Virginia Yans-McLaughlin
- Published in print:
- 1991
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780195055108
- eISBN:
- 9780199854219
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195055108.003.0010
- Subject:
- History, Historiography
This chapter explores subjective documents and their relationship to immigration and ethnic studies, fields that historically have found these sources both appealing and problematic. By “subjective ...
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This chapter explores subjective documents and their relationship to immigration and ethnic studies, fields that historically have found these sources both appealing and problematic. By “subjective documents”, it refers to a broad class of evidence that reveals the participant's view of experiences in which he had been involved. They include autobiographies, life histories, letters, oral narratives, interviews, and court records. The discussion here familiarizes readers with some recent debates over the use and creation of this type of data, giving particular emphasis to phenomenology, hermeneutics, and textual analysis. Looking at the oral interview or narrative exposes both the unique peculiarities of these data and scholarly ambivalence about subjective sources.Less
This chapter explores subjective documents and their relationship to immigration and ethnic studies, fields that historically have found these sources both appealing and problematic. By “subjective documents”, it refers to a broad class of evidence that reveals the participant's view of experiences in which he had been involved. They include autobiographies, life histories, letters, oral narratives, interviews, and court records. The discussion here familiarizes readers with some recent debates over the use and creation of this type of data, giving particular emphasis to phenomenology, hermeneutics, and textual analysis. Looking at the oral interview or narrative exposes both the unique peculiarities of these data and scholarly ambivalence about subjective sources.
Michael Berenbaum
- Published in print:
- 2000
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780195134681
- eISBN:
- 9780199848652
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195134681.003.0018
- Subject:
- History, History of Religion
A review of the book, The Union Kommando in Auschwitz: The Auschwitz Munitions Factory through the Eyes of Its Former Slave Laborers (Studies in the Shoah, Vol. 13) by Lore Shelly (ed. and trans.) is ...
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A review of the book, The Union Kommando in Auschwitz: The Auschwitz Munitions Factory through the Eyes of Its Former Slave Laborers (Studies in the Shoah, Vol. 13) by Lore Shelly (ed. and trans.) is presented. Some historians are wont to proclaim that they do not rely upon oral history but rather on contemporaneous documentation. The recollections of survivors are seemingly unreliable: they are not the stuff of history, certainly not of serious historians. Lore Shelly's disciplined efforts to compile the testimonies of scores of workers who worked in the munitions factory at Auschwitz shows us the possibilities and the difficulties of oral history. Shelly also demonstrates how indispensable oral history is for understanding the Holocaust.Less
A review of the book, The Union Kommando in Auschwitz: The Auschwitz Munitions Factory through the Eyes of Its Former Slave Laborers (Studies in the Shoah, Vol. 13) by Lore Shelly (ed. and trans.) is presented. Some historians are wont to proclaim that they do not rely upon oral history but rather on contemporaneous documentation. The recollections of survivors are seemingly unreliable: they are not the stuff of history, certainly not of serious historians. Lore Shelly's disciplined efforts to compile the testimonies of scores of workers who worked in the munitions factory at Auschwitz shows us the possibilities and the difficulties of oral history. Shelly also demonstrates how indispensable oral history is for understanding the Holocaust.
William Domnarski
- Published in print:
- 2008
- Published Online:
- January 2009
- ISBN:
- 9780195374599
- eISBN:
- 9780199871452
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195374599.001.0001
- Subject:
- Law, Legal Profession and Ethics
The power and influence of the federal judiciary has been widely discussed and understood. And while there have been a fair number of institutional studies of individual district courts or courts of ...
