Oral+History


 * Directions:** //As a team, you will be responsible for compiling the information below about your inquiry strategy. Next week, your group will provide a 5-7 minute overview of your strategy for the __#|class__.//

** Name and Description of your strategy (mention any variations of your strategy as well): **

The Oral History inquiry strategy is the process of interviewing a person or group of people to understand and receive a perspective of what it was like to live as that person or group. One needs to find out what it is like to live as another in a certain time period or how to live as a certain member of group within a society.

Interviewing is the main strategy that we will use. Interviewing is a stage of a process that requires one to asks effective questions and one needs to withold good interviewing and question-making skills. Once the information is collected, one takes this information and turns into an essay.

** Inquiry Process associated with your strategy: ** The inquiry process of our strategy is interviewing. First a person needs to familiarize themselves with the culture or background of the person or group. Interviews that are not structured can also work. If you do not have a defined topic, the interview can lead the way by choosing topics. It is okay to do this if you have a broad topic. Interviews can also take the form of a list of questions. This is usually seen in the college scene. If you do this then you need to have a focus point. A person needs to ask permission of the person or group before than can conduct an interview. Also treat the person you are interviewing with respect of their culture and customs. If they __#|start__ to look tired, then it fine to end the interview or take a break. Once the person has their information from the interview, then they need to turn their raw information into an essay. You want to make sure your main focus point is addressed in the essay and decide what you want to discuss. You want to ask yourself "what is the purpose of this essay?"

Sequence for Oral History Research
 * 1) Formulate a central question or issue.
 * 2) Plan the project. Consider such things as end products, budget, publicity, evaluation, personnel, equipment, and time frames.
 * 3) Conduct background research.
 * 4) Interview.
 * 5) Process interviews.
 * 6) Evaluate research and interviews.
 * 7) Organize and present results.
 * 8) Store materials.

** Description of the Product or Products resulting from the inquiry process associated with your strategy: ** Since an interview is a common method of collecting the information, a transcript is often the first product of oral history project. The transcript is then usually either presented just as the transcript alone or put into essay format. When the information is put into essay format, the writer/recorder can interpret the comments or use them as evidence for an argument. The purpose of the essay determines how the writer will present the information. The essay can be simply a transcribe of the comments of the individual (interviewee), the experiences of perspective of the individual, the individuals experiences or perspectives within a larger historical or social context or the use of the individuals experiences/perspectives to make an arugement about a larger historical or social context.

** Descriptions of Examples and Links to examples when possible (when you include a link to an example, provide a brief annotation / description of the example -- not just a link): ** //Our America//- LeAlan Jones and Lloyd Newman with David Isay : Two young African American boys, LeAlan and Lloyd tell the story of their every day lives living in Chicago's Ida B Wells homes. The boys tell of poverty, violence and even death of a 5 year old boy who was thrown out of building by two young boys. The boys used tapes, recorders, cameras and notebooks to tell their story to a white journalist who helped in publishing their story in two documentaries and this books.

//The Foxfire Book//- Edited by Eliot Wigginton and his __#|students__: The book is the product of a project conducted by a teacher and his students to record "how to" books celebrating the home life and creative history of Appalachia. The firsthand narrative accounts from community members address things such as hog dressing, log cabin building, hunting tales and moonshining.


 * ** Key Resource (Dr. Y) ** - This series of books and the inquiry process associated with it started a national curriculum initiative. More information can be found here: __ [|http://www.foxfire.org] __ /.

//Sitting on the Courthouse Bench//- edited by Lee Smith: This oral history is the telling of memories and stories from a town that has been and will probably be again flooded. The town is in danger of being destroyed all together so the townspeople share their part of the history in hopes of being able to have it once the town is gone.


 * ** Key Resource (Dr. Y) ** - To be clear, the town was relocated to the other side of the river to avoid future floodings. The oral history initiative was facilitated by a high school English teacher in Grundy, VA, who had her students collect oral histories in order to preserve the original town's history before it was demolished and reestablished on the other side of the river. More information may be found here: __ [|http://www.foxfire.org] __ /

http://historymatters.gmu.edu/mse/oral/online.html#exemp : This website gives examples of oral histories.

** Resources consulted related to your strategy (both hard copy and links): **

The Oral History Association, established in 1966, seeks to bring together all persons interested in oral history as a way of collecting and interpreting human memories to foster knowledge and human dignity. With an international membership, the OHA serves a broad and diverse audience. Local historians, librarians and archivists, students, journalists, teachers, and academic scholars from many fields have found that the OHA provides both professional guidance and a collegial environment for sharing research. [] -- ** KEY RESOURCE! **

__Step__ by Step Guide to Oral History (Judith Moyer 1993, Revised 1999) This is a very detailed website that offers strategies, guidelines, and suggestions on oral histories. []

What is Oral History? This website also describes the oral history process but includes information on how to evaluate an oral history. It also provides a model interpretation along with many resources. There is a list of things to consider when evaluating an oral history online including: purpose and provenance, credibility, site features, material, design and technical quality, and context of the interviews. []

Southern Oral History Program (SOHP) is a program based at UNC-Chapel Hill that produces oral histories on the 20th century American South. The mission of the program is to:  • Create an unparalleled archive of sound recordings documenting life in the 20th-century South.  • Provide students with research opportunities and encourage them to combine scholarship with public service.  • Make history accessible through community-based workshops and collaborations with the public schools.  • Produce publications and documentaries that offer a fresh understanding of southern history []

** 1-2 additional inquiry-based learning strategies we like, value, want to try, have experienced in a positive way, etc. (name and describe briefly): **

1)SMIM-C- W have started to discuss this strategy in the Social Studies methods class as a historical inquiry strategy. The strategy stands for Summarizing, Contextualizing, Inferring, Monitoring, and Corroborating. The strategy contains questions to consider for each stage: Summarizing >  Contextualizing
 * What type of historical document is the source?
 * What specific information, details/ and or perspectives does the source provide?
 * What is the subject and/ or purpose of the source?
 * Who was the author and/or audience of the source?
 * When and where was the source produced?
 * Why was the source produced?
 * What was happening within the immediate and broader context at the time the source was produced?
 * What summarizing information can place the source in time and place?

Inferring
 * What is suggested by the source?
 * What interpretations may be drawn from the source?
 * What perspectives or points of view are indicated in the source?
 * What inferences may be drawn from absences or omissions in the source?

Monitoring
 * What additional evidence beyond the source is necessary to answer the historical question?
 * What ideas, images, or terms need further defining from the source?
 * How useful or significant is the source for its intended purpose in answering the historical question?
 * What questions from the previous stages need to be revisited in order to analyze the source satisfactorily?

Corroborating
 * What similarities and differences between the sources exist?
 * What factors could account for these similarities and differences?
 * What conclusions can be drawn from the accumulated interpretations?
 * What additional information or sources are necessary to answer more fully the guiding historical question?