Oral History. There are various possible approaches to oral history. For example, some researchers describe unique phenomena in storytelling, while others focus on the way stories are told or the sociocultural background of the storytellers. For this study, I focus on migration stories told by the traditional leaders of the Alorese community. Such stories are part of indigenous history, which refers to history as situated knowledge with specific understandings about how the past is preserved, constituted, and represented in the memory of the present-day community (Wellfelt, 2016:17). The oral traditions of the Alorese people, in which their migration histories are retold, can be regarded as legends. According to Xxxxxxxxxx (1984:66–83), legends, specifically in Indonesia, are prose stories that are strongly believed by the storytellers to be factual; in other words, that they convey events that genuinely occurred in the past. However, legends are often seen by historians as collective folk history, with the potential to be distorted and to diverge greatly from the actual events of the past. In line with this, it is important to consider whether oral history can be considered reliable as a source to reconstruct the past of the Alorese people. Due to the fluidity of oral narrative topology, narrative history does not fit well with scientific research, unless there is archaeological evidence and/or archival material enabling further analysis. Nevertheless, storytelling can sometimes be the only available instrument to discover the history of a group of people, meaning that it is valuable even in the absence of supporting evidence (Van Engelenhoven & Xxxxxxxxx, 2016:227). Xxxxxxx (2003:110) and Xxxxxxx (1985:199) argue that oral history has an important part to play in the reconstruction of the past and that it should be considered equally as important as any other form of historical evidence. By examining the themes of stories in various accounts of Alorese oral history, it is possible to generate ideas and hypotheses about the history of the Alorese people. The oral history approach used in this study is comparable to the historyscapes on Alor proposed by Xxxxxxxx (2016). This approach employs close reading of transcribed texts from interviews, followed by analyzing and organizing the texts to form a timeline. In addition, this process can be supplemented with archive materials, such as written texts. The resulting chronologies point to important issues, events, and devel...
Oral History. I, the undersigned, understand and hereby agree to abide by all the restrictions which may be placed on the use of oral history transcripts and/or tapes on deposit at the Xxxxxx X. Xxxxxxxxxx Library. Copies of said restrictions are available for me to read in the research room of the Eisenhower Library and as attachments to the transcripts of the oral history interviews. I further understand that any liability that is created by my publishing or citing in any manuscript intended for publication of restricted material will be solely mine. Where the restriction requires the written permission of the person interviewed that is also my responsibility and will have to be accomplished on my own initiative.
Oral History. The kind of research that I am doing could be done also in the other fields of social sciences. For example social psychologists have interviewed immigrants and studied their psychological wellbeing and acculturation process. What separates my research from their work is the relation with time. Even though I concentrate on contemporary society, my research is still a historical study, as the informants‟ interpretations of the past influence the way in which they understand their own experiences. According to Xxxxxxx, reminiscence of one‟s life is about both remembering the past but also interpreting and restructuring it, and also kind of changing it. Remembering is a way to share experiences and to compare one‟s own experiences with those of the others‟. In addition, it is a way to consider the relation of the one‟s own past with the public history. Therefore, it is a way to produce interpretation that supplements, complies or criticizes public understanding of the past.81 It can also bring out new standpoints and reach and produce the own histories of the informants‟.82 81 Ukkonen 2000, 11–12. 82 Ibid, 14. Oral history is a method used by many historians who do micro historical research or “history from below”.83 Oral history emphasises the experiences of the people who have been “forgotten” in the traditional historical writing and the importance of those people as mediators of their experiences.84 Oral history does not necessarily explain the actual happenings of the past but it is about the meaning that those happenings have at the present situation. In many cases, the interviews and the subjective experiences of the informants reveal new details of the happenings. They reveal for example what informants‟ intentions or beliefs in a historical situation were and also what they later think they did. Even if oral history would differentiate from the actual happenings, it brings forth the motives behind the actions. In addition, it clarifies the informant's own way of understanding the past. That is why it can be seen as reliable. As any source, also oral history is subjective, but more openly than some other sources.85 Furthermore, oral memory is also collective knowledge, as community regulates the ways of remembering and even defines what is worth remembering. Community maintains socially accepted interpretations of a past and, at the same time, it “forgets” the contradictory interpretation.86 Thus remembering is also about processing happenings that ha...
Oral History. In addition, take a look at the oral history holdings, which comprise numerous interviews of European politicians and officials, including important figures and officials involved in the access negotiations of the Community’s second enlargement. Below, you can find a (non-exhaustive) list of persons interviewed who talked about Greece’s accession to the Community and about the previous association agreement between Greece and the Community.
Oral History. The purpose for the Collection of any oral history material will be made clear in writing to all individuals whose recollection form an oral history record. A written agreement between CSG as agent of the Council and the individual will be entered into prior to any oral history being recorded.