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The power and influence of the federal judiciary has been widely discussed and understood. And while there have been a fair number of institutional studies of individual district courts or courts of appeal, there have been very few studies of the judiciary that emphasize the judges themselves. Although previous studies provide numerous statistical facts, they do not answer the two most important questions relating to the federal judiciary: who the judges are and what they do. Federal Judges Revealed considers approximately one hundred oral histories of Article Three judges, extracting the most important information. The material is organized thematically so that practitioners can easily access professional areas of interest. Topics include “How judges write their opinions” and “What judges believe make a good lawyer”. The book considers the background of the judges through college, law school, military service, clerkships, practice lives, and their appointments to the federal bench. It allows the reader to evaluate Federal judges based on their own words without an intermediary.Less
The power and influence of the federal judiciary has been widely discussed and understood. And while there have been a fair number of institutional studies of individual district courts or courts of appeal, there have been very few studies of the judiciary that emphasize the judges themselves. Although previous studies provide numerous statistical facts, they do not answer the two most important questions relating to the federal judiciary: who the judges are and what they do. Federal Judges Revealed considers approximately one hundred oral histories of Article Three judges, extracting the most important information. The material is organized thematically so that practitioners can easily access professional areas of interest. Topics include “How judges write their opinions” and “What judges believe make a good lawyer”. The book considers the background of the judges through college, law school, military service, clerkships, practice lives, and their appointments to the federal bench. It allows the reader to evaluate Federal judges based on their own words without an intermediary.
Leo Treitler
- Published in print:
- 2007
- Published Online:
- May 2008
- ISBN:
- 9780199214761
- eISBN:
- 9780191713897
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199214761.003.0008
- Subject:
- Music, History, Western
The ongoing discussions about the Homeric Question and about orality and literacy in the language arts resonate to such a degree with parallel questions as regards the history of music. These ...
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The ongoing discussions about the Homeric Question and about orality and literacy in the language arts resonate to such a degree with parallel questions as regards the history of music. These discussions are considered by way of a review of two recent books about the subject: The Theory of Oral Composition: History and Methodology by John Miles Foley and Oral-Formulaic Theory: A Folklore Casebook, edited by John Miles Foley.Less
The ongoing discussions about the Homeric Question and about orality and literacy in the language arts resonate to such a degree with parallel questions as regards the history of music. These discussions are considered by way of a review of two recent books about the subject: The Theory of Oral Composition: History and Methodology by John Miles Foley and Oral-Formulaic Theory: A Folklore Casebook, edited by John Miles Foley.
Kate Fisher
- Published in print:
- 2006
- Published Online:
- September 2007
- ISBN:
- 9780199267361
- eISBN:
- 9780191708299
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199267361.003.0001
- Subject:
- History, Social History
This introductory chapter discusses the ways in which historians and demographers have characterized and explained the fertility decline. It discusses the value of a systematic social history of the ...
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This introductory chapter discusses the ways in which historians and demographers have characterized and explained the fertility decline. It discusses the value of a systematic social history of the increased use of birth control using first-hand accounts from oral history alongside material collected by birth control campaigners, population surveys, and Mass Observation. It argues that men, just as much as women, need to be the focus of study. The strategies used to obtain oral history material in such a sensitive area are outlined and the range of methodological strategies employed in its analysis is revealed. The importance of dissecting the ways in which respondents organized and presented their memories is highlighted. Studying modes of self-presentation and elucidating the subjective meaning and cultural significance that individuals attach to their lives is shown to illuminate the identities which influenced beliefs and behaviour.Less
This introductory chapter discusses the ways in which historians and demographers have characterized and explained the fertility decline. It discusses the value of a systematic social history of the increased use of birth control using first-hand accounts from oral history alongside material collected by birth control campaigners, population surveys, and Mass Observation. It argues that men, just as much as women, need to be the focus of study. The strategies used to obtain oral history material in such a sensitive area are outlined and the range of methodological strategies employed in its analysis is revealed. The importance of dissecting the ways in which respondents organized and presented their memories is highlighted. Studying modes of self-presentation and elucidating the subjective meaning and cultural significance that individuals attach to their lives is shown to illuminate the identities which influenced beliefs and behaviour.
G. Kurt Piehler
- Published in print:
- 2010
- Published Online:
- March 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780823231201
- eISBN:
- 9780823240791
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Fordham University Press
- DOI:
- 10.5422/fso/9780823231201.003.0008
- Subject:
- History, American History: 20th Century
This chapter examines how the support of influential Americans, including President Roosevelt and Army Chief of Staff George C. Marshall, combined with the pioneering work of ...
