and put themselves in a network of relationships and use the ego in a network framework, while men take their ego and speak of that. Women have more ability or tendency to take abstractions concepts; thus, they have a better ability in conceptualizing the intangible issues and are superior to men in understanding intangible concepts, feelings, beliefs and thoughts. But considering the gender, there are some limitations in the statement of stories. But they are the thought itself.

Gholamreza Azizi

Our understanding of events and objects is the basis of what has been seen and understood as the living experience, the basis of information stored in our memory. If we accept that the understanding of men and women of events is based on gender, we have admitted that the way they learn and interpret their experiences will also differ on their gender. Objective observations also confirmed that women in the past recall not only give more details not only to explain (obsessionally) but rather tend to cite direct quotes.

Seyyed Mohammad Sadegh Feyz

The role of women's scientific and intellectual role in the past has not been proved so far, and in the absence of this half of humanity in the scientific fields, the men’s presence has been overt. In other words, men were filling the room of women. Gradually and with increasing the presence of women in the scientific and intellectual fields, gender-based view of scientific subjects also opened to the belief that it is time for women to compensate for their absence during these years. Feminist views were common in all fields and adopted an extremist approach. While the historical narrative, with respect to the principles of science should not take on the gender aspect of the subject and make the subjects reformed by such subjects.

Hamid Qazvini

As events do not have sex, the historical narrative does not have sex. Historical research written by male or female historians is not under the influence of the author's gender and the audience only pays attention to the quality of the study. In oral history, some narrators have more attention to details and subtleties, which is not feminine and masculine. There are so many men who may notice more details, and many women who are holistic. At the same time, what is sometimes likely is that women should show more feelings when expressing memories, such as happy or sad memories with more emotional reactions and this feature affects the quality of their narrative.

Artificial Intelligence

Yes, history narrative from the viewpoint of men and women look different. Traditional historiography is often written by men with masculine insight, which has caused the disappearance or fading women's role in many events. Oral history and feminist approaches to history try to fill this vacuum and add feminine voices to history. Women may notice different details, motives and margins towards men. Also, their lived experiences, social pressures, and family roles can affect the way they perceive the historical events. Therefore, by considering both views, the image is completer and more comprehensive of the past.