Oral History: Theories and Methods
INSTRUCTORS
Maria Alice Samara and Catarina Laranjeiro
COURSE DESCRIPTION
Analyzing the differences between official historiographical narratives and non-hegemonic memories (using oral history methodologies and practices) this course debates the histories of inclusion and exclusion, and also the “strong” and “weak” memories (Traverso). In doing so, this courses analyses the role and importance of the complexity of different narratives and memories in the process of construction of public history.
Discussing cases studies regarding memories of different communities, this course will foster the debate between the different scales of analyses, acknowledging the entanglement between the local, regional, national and global.
CLASS SCHEDULE:
1. Uses of memory: theoretical framework
History and memory.
History and memory. The public uses of history and memory.
Oral presentation by Miguel Cardina
Introduction: sharing experiences and expectations
Required readings:
Rousso, Henry 2021. Time, Memory and History. At the crossroads of European Memory. [https://europeanmemories.net/magazine/time-memory-and-history-at-the-crossroads-of-european-memory/]
2. What is oral history?
In class debate: What Makes Oral History Different?
Oral History: definitions, theoretical debates, contemporary questions. The uses of oral narratives in public history.
Oral Presentation by Giulia Strippoli
Required readings:
Portelli, Alessandro. “What Makes Oral History Different?” in Portelli. The Death of Luigi Trastulli. [also in Oral History Reader]
Linda Shopes. “Making sense of oral history” [http://historymatters.gmu.edu/mse/oral/oral.pdf]
Pablo Pozzi. “Oral History in Latin America,” Oral History Forum d’histoire orale 32
(2012) [http://www.oralhistoryforum.ca/index.php/ohf/article/view/442/505
3. Listening: a practical approach and methodological questions
In class debate: Learning to listen
Listening exercises. The Interview: good practices.
Interpreting oral narratives: form and content.
Required readings:
Anderson, Kathryn Anderson and Jack, Dana. “Learning to Listen.” In The Oral History Reader. Robert Perks and Alistair Thomson, eds. London: Routledge, 2003.
Morrissey, Charles T. “On oral history interviewing” In Perks, Robert and Thompson, Alistair (ed). The Oral History Reader, London and New York: Routledge, 2003.
4. Different Voices
In class debate: Decolonizing Knowledge
The process of production of hegemonic memories. Other voices and different approaches.
Chimamanda Adichie, The danger of a single story [https://www.ted.com/talks/chimamanda_adichie_the_danger_of_a_single_story]
Grada Kilomba, Plantation Memories
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ftRjL7E5Y94]
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SzU0TQxLnZs]
Analyze and debate based on case studies presented in class.
Oral presentation by Sofia da Palma Rodrigues
Required readings:
Achille Mbembe, Decolonizing Knowledge and the Question of the Archive [https://www.ru.ac.za/media/rhodesuniversity/content/equityampinstitutionalculture/documents/Achille_Mbembe_-_Decolonizing_Knowledge_and_the_Question_of_the_Archive-1.pdf]
5. The construction of an oral history project.
Oral Presentations by Francisco Bairrão Ruivo (TBC)
Memory and different communities: From local to global.
Invited lecturer (case study from a Portuguese Museum).
Required readings:
Donald A. Richie, “Setting up an Oral History Project”, Richie, Donald A, Doing Oral History: A Practical Guide, New York Oxford University Press, 2003