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This chapter examines how the support of influential Americans, including President Roosevelt and Army Chief of Staff George C. Marshall, combined with the pioneering work of combat historian S. L. A. Marshall to produce richly detailed histories that contributed to the U.S. Army's unprecedented drive to document the services wartime history—a practice that the Army had not followed either during or after other major conflicts. The chapter demonstrates that in addition to its use in official histories, others put oral history to use to serve the war effort. Samuel Stouffer and the U.S. Army's Research Branch often used oral histories to improve survey questions that went out to hundreds of thousands of soldiers. The Research Branch's work proved invaluable in many instances, and perhaps nowhere was it more worthwhile than in reshaping treatments for battle fatigue. The extensive use of oral histories during the war led to its widespread acceptance by the U.S. Army after 1945, and because of the active campaigning of wartime practitioners such as historian Forest Pogue, the wider community of academic historians, who often disparaged the value of oral history after the war, came increasingly to embrace the practice during the 1960s and the 1970s.Less
This chapter examines how the support of influential Americans, including President Roosevelt and Army Chief of Staff George C. Marshall, combined with the pioneering work of combat historian S. L. A. Marshall to produce richly detailed histories that contributed to the U.S. Army's unprecedented drive to document the services wartime history—a practice that the Army had not followed either during or after other major conflicts. The chapter demonstrates that in addition to its use in official histories, others put oral history to use to serve the war effort. Samuel Stouffer and the U.S. Army's Research Branch often used oral histories to improve survey questions that went out to hundreds of thousands of soldiers. The Research Branch's work proved invaluable in many instances, and perhaps nowhere was it more worthwhile than in reshaping treatments for battle fatigue. The extensive use of oral histories during the war led to its widespread acceptance by the U.S. Army after 1945, and because of the active campaigning of wartime practitioners such as historian Forest Pogue, the wider community of academic historians, who often disparaged the value of oral history after the war, came increasingly to embrace the practice during the 1960s and the 1970s.
P. J. Heather
- Published in print:
- 1994
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780198205357
- eISBN:
- 9780191676581
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198205357.003.0002
- Subject:
- History, European Medieval History
This chapter discusses the historical methods and materials of Jordanes. It looks at Jordanes' Getica, which is an account of Gothic history that includes an anachronistic account of the division of ...
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This chapter discusses the historical methods and materials of Jordanes. It looks at Jordanes' Getica, which is an account of Gothic history that includes an anachronistic account of the division of the Goths into Ostrogoth and Visigoth, as well as the exaggerated historical role accorded to the Balth and Amal dynasties. The chapter shows that the Getica provides some evidence that the workings of Gothic oral history were congruous with modern examples. Although parts of the Getica are singularly Gothic, this does not mean that it contains a unique and authoritative account of Gothic history.Less
This chapter discusses the historical methods and materials of Jordanes. It looks at Jordanes' Getica, which is an account of Gothic history that includes an anachronistic account of the division of the Goths into Ostrogoth and Visigoth, as well as the exaggerated historical role accorded to the Balth and Amal dynasties. The chapter shows that the Getica provides some evidence that the workings of Gothic oral history were congruous with modern examples. Although parts of the Getica are singularly Gothic, this does not mean that it contains a unique and authoritative account of Gothic history.
Elizabeth Ann Danto
- Published in print:
- 2008
- Published Online:
- January 2009
- ISBN:
- 9780195333060
- eISBN:
- 9780199864119
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195333060.003.0003
- Subject:
- Social Work, Research and Evaluation
This chapter outlines the preliminary phases of collecting historical evidence for social work and social welfare history research. Data collection (or acquisition) can be characterized as a strategy ...
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This chapter outlines the preliminary phases of collecting historical evidence for social work and social welfare history research. Data collection (or acquisition) can be characterized as a strategy — a course of action for assembling data from various sources and then enriching that data so as to create valuable and reusable information. Like any strategy, this one must be thoroughly designed and planned, both as a study tool and as a process that leads to a successful project. It is important to do solid preparatory research before going to work in archives. The first phase of data collection has already been articulated in the study’s rationale; the second is creating a data capture instrument; the third is plumbing the selected historical sources for information that supports or rejects the study’s hypothesis.Less
This chapter outlines the preliminary phases of collecting historical evidence for social work and social welfare history research. Data collection (or acquisition) can be characterized as a strategy — a course of action for assembling data from various sources and then enriching that data so as to create valuable and reusable information. Like any strategy, this one must be thoroughly designed and planned, both as a study tool and as a process that leads to a successful project. It is important to do solid preparatory research before going to work in archives. The first phase of data collection has already been articulated in the study’s rationale; the second is creating a data capture instrument; the third is plumbing the selected historical sources for information that supports or rejects the study’s hypothesis.
