Module ARA3048 for 2021/2
- Overview
- Aims and Learning Outcomes
- Module Content
- Indicative Reading List
- Assessment
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.
| On successfully completing the programme you will be able to: | |
|---|---|
| Module-Specific Skills | 1. 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 Skills | 5. 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 Skills | 7. 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 |
Module Content
Syllabus Plan
Whilst the module’s precise content may vary from year to year, it is envisaged that the syllabus will cover some or all of the following topics:
- What makes Oral History Different?
- Voices from the Past: the Potential and Uses of Oral History
- Oral History and Poisonous Knowledge: Trauma and Testimony
- Perspectives from Practitioners: Q and A with oral historian
- Memory and Oral History
- Ethics and Risks workshop
- Technical Skills workshop
- Partners in Knowledge Production: Interview Skills workshop
- Preparing for the Archive: Transcription and Editing workshop
Theoretical Perspectives covered will include:
- Oral History as Public History
- Oral History and the Subaltern
- Oral History as Performance
- Subjectivities and Identities
Learning and Teaching
This table provides an overview of how your hours of study for this module are allocated:
| Scheduled Learning and Teaching Activities | Guided independent study | Placement / study abroad |
|---|---|---|
| 30 | 270 | 0 |
...and this table provides a more detailed breakdown of the hours allocated to various study activities:
| Category | Hours of study time | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Scheduled learning and teaching activities | 30 | 11 x 2 hour classes plus 8 x 1-hour lectures. You will need to complete all readings prior to class and be ready to participate. |
| Guided independent study | 99 | 9 hours per week: allocated readings/sources, general seminar/workshop preparation |
| Guided independent study | 20 | First formative assessment |
| Guided independent study | 16 | Second formative assessment (using methodology to generate questions) |
| Guided independent study | 25 | Planning and risk assessment |
| Guided independent study | 60 | Completing major assignment (interview, preparation of materials, transcription of entire interview, presentation) |
| Guided independent study | 50 | Analytical essay |
Online Resources
This module has online resources available via ELE (the Exeter Learning Environment).
Some relevant online Oral History projects and initiatives:
Middle East:
Al-Nakba’s Oral History Project
https://www.palestineremembered.com/OralHistory/
Arab Immigration Oral History Digital Collection
Arabic Communities: People Portraits by Duke Students
https://sites.duke.edu/arabiccommunities/
The Iranian Oral History Project
https://cmes.fas.harvard.edu/projects/iohp
Young People From Diyarbakir and Mugla Speak Out (Gencler Anlatiyor)
http://www.gencleranlatiyor.org/static/english/main/v8.html
Local to Devon:
Telling our Stories, Finding our Roots: Exeter’s Multicultural History
http://www.tellingourstoriesexeter.org.uk/
Cornish Story
General
The Oral History Society
Oral History Collections of the British Library
https://sounds.bl.uk/Oral-history
Oral History Collections at the Library of Congress
https://www.loc.gov/collections/?fa=subject:oral+histories
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.
