Module Code and Title            : HSM302 Oral History

Programme                              : BA in History and Dzongkha

Credit Value                             : 12

Module Tutor                            : Saurav Chaliha

General Objectives

This module aims at orienting students to the aspects of oral history and its relationship to generic written history. It will also familiarize the students with various techniques and approaches to doing oral history as effective tool for collecting historical information.

Learning Outcomes

On completion of the module, the students will be able to:

1.    define oral history

2.    differentiate between the  oral history from written history

3.    identify the resources required for doing oral history

4.    develop interview questions and conduct effective interviews

5.    develop research topics  to carry an oral history project on a chosen topic

6.    recognize the ethical issues while carrying out  and disseminating  the oral history work

7.    critically analyse the sources of the Oral History

8.    examine the purpose and application of the oral History 

Learning and teaching approach 

Assessment approach

Because of the nature of the module and its contents there will be no semester-end written examination in this module. Consistent with the learning and teaching approaches assessment will be based on continuous Course Work and an Oral History Project as given below

A. Minor written assignment : 25%

The students will have to write a minor assignment comprising of 25%

B. Presentation : 25%

For this module, students will have to make a presentation each on a topic assigned by the tutor

C. Oral History Project (at semester end): 50%

Students will have to write a oral history project after conducting field work

Overview of the assessment approaches and weighting

Prerequisite: N/A

Subject matter

Unit I: Defining and Understanding Oral History Movement

• Formal and rehearsed oral accounts of the past
• Recording firsthand accounts of the past
• Informal conversations about the old days among family members
• Recorded interviews with individuals
• Recollections of past accounts of someone
• A self-conscious, disciplined conversation between people on a historical significance
• Movement of Oral History and noted oral historians

Unit II: Purpose and applications of Oral History

• Sources of new knowledge about the past and as new interpretive perspectives on it
• Enrich the work of social historians by providing information about everyday life of ordinary people
• An active agency of individuals whose lives have been lived within deeply constraining circumstances
• Authentication of other forms of history
• A new dimension to local and family history
• In schools by young people to explore their own community: talking about the past brings young and old together
• Community and residential work with older people to encourage a sense of worth and continued contribution to society
• In Museums, galleries and heritage displays is used to inform and brings displays to life
• Collections at local archives and libraries have emerged as important new sources for all those interested in history
• Source for many radio and television programmes

Unit III: Interpretation of Oral History

• Oral historical evidence in light of its immediacy and emotional resonance to interpretation or accountability
• Internal consistency and reliability of the narrator, and the verifiability of the account itself
• Possible disparities and influential factors: situation of different interviewees, different agendas, ideological shifts
• Mining information to answering questions set out in the project
• Sample study of Oral History interpretation
• Hands-on interpretation of data

Unit IV: Sources of Oral History

• The Interviewee
• Audio recorded conversation
• Video recorded interviews

Unit V: Ethics and roles of Oral Historian: The Interviewer

• Ethics concerning planning and preparation
• Ethics in accessing information and during the interview
• Ethics regarding maintaining confidentiality of interviewee and information collected
• Risks and opportunity of an Oral Historian

Unit VI: Interviews: the main tool of Oral History

• Dos and don’ts of interviews: Sample and exercise
• Checklist of an effective interview: Sample and exercise

Unit VII: Oral History Project

• Every student is expected to write a major project putting all theories and exercises into practice. It could be a local history, family history or an individual history.
• Structure of an Oral History Project Proposal
• Sequence of Oral History research
• Conventions and protocols of doing Oral History
• Writing process of Oral History

Reading List

Essential reading:

Ritchie, D. A. (2014). Doing oral history. Oxford University Press.

Portelli, A. (2009). What makes oral history different. Oral history, oral culture, and Italian Americans, 21-30.

Thompson, P. (2000). Voice of the past: Oral history. Oxford University Press.

Oral History Association. (2001). Oral history evaluation guidelines. The Association.

Valerie Raleigh Yow. (1994). Recording oral history: A practical guide for social scientists.Sage.

Perks, R., & Thomson, A. (Eds.). (1998). The oral history reader. Psychology Press.