William Domnarski
- Published in print:
- 2008
- Published Online:
- January 2009
- ISBN:
- 9780195374599
- eISBN:
- 9780199871452
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195374599.003.0002
- Subject:
- Law, Legal Profession and Ethics
This chapter details the lives of Article Three judges prior to their admission to the bar. The early ones are common to us all, while the later steps reflect a particular professional choice. In ...
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This chapter details the lives of Article Three judges prior to their admission to the bar. The early ones are common to us all, while the later steps reflect a particular professional choice. In writing about childhood, school, and early jobs, the judges present reflections of their America. For instance, childhoods affected by the Depression reflect the hardships that many experienced across the nation. Later, when the judges had gone off to war, they report on experiences common to many, though the ones recounted here are particularly striking.Less
This chapter details the lives of Article Three judges prior to their admission to the bar. The early ones are common to us all, while the later steps reflect a particular professional choice. In writing about childhood, school, and early jobs, the judges present reflections of their America. For instance, childhoods affected by the Depression reflect the hardships that many experienced across the nation. Later, when the judges had gone off to war, they report on experiences common to many, though the ones recounted here are particularly striking.
Michael Wright, David Clark, and Jennifer Hunt
- Published in print:
- 2006
- Published Online:
- November 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780199206803
- eISBN:
- 9780191730474
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199206803.003.0002
- Subject:
- Palliative Care, Patient Care and End-of-Life Decision Making, Palliative Medicine Research
This chapter provides a series of oral history accounts of hospice-palliative care development in Africa. In particular, it reflects the richness of oral history in the African context through the ...
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This chapter provides a series of oral history accounts of hospice-palliative care development in Africa. In particular, it reflects the richness of oral history in the African context through the voices of health workers and other individuals caught up in the development of hospice-palliative care across the continent. The research methods are grounded in a social science approach. As part of this review, it conducted 107 recorded interviews with ninety-seven key personnel who described their work in fourteen African countries. These interviews explore the development of hospice-palliative care through the lived experience of in-country activists. They seek to discover why and how individuals became involved in hospice-palliative care developments; their achievements and frustrations, the perceived opportunities and barriers within the field, and visions for the future. The extracts presented here provide valuable perspectives on many of the issues contained in the country reports and constitute a first attempt at setting out an unfolding history of hospice-palliative care in Africa.Less
This chapter provides a series of oral history accounts of hospice-palliative care development in Africa. In particular, it reflects the richness of oral history in the African context through the voices of health workers and other individuals caught up in the development of hospice-palliative care across the continent. The research methods are grounded in a social science approach. As part of this review, it conducted 107 recorded interviews with ninety-seven key personnel who described their work in fourteen African countries. These interviews explore the development of hospice-palliative care through the lived experience of in-country activists. They seek to discover why and how individuals became involved in hospice-palliative care developments; their achievements and frustrations, the perceived opportunities and barriers within the field, and visions for the future. The extracts presented here provide valuable perspectives on many of the issues contained in the country reports and constitute a first attempt at setting out an unfolding history of hospice-palliative care in Africa.
Kate Fisher
- Published in print:
- 2006
- Published Online:
- September 2007
- ISBN:
- 9780199267361
- eISBN:
- 9780191708299
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199267361.001.0001
- Subject:
- History, Social History
The early 20th century witnessed a revolution in contraceptive behaviour as the large Victorian family disappeared. This book offers a new perspective on the gender relations, sexual attitudes, and ...
