Methods and Procedures in Oral History Cover Image

Módszerek és eljárások az orális történelem vizsgálatában
Methods and Procedures in Oral History

Author(s): Narcisa Ştiucă
Subject(s): History
Published by: Korunk Baráti Társaság
Keywords: oral history; official history; narrative research; biographical narratives; methodology

Summary/Abstract: Narrative research is among the most beloved methods today in the human sciences, although its investigative methods are rather defective. One of the problems which it raises consists in the substantial dissociation between “biographical narratives” and “oral history”. In the author’s opinion, the recording of information and testimonies resulting from the recounting of one’s life cannot be brought in essential accord with official history, and even less could it offer an alternative to it. The reason for this is that the recounting of one’s own life experience is inevitably and purely subjective, as the role of the researcher consists not in confronting the testimonies with the recorded truths about the same events, but in their open reception, while in the case of oral history many more scriptural and visual testimonies are consulted.

  • Issue Year: 2011
  • Issue No: 03
  • Page Range: 28-33
  • Page Count: 6
  • Language: Hungarian