Course Description
Exploration of the methods and theory of oral history. Students will learn about the discipline’s rise in the 1960s and 1970s (in tandem with social history) and engage ethical and theoretical debates within the discipline. They then will conduct, process, and analyze an oral history interview, putting theory into practice.
Additional Requirements for Graduate Students:
In addition to completing the work required of undergraduates
(reading, response papers, conducting and processing an oral
history interview), graduate students will be asked to write
books reviews of two recent monographs that rely heavily on oral
history. Extra discussion sessions will be held to examine the
monographs. Additionally, they will write an article-length
research paper with an eye toward publication in a peer-reviewed
journal.
Athena Title
Oral History Methods Theory
Prerequisite
Any 2000-level HIST course
Grading System
A - F (Traditional)
Course Objectives
Oral history as a discipline is a powerful way for students to recognize the ongoing impact of history today. That is, it allows students to see living products of history in their interviewees and the world around them. Oral history highlights individual agency and contingency in history: how individual actors make choices and have an impact. Students who complete this course will be able to: • Describe the origins and history of oral history as a discipline. • Identify and explain ethical issues faced by oral historians. • Analyze the benefits and limitations of oral history as a source for historians. • Master the technology needed to conduct and record oral interviews. • Express themselves competently in a number of formats, including oral interviews, oral presentations, reflective writing, and argumentative writing.
Topical Outline
I. What is oral history? II. A history of oral history a. Post-World War II social movements and the rise of social history i. American example ii. British example b. Postmodernism and the decline of the grand narrative c. Post-positivist views of memory and subjectivity d. Challenge from the Left and the Right e. Reflexivity and oral history f. Digital revolution in oral history III. Methods a. Examples of Studs Terkel b. Saturation technique c. Designing your questions IV. Mastering the technology a. Using a recorder and microphone b. To transcribe or not? c. OHMS (Oral History Metadata Synchronizer) system V. Analyzing oral history – on its own and as used by scholars a. Feminists and oral history b. African Americans and oral history c. Oral history and the “other” d. Issues of memory e. Oral history as life history f. Oral history and the study of communities g. Oral history in the digital age