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The early 20th century witnessed a revolution in contraceptive behaviour as the large Victorian family disappeared. This book offers a new perspective on the gender relations, sexual attitudes, and contraceptive practices that accompanied the emergence of the smaller family in modern Britain. It draws on a range of first-hand evidence, including over 190 oral history interviews, in which individuals born between 1900 and 1930 described their marriages and sexual relationships. It challenges many of the key conditions envisaged by demographers and historians as necessary for any significant reduction in average family size to take place. The book demonstrates that a massive expansion in birth control took place in a society in which sexual ignorance was widespread; that effective family limitation was achieved without the mass adoption of new contraceptive technologies; that traditional methods, such as withdrawal, abstinence, and abortion were often seen as preferable to modern appliances, such as condoms and caps; that communication between spouses was not key to the systematic adoption of contraception; and, above all, that women were not necessarily the driving force behind the prevention of pregnancy. Women frequently avoided involvement in family planning decisions and practices, whereas the vast majority of men in Britain from the interwar period onward viewed the regular use of birth control as a masculine duty. By allowing this generation to speak for themselves, the book produces a rich understanding of the startling social attitudes and complex conjugal dynamics that lay behind the changes in contraceptive behaviour in the 20th century.Less
The early 20th century witnessed a revolution in contraceptive behaviour as the large Victorian family disappeared. This book offers a new perspective on the gender relations, sexual attitudes, and contraceptive practices that accompanied the emergence of the smaller family in modern Britain. It draws on a range of first-hand evidence, including over 190 oral history interviews, in which individuals born between 1900 and 1930 described their marriages and sexual relationships. It challenges many of the key conditions envisaged by demographers and historians as necessary for any significant reduction in average family size to take place. The book demonstrates that a massive expansion in birth control took place in a society in which sexual ignorance was widespread; that effective family limitation was achieved without the mass adoption of new contraceptive technologies; that traditional methods, such as withdrawal, abstinence, and abortion were often seen as preferable to modern appliances, such as condoms and caps; that communication between spouses was not key to the systematic adoption of contraception; and, above all, that women were not necessarily the driving force behind the prevention of pregnancy. Women frequently avoided involvement in family planning decisions and practices, whereas the vast majority of men in Britain from the interwar period onward viewed the regular use of birth control as a masculine duty. By allowing this generation to speak for themselves, the book produces a rich understanding of the startling social attitudes and complex conjugal dynamics that lay behind the changes in contraceptive behaviour in the 20th century.
William Domnarski
- Published in print:
- 2008
- Published Online:
- January 2009
- ISBN:
- 9780195374599
- eISBN:
- 9780199871452
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195374599.003.0001
- Subject:
- Law, Legal Profession and Ethics
This introductory chapter discusses the importance of oral histories in determining answers to the questions of who the judges are and what they do. The oral histories feature federal judges who were ...
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This introductory chapter discusses the importance of oral histories in determining answers to the questions of who the judges are and what they do. The oral histories feature federal judges who were appointed in the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s, though there are a few with earlier appointments. Most of the judges featured in this book have achieved senior status, and in many cases, the interviews took place near the end of their lives.Less
This introductory chapter discusses the importance of oral histories in determining answers to the questions of who the judges are and what they do. The oral histories feature federal judges who were appointed in the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s, though there are a few with earlier appointments. Most of the judges featured in this book have achieved senior status, and in many cases, the interviews took place near the end of their lives.
Michael K. Jerryson
- Published in print:
- 2011
- Published Online:
- September 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780199793235
- eISBN:
- 9780199897438
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199793235.003.0002
- Subject:
- Religion, Buddhism
This chapter looks at the way in which historical narratives become instrumental in both the discussion of and participation in the southern Thai conflict. Through interviews with history teachers ...
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This chapter looks at the way in which historical narratives become instrumental in both the discussion of and participation in the southern Thai conflict. Through interviews with history teachers and locals, the chapter provides the political and emotional elements of history-making and remembering. Thai Buddhist authorities, southern teachers, students, and Malay Muslim separatists adopt different historiographies, each of which contain religious significance. In this manner, people use southern Thai written and oral historiographies to control and justify violence. The use of historical narratives is a global theme and is found in manytwentieth-century conflicts, such as those in South Africa, India, and Iran. In these and other cases, historiographies perpetuate the violence with their polemical recollections that obscure and simplify identities.Less
This chapter looks at the way in which historical narratives become instrumental in both the discussion of and participation in the southern Thai conflict. Through interviews with history teachers and locals, the chapter provides the political and emotional elements of history-making and remembering. Thai Buddhist authorities, southern teachers, students, and Malay Muslim separatists adopt different historiographies, each of which contain religious significance. In this manner, people use southern Thai written and oral historiographies to control and justify violence. The use of historical narratives is a global theme and is found in manytwentieth-century conflicts, such as those in South Africa, India, and Iran. In these and other cases, historiographies perpetuate the violence with their polemical recollections that obscure and simplify identities.
