Undergraduate Module Descriptor

ARA3048: Oral History: Principles and Practice

This module descriptor refers to the 2021/2 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 and in addition to doing an interview you will produce analytical written work which also surveys the scholarship and community projects done in the past. 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 excellent knowledge of the major uses of oral history methodology and of several oral history projects comparable to your own
2. Demonstrate good knowledge of the ethical questions underpinning the methodology and the risks associated with it
3. Demonstrate practical knowledge necessary to carry out an oral history interview
4. Demonstrate a strong knowledge of existing scholarship in your chosen domain of oral history and its relevance to the work you are undertaking
Discipline-Specific Skills5. Demonstrate the ability to look beyond information content to underlying patterns within the material and carry out academic analysis accordingly
6. Demonstrate strong awareness of how the methodology is relevant to the discipline of your own programme of studies (this may be History, Anthropology or Area Studies, for example)
Personal and Key Skills7. Work in small teams to realise a project and support others in realising theirs
8. Generate and manipulate film and/or sound recordings effectively
9. Demonstrate effective presentation skills

Indicative Reading List

This reading list is indicative - i.e. it provides an idea of texts that may be useful to you on this module, but it is not considered to be a confirmed or compulsory reading list for this module.

Publications

Das, V. (2000) ‘The Act of Witnessing: Violence, Poisonous Knowledge, and Subjectivity.’ In Das et al. (eds). Violence and Subjectivity, pp. 205-225.

Gershovich, M. (2003) ‘Stories on the road from Fez to Marrakesh: oral history on the margins of national identity’, The Journal of North African Studies, 8:1, 43-58.

Gluck, S and Patai, D. (eds) Women’s Words: the Feminist Practice of Oral History.

Neyzi, L. (2010) ‘Oral History and Memory Studies in Turkey.’ In Kerslake C., Öktem K, Robins P. (eds). Turkey’s Engagement with Modernity: Conflict and Change in the Twentieth Century.

Perks, R. and Thomson (eds) (1998, 2006)The Oral History Reader. 2 editions.

Portelli, A. (1991). ‘What Makes Oral History Different?’ In The Death of Luigi Trastulli and Other Stories, pp. 45-58.

  - (1997) The Battle of Valle Giulia: Oral History and the Art of Dialogue.

Richter-Devroe, S. (2016) ‘Oral Traditions of Naqab Bedouin Women: Challenging Settler-Colonial Representations Through Embodied Performance’ Journal of Holy Land and Palestine Studies, vol. 15, No. 1 : pp. 31-57.

Ritchie, D.(2003) Doing Oral History: A Practical Guide.

Shryock, A. (1997) Nationalism and the Genealogical Imagination: Oral History and Textual Authority in Jordan.

Teskey, R. and Alkhamis, N. ‘Oral History and national stories: theory and practice in the Gulf Cooperation Council.’ In Erskine-Loftus, Hightower and Ibrahim al-Mulla (eds) Representing the Nation: Heritage, museums, national Narratives and identity in the Gulf Arab States.

Tonkin, E. (1992) Narrating our Pasts: the Social Construction of Oral History.

Yow,V.R. (2005) Recording Oral History: A Guide for the Humanities and Social Sciences. 2nd ed.