Postgraduate Module Descriptor

ARAM226: Oral History: Principles and Practice

This module descriptor refers to the 2020/1 academic year.

Module Aims

You will gain in-depth and nuanced understanding of the potential and challenges of doing oral history. You will become versed in a variety of critical approaches underpinning the methodology. You will gain familiarity with projects which have been completed and those which are under way. You will also develop skills in presentation, using and producing media materials and interpersonal dialogue that are widely applicable beyond the classroom. Each person will do an interview of their own but you will work in groups of 2-3 so your teamwork skills will be developed. All workshops are relevant to the final assessment; full attendance is expected, along with completion of the preparatory reading beforehand.

Intended Learning Outcomes (ILOs)

This module's assessment will evaluate your achievement of the ILOs listed here - you will see reference to these ILO numbers in the details of the assessment for this module.
On successfully completing the programme you will be able to:
Module-Specific Skills1. Demonstrate an excellent understanding of the evolution of oral history as an approach and its place within ‘public history’
2. Demonstrate excellent knowledge of the ethical questions underpinning the methodology and the risks associated with it, and ability to illustrate this with specific examples.
3. Demonstrate knowledge of creation and editing of interview materials and knowledge of both audio and visual archives.
Discipline-Specific Skills4. Demonstrate the ability to critically analyse the content of interviews, identify underlying patterns in the material and apply this to your research.
5. Demonstrate strong understanding of how an oral history approach can be used across different disciplines with relation to specific examples and projects (within history, anthropology or Area Studies, for example).
Personal and Key Skills6. Work alongside and support others, anticipating issues and troubleshooting.
7. Generate and manipulate film and/or sound recordings, partial transcription and coding.
8. Demonstrate effective presentation skills: ability to deliver your results to an audience.