Andrew Davies and Ilora Finlay
- Published in print:
- 2005
- Published Online:
- November 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780192632432
- eISBN:
- 9780191730375
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780192632432.003.0002
- Subject:
- Palliative Care, Patient Care and End-of-Life Decision Making, Pain Management and Palliative Pharmacology
This chapter discusses the oral assessment. It provides an overview on how to investigate the oral history of a patient, on how to perform a standard medical examination with emphasis on the oral ...
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This chapter discusses the oral assessment. It provides an overview on how to investigate the oral history of a patient, on how to perform a standard medical examination with emphasis on the oral assessment and examination, and on the use and importance of appropriate investigations. The chapter also provides the assessment tools widely used in palliative care. These assessment tools are the Oral Assessment Guide and the Heal's tool.Less
This chapter discusses the oral assessment. It provides an overview on how to investigate the oral history of a patient, on how to perform a standard medical examination with emphasis on the oral assessment and examination, and on the use and importance of appropriate investigations. The chapter also provides the assessment tools widely used in palliative care. These assessment tools are the Oral Assessment Guide and the Heal's tool.
Jesse Adams Stein
- Published in print:
- 2016
- Published Online:
- May 2017
- ISBN:
- 9781784994341
- eISBN:
- 9781526121158
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Manchester University Press
- DOI:
- 10.7228/manchester/9781784994341.003.0002
- Subject:
- Art, Design
This chapter explores the complex interplay of memory and meaning that emerges when using oral histories and institutional photographs, in the interview itself and in the stages of interpretation. It ...
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This chapter explores the complex interplay of memory and meaning that emerges when using oral histories and institutional photographs, in the interview itself and in the stages of interpretation. It engages with existing discourse in oral history, particularly in relation to the links between oral testimony and visual stimuli. In doing so, it broadens existing discussions in oral history to include the use of institutional photographs in the interview process, rather than personal or family images (which has often been the focus of previous research in this area). While institutional photographs do not necessarily show the ‘reality’ of workplace practices, such images can reveal some of the ways that institutions sought to represent themselves officially. The use of institutional photographs during the oral history interview can provide insights into the disjuncture between bureaucratic representations of an organisation and former employees’ detailed recollections of tangible details related to their working lives.Less
This chapter explores the complex interplay of memory and meaning that emerges when using oral histories and institutional photographs, in the interview itself and in the stages of interpretation. It engages with existing discourse in oral history, particularly in relation to the links between oral testimony and visual stimuli. In doing so, it broadens existing discussions in oral history to include the use of institutional photographs in the interview process, rather than personal or family images (which has often been the focus of previous research in this area). While institutional photographs do not necessarily show the ‘reality’ of workplace practices, such images can reveal some of the ways that institutions sought to represent themselves officially. The use of institutional photographs during the oral history interview can provide insights into the disjuncture between bureaucratic representations of an organisation and former employees’ detailed recollections of tangible details related to their working lives.
Hester Barron
- Published in print:
- 2009
- Published Online:
- February 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780199575046
- eISBN:
- 9780191722196
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199575046.003.0007
- Subject:
- History, British and Irish Modern History
This chapter explores the way in which the 1926 strike was remembered by those who lived through it, both in the romanticized story passed down in collective memory, and in the more diverse memories ...
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This chapter explores the way in which the 1926 strike was remembered by those who lived through it, both in the romanticized story passed down in collective memory, and in the more diverse memories of individuals, differentiated by age, gender, and personal circumstances. It then considers the way in which a certain view of the past became important during the strike itself, when memory was able to build solidarity as well as commemorate it: partly through organized events such as the miners' annual gala, but also through the more humdrum, day‐to‐day culture of the miners. ‘1926’, in turn, became a part of this history, and would go on to dominate the memory and shape the actions of future generations, particularly during the 1984–5 miners' strike.Less
This chapter explores the way in which the 1926 strike was remembered by those who lived through it, both in the romanticized story passed down in collective memory, and in the more diverse memories of individuals, differentiated by age, gender, and personal circumstances. It then considers the way in which a certain view of the past became important during the strike itself, when memory was able to build solidarity as well as commemorate it: partly through organized events such as the miners' annual gala, but also through the more humdrum, day‐to‐day culture of the miners. ‘1926’, in turn, became a part of this history, and would go on to dominate the memory and shape the actions of future generations, particularly during the 1984–5 miners' strike.