Additional reading:

Bartis, P. (1990). Folklife and Fieldwork: A Layman's Introduction to Field Techniques.

Washington, DC: Library of Congress.

Buckendorf, Madeline, & Laurie M. (1992). Using Oral History in Community History Projects. Pamphlet Series #4. Albuqueque: Oral History Association.

Coles, R.(1997). Doing Documentary Work. New York: Oxford University Press, 1997.

Creswell, J.W. (2007). Qualitative inquiry & research design: Choosing among five approaches (2^nded.). Thousand Oaks: Sage.

Dunaway, D. K. & Willa, K. B. eds. (1996). Oral History: An Interdisciplinary Reader, 2nd ed. Thousand Oaks, Calif.: Sage Publishers.

Earl, B. (2007). The practice of social research (11^thed.). Australia: Thomson & Wardsworth.

Earl, B., Halley, F. & Zaino, J. (2007). Adventures in social research: Data analysis using SPSS 14.0 and 15.0 for windows (6^thed.). Thousand Oaks: Pine Forge Press.

Ed. Charlton,T.L., & Sharpless, R.(2007). History of oral history: foundations and methodology. UK:Altamira press

Fontana, A. & Frey, J.H. (2005). The interview: From neutral stance to political involvement.

In N.K. Denzin & Y.S. Lincoln (Eds), The Sage handbook of qualitative research (3^rded.). Thousand Oaks: Sage Publications.

Frisch, M. (1991). Shared Authority: Essays on the Craft and Meaning of Oral and Public History.Albany: State University of New York Press.

Frisch, M. (1991). A Shared Authority: Essays on the Craft and Meaning of Oral and Public History.Albany: SUNY Press.

Gluck, Sherna & Daphne Patai, eds. (1991). Women's Words: The Feminist Practice of Oral History. New York: Praeger.

Gluck, Sherna B., & Daphne P. eds. (1991). Women's Words: The Feminist Practice of Oral History.New York: Routledge.

Grele, R.J. (1991). Envelopes of Sound: the Art of Oral History. New York: Praeger.

Grele, R. (1991). Envelopes of Sound: The Art of Oral History, 2nd ed. New York: Praeger.

Neuenschwander, J. (1993). Oral History and the Law. Pamphlet Series #1. Albuqueque: Oral History Association.

Patton, M. Q. (2002). Qualitative research & evaluation methods (3rd ed.). Thousand Oaks, California: Sage Publications.

Perks, Robert, & Thomson, A. (1998).  The Oral History Reader. New York: Routledge.

Ritchie, D.A. (2003). Doing Oral History: A Practical Guide, Published by Oxford University Press,

Schorzman, T.A. ed. (1993). A Practical Introduction to Videohistory: The Smithsonian Institution and Alfred P. Sloan Experiment. Melbourne: Krieger Publishing Co.

Shopes, L. (1999). Making Sense of Oral History, History Matters: The U.S. Survey Course on the Web, http://historymatters.gmu.edu/mse/oral/, February 2002.

-----. (1991). Transcribing and Editing Oral History. Nashville: American Association for State and Local History.

Audiovisual Sources

Ives, Sandy. An Oral Historian's Work. Northeast Archives. VHS. 33 minutes. Color. Distributed  by Northeast Historic Film, P.O. Box 900, Bucksport, ME 04416.

Websites: Guides, Societies, Associations and Sample Oral History

http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/wpaintro/wpahome.html

http://www.aaa.si.edu/collections/oralhistories/

http://lcweb2.loc.gov/ammem/snhtml/snhome.html

http://www.lib.usm.edu/~spcol/crda/

http://www.ieee.org/web/aboutus/history_center/oral_history/oral_history.html

http://www.ibiblio.org/sohp/laf/

http://www.library.kent.edu/page/11247

http://bancroft.berkeley.edu/ROHO/

http://fas-history.rutgers.edu/oralhistory/orlhom.htm

http://wpcf.org/oralhistory/ohhome.html

http://www.sohp.org/howto/index.html

http://www.dohistory.org/on_your_own/toolkit/oralHistory.html

Date: May, 2015