- 07 Mar, 2021
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a two page rhetorical identification, summary, and analysis of an oral history
Assignment: Listen to and summarize one oral history (2 pages)
Compose a two page rhetorical identification, summary, and analysis of an oral history.
Course Learning Outcomes:
• Summarize information clearly and effectively
• Identify rhetorical dimensions of persuasive writing
• Demonstrate reflective engagement with readings
• Cite sources correctly
• Use primary sources effectively
• Demonstrate clarity, organization, and punctuality
What is oral history?
“Oral history is a field of study and a method of gathering, preserving and interpreting the voices and memories of people, communities, and participants in past events. Oral history is both the oldest type of historical inquiry, predating the written word, and one of the most modern, initiated with tape recorders in the 1940s and now using 21st-century digital technologies.”
– Oral History Association
Why use oral history?
It helps us fill out the story of the past.
It helps us understand how individuals and communities experienced history.
It teaches us what changes and what stays the same.
It preserves a sound portrait for future generations.
Challenges of oral history?
Reliability/Credibility
Bias and Perspective
Memory versus History
Where can I find oral histories?
For our purposes, oral histories are recorded accounts of the past that are collected into archives, which are themselves housed at libraries or other institutions concerned with history and preservation. Some oral histories have been digitized, transcribed, and placed online for public access; in other situations, researchers must access the oral histories by going to a library. Some options:
A general guide: http://historymatters.gmu.edu/mse/oral/online.html
Oklahoma State’s Collections: https://library.okstate.edu/oralhistory/digital/
The American South (audio, transcription, script): http://docsouth.unc.edu/sohp/
American Life Histories (1936-1940, transcription): http://www.loc.gov/collections/federal-writers-project/about-this-collection/
American Artists (transcribed with audio excerpts): http://www.aaa.si.edu/collections/interviews
Born in Slavery (transcribed, photos): http://lcweb2.loc.gov/ammem/snhtml/snhome.html
Military History (transcribed): http://oralhistory.rutgers.edu/military-history
Women (transcribed): http://oralhistory.rutgers.edu/social-and-cultural-history/787-womens-history-index
Holocaust Survivors (audio, video, transcription): http://collections.ushmm.org/search/?f[record_type_facet][]=Oral History
To Do:
1. Choose an oral history, from one of the collections above or a location of your choosing. It must be a recorded interview with an individual, though you might only have the transcript available. Regardless, the interview itself must be a minimum 20 minutes long and the recording must exist, even if you can’t access it immediately.
2. Write a 2 page summary and analysis following the format below:
a. Introduction – identify your text (Who is interviewed? Who does the interviewer? When does it happen? Where is it done? What is the context?) and lay out why you choose this interview.
b. 1st Body Paragraph – summarize the content of the oral history
c. 2nd Body paragraph – analyze the documents based on some of questions below
d. Conclusion: What does this item teach you? What questions does it raise? What are two or three possible directions for more research? In other words, what preliminary research questions do you have after analyzing these two documents?
e. Cite the source.
3. Save this document and then copy and paste it into the discussion forum linked in blackboard.
These are some possible questions you can use to analyze oral histories. Note: one of the goals of this assessment is for you to figure out exactly what to summarize and exactly what to analyze. I give the general structure above, but it is up to you to decide what direction to go.
How do I analyze oral histories? Who, What, and Why
1. Who is the narrator?
What is the narrator’s relationship to the events under discussion?
What stake might the narrator have in presenting a particular version of events?
What effect might the narrator’s social identity and position have on the interview?
How does the narrator present himself or herself in the interview?
What sort of character does the narrator become in the interview?
What influences–personal, cultural, social–might shape the way the narrator’s expression?
How are the events generally regarded? How might popular culture shape the account?
2. Who is the interviewer?
What background and interests does the interviewer bring to the topic of the interview?
How might this affect the interview?
How do the interviewer’s questions shape the story told?
Has the interviewer prepared for the interview?
How adept is the interviewer in getting the narrator to tell his/her story in his/her own way?
What effect might the interviewer’s social identity and position have?
How might the dynamic between narrator and interviewer affect what is said in the interview?
Does the interviewer have a prior relationship with the interviewee?
3. What has been said in the interview?
How has the narrator structured the interview?
What’s the plot of the story?
What does this tell us about the way the narrator thinks about his/her experience?
What motifs, images, anecdotes does the narrator use to encapsulate experience?
What does the narrator avoid or sidestep?
What topics does the narrator speak about with interest, enthusiasm, or conviction?
What might this tell us?
Are there times when the narrator doesn’t seem to answer the question posed?
What might be the reason for this?
Are there significant factual errors in the narrative?
Is it internally consistent?
How might you account for errors and inconsistencies?
How does the narrator’s account jibe with other sources, other interviews?
How can you explain any discrepancies?
4. For what purpose has this interview been conducted?
How might the purpose have shaped the content, perspective, and tone of the interview?
5. What are the circumstances of the interview?
What effect might the location of the interview have had on what was said in the interview?
Were other people present?
Do you know the mental and physical health of the narrator and interviewer?
What effect might these have had on the interview?