Selina Todd
- Published in print:
- 2005
- Published Online:
- September 2007
- ISBN:
- 9780199282753
- eISBN:
- 9780191712494
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199282753.003.0001
- Subject:
- History, British and Irish Modern History
This introductory chapter presents the methodological and theoretical framework of the book. It points out that despite the centrality of England's young women worker to literature, social ...
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This introductory chapter presents the methodological and theoretical framework of the book. It points out that despite the centrality of England's young women worker to literature, social investigations, and the press — her expanding employment opportunities and social independence frequently cited as symbols of modernity — this book is the first to bring her into the historical limelight. In doing so, it draws on oral history, autobiography, and earnings and employment data.Less
This introductory chapter presents the methodological and theoretical framework of the book. It points out that despite the centrality of England's young women worker to literature, social investigations, and the press — her expanding employment opportunities and social independence frequently cited as symbols of modernity — this book is the first to bring her into the historical limelight. In doing so, it draws on oral history, autobiography, and earnings and employment data.
Laura Hamblin and Hala Al-Sarraf
- Published in print:
- 2010
- Published Online:
- January 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780197264591
- eISBN:
- 9780191734397
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- British Academy
- DOI:
- 10.5871/bacad/9780197264591.003.0010
- Subject:
- Sociology, Migration Studies (including Refugee Studies)
This chapter consists of collected oral histories of Iraqi women refugees in Jordan. It examines the identity of Iraqi women refugees as revealed through their personal narratives. In the Ba’athist ...
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This chapter consists of collected oral histories of Iraqi women refugees in Jordan. It examines the identity of Iraqi women refugees as revealed through their personal narratives. In the Ba’athist regime, the Iraqi identity was reinforced as an Arab identity. During the 35-year rule of this regime, Iraqis watched other Arab nationalities enjoying privileges while they lived in Iran. After the fall of the regime, the new government emphasized Iraqi identity as separate from the Arab identity. The new regime imposed an Iranian identity within the concepts of ethnic and sectarian power sharing. While this new identity posed a dilemma with the manner refugees formed representations of themselves in host countries and with the distribution of privileges they used to enjoy in the former regime, many of the Iraqi women refugees still saw themselves as Arabs and refused the sectarian criteria. All the women interviewed in this chapter expressed the notion that their identity was challenged as their life circumstances demanded them to accommodate the changes they experience.Less
This chapter consists of collected oral histories of Iraqi women refugees in Jordan. It examines the identity of Iraqi women refugees as revealed through their personal narratives. In the Ba’athist regime, the Iraqi identity was reinforced as an Arab identity. During the 35-year rule of this regime, Iraqis watched other Arab nationalities enjoying privileges while they lived in Iran. After the fall of the regime, the new government emphasized Iraqi identity as separate from the Arab identity. The new regime imposed an Iranian identity within the concepts of ethnic and sectarian power sharing. While this new identity posed a dilemma with the manner refugees formed representations of themselves in host countries and with the distribution of privileges they used to enjoy in the former regime, many of the Iraqi women refugees still saw themselves as Arabs and refused the sectarian criteria. All the women interviewed in this chapter expressed the notion that their identity was challenged as their life circumstances demanded them to accommodate the changes they experience.
Alan Rosen
- Published in print:
- 2010
- Published Online:
- January 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780195395129
- eISBN:
- 9780199866588
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195395129.001.0001
- Subject:
- History, European Modern History
Recent Holocaust survivor videotestimony brought these witnesses into the limelight. Yet the success of these projects made it seem that was little previous survivor testimony. In truth, thousands of ...
