“Historians must think through the ramifications of what they write, the stories they use as evidence, how those stories will be perceived, and the effects of their work on research participants.” Read this very interesting article by author Noah Riseman, Lecturer in History at Australian Catholic University here.
Tag: oral history
Busselton Oral History
After nearly a year’s work, a book detailing the history of the City of Busselton through the accounts of its residents past and present has been released. Busselton Life in Snips & Snaps was written and edited by Dr Colleen Liston with photo-editing by Heather Hill for the Busselton Oral History Group and details the past, present and personal histories of Geographe Bay. Group president Margaret Dawson helped by providing many old photographs. The book includes excerpts from more than 450 hours of oral history interviews that have been recorded over a 32-year period by volunteers. For full story click here.
Oral History and Podcasts
James Andrew Miller is best known as the author of big oral histories about big media institutions. Now, Miller is taking his work to podcasting, and he’s bringing that fascination with the beginning of things with him. For full story click here.
Academic wins award for oral history work in Ireland
IT IS fair to say that Dr Anna Bryson is a good listener – and now has a major award to prove it. Over the course of a fast-tracked career as a historian and now senior research fellow at the School of Law at Queen's University, Belfast, the 40-year-old has specialised in listening to stories from the past – in a concerted bid to inform the future. For full story click here.
New “Jackie” Movie
One week after an assassin’s bullet exploded John F. Kennedy’s head on a street in downtown Dallas, Jackie Kennedy, deeply traumatised by what she had witnessed, summoned journalist Theodore H. White to her Hyannis Port home in Massachusetts for an interview. In the subsequent article, published in Life’s December 6 issue, Jackie gave birth to the Camelot myth that would define the Kennedy legacy. As they tussled over what White could and could not print, Jackie sought to influence how her slain husband would be remembered. Read full article here.
Port Augusta Pollution
One person who was always certain about the root cause of health problems in Port Augusta was the fierce long-time mayor of the town, the late Joy Baluch. Baluch lost her husband – a non-smoker – to lung cancer, and had a child with severe asthma. In her many trips to Adelaide hospitals to seek treatment, she found many children from her town, all suffering similar problems. She was contemptuous of government attempts to blame smoking and other factors for the town’s burden of disease. In an oral history project recorded in 2008, she said pollution from the power stations was the spur for her entering local government. For full story click here.
Transgender Oral History Project
The Transgender Oral History Project has released the first batch of videos and transcripts. The Project is part of the Tretter Collection at the University of Minnesota, one of the nation’s largest collections of LGBTQ history. For full story with link to the oral histories, click here.
Serena Williams’ Oral History
"Serena Williams is poised to make history. With one more Grand Slam win, Williams will hold more Grand Slam titles than any other player in the Open era. To do so once, a player must win seven matches over two weeks on the sport's greatest stages. With a win at the Australian Open, which begins Monday, Williams, 35, will have done so 23 times in 29 Grand Slams and will surpass Steffi Graf's Open era record of 22. It is no longer a question of if, but of when, whether it be in Australia, at Wimbledon, the French Open or the US Open. Once she reaches 23, the buzz will turn to Margaret Court's all-era record of 24, and history will beckon again." For full story click here.
Telling the story of Paris attacks
As The New York Times considered how best to commemorate this shocking and devastating event, senior editors wanted an approach that was different but true to those who had lived through it. The idea emerged of compiling an oral history. For full story click here. There is a link in the story to the result of the project.
“Oral History” and oral traditions
Contemporary Pacific academics are giving oral tradition an identity so this article briefly overviews the discourse of oral tradition, meaning of its forms — oral history and oral literature — and their relevance to the Pacific Islands. Oral tradition is a form of human communication where useful information is received, preserved and transmitted orally or verbally for posterity. The transmission of a preserved cultural knowledge is done via vocal utterances prevalent especially in preliterate societies. It includes spoken words in form of folk tales, ballads, chants, jokes, riddles, stories, legends, proverbs, belief, motion, music and songs. This tradition does not remain stagnant in terms of its historicity as it keeps on changing and evolving over time, filtered and codified with every generation. For full article click here.