Oral History: Definition and Methodology

What is Oral History?

• Oral history is defined by academics since the late 1940s as a research method.
• It involves asking eyewitnesses to discuss their lives and experiences through:
  • Extensive life history interviews.
  • Event-focused interviews.
• Examples:
  • Workers discussing a strike (event-focused).
  • Individuals reflecting on growing up in a mining town (experience-focused).
  • Life history interviews: Starting from childhood, parents, or grandparents and tracing to the present.
• Focus is on:
  • People's memories and stories about their lives.
  • People's experiences.
  • Interviewees are considered experts of their own lives.

Oral History Interviews

• Oral history interviews share similarities with life history interviews in qualitative social sciences.
• A key difference: Archiving interviews with an emphasis on audio quality.
  • Facilitates transcription.
  • Transforms interviews into resources (documents) for filmmakers, radio producers, and other researchers.
• Interviews are archived due to their lasting academic and research value.
• Archiving provides other researchers with access to the sources.
  • Allows them to review and interpret the interviews independently, either agreeing or disagreeing with the original interpretations.

Oral History Center's Methodology

• The Oral History Center typically employs a two-phase approach for life history interviews:
  • Phase 1: Individuals narrate their life history at their own pace and length (ranging from 30 minutes to 10 hours).
  • Phase 2: Follow-up questions are asked to contextualize their lives socially and historically.
    • Specific inquiries cover aspects like childhood, family history (grandparents and families), work life, and family life.

Summary of Oral History as Research Method

• Oral history is a research method aimed at capturing individuals’ experiences and memories through storytelling.
• It is a diverse field with various approaches to conducting interviews.