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Recent Holocaust survivor videotestimony brought these witnesses into the limelight. Yet the success of these projects made it seem that was little previous survivor testimony. In truth, thousands of survivors testified at the earliest opportunity. This book provides a case study of early postwar Holocaust testimony, focusing on David Boder's 1946 displaced persons interviews. In July, 1946, psychologist Boder traveled to Europe to interview victims of the Holocaust who were in the DP camps and what he called “shelter houses.” During his nine weeks in Europe, Boder carried out approximately 130 interviews in nine languages and recorded them on a state-of-the-art wire recorder. Likely the earliest audio recorded Holocaust survivor testimony, the interviews are today the earliest extant, valuable for the spoken word and for the songs that Boder recorded throughout the expedition. Eighty were transcribed into English, most of which were included in a self-published 3,100 page manuscript. This book sets Boder's project in the context of the postwar response to displaced persons, sketches the background of his life and work, chronicles in detail the evolving process of interviewing both Jewish and non-Jewish DPs, and examines the implications for the history of Holocaust testimony. Such postwar testimony, this book avers, deserves to be taken on its own terms—as unbelated testimony—rather than to be enfolded into earlier or later schemas of testimony. Moreover, Boder's efforts and the support he received demonstrate that the American postwar response to the Holocaust was not indifferent but rather engaged and resourceful.Less
Recent Holocaust survivor videotestimony brought these witnesses into the limelight. Yet the success of these projects made it seem that was little previous survivor testimony. In truth, thousands of survivors testified at the earliest opportunity. This book provides a case study of early postwar Holocaust testimony, focusing on David Boder's 1946 displaced persons interviews. In July, 1946, psychologist Boder traveled to Europe to interview victims of the Holocaust who were in the DP camps and what he called “shelter houses.” During his nine weeks in Europe, Boder carried out approximately 130 interviews in nine languages and recorded them on a state-of-the-art wire recorder. Likely the earliest audio recorded Holocaust survivor testimony, the interviews are today the earliest extant, valuable for the spoken word and for the songs that Boder recorded throughout the expedition. Eighty were transcribed into English, most of which were included in a self-published 3,100 page manuscript. This book sets Boder's project in the context of the postwar response to displaced persons, sketches the background of his life and work, chronicles in detail the evolving process of interviewing both Jewish and non-Jewish DPs, and examines the implications for the history of Holocaust testimony. Such postwar testimony, this book avers, deserves to be taken on its own terms—as unbelated testimony—rather than to be enfolded into earlier or later schemas of testimony. Moreover, Boder's efforts and the support he received demonstrate that the American postwar response to the Holocaust was not indifferent but rather engaged and resourceful.
Jennifer Fisher and Anthony Shay (eds)
- Published in print:
- 2009
- Published Online:
- February 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780195386691
- eISBN:
- 9780199863600
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195386691.001.0001
- Subject:
- Music, Dance
When Men Dance explores the intersection of dance and perceptions of male gender and sexuality across history and in different cultural contexts. In many societies, the public ...
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When Men Dance explores the intersection of dance and perceptions of male gender and sexuality across history and in different cultural contexts. In many societies, the public performance of dance is regarded as a feminine activity, so that men who dance often operate in a sea of stereotypes. This volume's scholarly essays tackle the history and dilemmas that revolve around dance and notions of masculinity from a variety of dance studies perspectives. Accompanying the essays is a group of engaging oral histories that complement their themes. The dancing male body emerges in its many contexts, from the ballet, modern, and popular dance worlds to stages in Georgian and Victorian England, Weimar Germany, India, and the Middle East. The men who dance and those who analyze them tell stories that will be both familiar and surprising for insiders and outsiders alike.Less
When Men Dance explores the intersection of dance and perceptions of male gender and sexuality across history and in different cultural contexts. In many societies, the public performance of dance is regarded as a feminine activity, so that men who dance often operate in a sea of stereotypes. This volume's scholarly essays tackle the history and dilemmas that revolve around dance and notions of masculinity from a variety of dance studies perspectives. Accompanying the essays is a group of engaging oral histories that complement their themes. The dancing male body emerges in its many contexts, from the ballet, modern, and popular dance worlds to stages in Georgian and Victorian England, Weimar Germany, India, and the Middle East. The men who dance and those who analyze them tell stories that will be both familiar and surprising for insiders and outsiders alike.