Between 1958 and 1962, Mao Zedong embarked on a mad and brutal scheme to transform the Chinese economy through forced collectivization—the so-called Great Leap Forward. Historian Frank Dikötter called the ensuing disaster one of the “most deadly mass killings in human history,” estimating that over 45 million Chinese died as a result. And yet few people outside of China are aware of Mao’s greatest crime. For his new book Forgotten Voices of Mao’s Great Famine (Yale University Press), historian Zhou Xun travelled through the Chinese countryside collecting first-hand accounts from the forgotten victims of a forgotten genocide. Read article which includes excerpts from book here.
Blog
Award for public art tour (USA)
Frankfort-based Joanna Hay of Joanna Hay Productions Inc. is the recipient of an award presented by the national Oral History Association. The 2013 OHA Award was presented to the independent producer for her Frankfort Public Art Tour project, sponsored in part by the Kentucky Historical Society. The project was conceived and overseen by Hay and her associate, Judy Sizemore. It documents a representative sampling of public art treasures – including oral histories – found throughout Frankfort. The tour can be accessed online or from a smartphone here, where viewers will find a map showing the location of each item on the tour plus additional images, audio and other information. For full story click here.
Editor's note – this story may provide inspiration to our own communities and historical societies.
Defending oral history
Kaitlin Fontana reflects on the death of Studs Terkel and the place of oral history today:
Five years ago, literary icon Louis “Studs” Terkel died in his native, beloved, Chicago. He was 96, four years short of a milestone befitting the expansiveness with which he’d embraced the seldom-heard voices of his country — that is the working, the poor, the normal (in particular, that odd normalcy that is the American Midwest). For Studs Terkel not to make it to 100 seemed cruel, because his voice seems as old as America itself.
Read her full article here.
Oral history in India
History was crafted out of "facts", said the British historian E H Carr. Facts, which were like "fish on a fishmonger's slab". What is "official" history, whose history it documents and whose it skips, has been a concern for historians the world over for several decades now. A bunch of Indian documentors, who believe there are other fish in the sea than official histories acknowledge, will gather in Bangalore on Monday and formally inaugurate the country's first Oral History Association of India (OHAI). From discussing how life was for Indian freedom fighters in Cellular Jail on the Andamans to looking at memories of 1984 riots and the Bhopal gas tragedy, the conference will be a broad palette for documentors and historians. For full story click here.
Drovers tell their stories
An oral history recording has been made using material and interviews with a number of early farming families from Bridgetown, Manjimup and Nannup. The families were involved with droving stock along the stock routes as the seasons changed and feed for the cattle was needed for them to survive. The Oral History project was the result of an alliance between Community Development Officers of three shires, Megan Richards (Bridgetown), Hsien Harper (Manjimup) and Louise Stokes (Nannup). It was made so the stories of the old timers who originally did the stock routes could tell their stories before they were lost forever. The project provided tape recordings, which are being burnt to a CD, as well as the transcript of the interviews. For full story click here.
Teens interview successful men
Crossing Fences is a fresh twist on the ancient tradition of passing along a society's memories, history and values from one generation to the next through storytelling and oral history. It's a neighborhood-based oral history project that pairs teams of teenage and preteen African-American boys with successful men from their neighborhoods. The goal is to connect generations and guide youth by positive example and to help them visualize what they can become. The boys interviewed the older men and documented their stories with audio recordings. For full story click here.
Students interviewing project (USA)
North York’s Crestwood Preparatory College is inviting everyone to visit its website showcasing its award-winning Oral History Project. The project features several initiatives that bring together students with veterans of the Second World War and Holocaust survivors, including interviews and digital copies of photos and mementoes. To read the full story click here. This is their website which has videoed interviews.
National Veterans Oral History Project (USA)
Today (11 November) is Veterans Day, the day Americans have set aside to honor the men and women of the military who in ways large and small have helped shape history. Thirteen years ago, through an act of Congress and with the signature of President Bill Clinton, the Veterans History Project of the Library of Congress American Folklife Center was established. The oral history project has been embraced by individuals and organizations around the country, including on the First Coast, where as many as a quarter of a million veterans make their home. For full story which includes interview excerpts click here.
Holocaust-related voice recordings
Marking 75 years since the Kristallnacht attacks of November 9-10, 1938, the Hebrew University of Jerusalem’s Oral History Division launched a new website where the public can search and access 900 previously unavailable Holocaust-related voice recordings and transcripts. One of the earliest-recorded oral history archives of the Shoah, this new resource will provide educators with an invaluable teaching tool and will benefit the study, research and production of materials relating to the Shoah. For full story click here.
Anzac Memories – Alistair Thomson
Sometimes you can't write the history that needs to be told. In 1986, the draft first edition of my book Anzac Memories reported that my grandfather, Hector Thomson, contracted malarial encephalitis while serving with the Light Horse in Palestine during the Great War, and that after the war he was ''in and out of mental hospital''. Read Alistair's article here.
Listen to an interview with Alistair on ABC's "Hindsight" here. There are excerpts from Alistair's interviews with the World War I veterans he interviewed for his book. Now the book has been rewritten using material from the Department of Veterans' Affairs which sheds light on his interviewees' medical conditions.