Reflection On Oral History
In my contribution I would like to reflect on oral history from the perspective of recent debates regarding oral history as autobiography. Oral history has been increasingly recognized both in academia as outside as a valuable contribution to recording the historical experiences of ordinary people. It became a movement to reconstruct the past of people who historically have been excluded from historiography and by doing this historian gave them a share in writing their own history. Oral history, therefore, played an emancipating role in the democratization of historiography and served as a means for social and political empowerment. The founding father of British oral history, Paul Thompson in his book Voice of the Past underscores that oral history opened new areas of inquiry, challenged some of the assumptions and accepted judgments of historians, brought recognition to substantial groups of people who had before been ignored ' (Thompson). In the Caribbean oral history has been also used to document the history of the black working class– both men and women- who for long were ignored and silenced in history (Brother etc). In oral history, the focus is on interviewing as the researcher interviews individuals and collect their life testimonies and personal recollections about the past. As a method, it relies on the ability of the researcher to elicit information from the participant and requires interviewer skills of restraint and listening, as well as
Fanny Kemble's Journal Essay
511 Words | 3 PagesDuring the 19th century, one of the most important historical events has taken place. In the years 1830 's, black people were captured and detained as slaves. A very big number of black population were sold as workers (slaves). Fanny Kemble, a British woman got to experience the reality of what was going on and asked for justice. At some stage in her life she wrote ' '
Genealogical Research Of Andrea Stuart Sugar In The Blood
963 Words | 4 PagesThis book overall is effective on establishing how hard it was to begin a life on the island, how plantations developed and how the slaves were treated. The novel describes how hard it was to go to the island of Barbados and start a new life. Andrea Stuart’s ancestor George Ashby arrived from England on a ship to Barbados. She describes the journey as a hard one because
Summary: Difference Between Negro And Black History
234 Words | 1 PagesThe African History evolved throughout the 20th century where an increasing number of white historians working in the field ( Holt & Brown, 2000). However, there were numerous areas in which work needed to be done. Therefore white historians entered the field to share the work. One of them published the first extensive study of slavery.
Judith Ortiz Cofer's Silent Dancing
1389 Words | 6 PagesStories and memories passed on through generations can help to shape an individual. In many instances, storytelling can tell a lesson or push a person’s opinion about something in a certain direction. Memories can sometimes be unreliable, but can also be all that someone can base their life off of. Judith Ortiz Cofer’s memoir Silent Dancing: A Partial Remembrance of a Puerto Rican childhood uses storytelling to share her memories in a life lesson manner.
Creating African Americans Chapter 1 Summary
485 Words | 2 PagesThis chapter addresses the central argument that African history and the lives of Africans are often dismissed. For example, the author underlines that approximately 50,000 African captives were taken to the Dutch Caribbean while 1,600,000 were sent to the French Caribbean. In addition, Painter provides excerpts from the memoirs of ex-slaves, Equiano and Ayuba in which they recount their personal experience as slaves. This is important because the author carefully presents the topic of slaves as not just numbers, but as individual people. In contrast, in my high school’s world history class, I can profoundly recall reading an excerpt from a European man in the early colonialism period which described his experience when he first encountered the African people.
Summary Of Remembering Jim Crow
699 Words | 3 PagesThe Behind the Veil project primary focused on recording and preserving the memory of African American life during the period of legal segregation in the south. The Behind the Veil Oral History Project by Duke University’s Center for Documentary Studies is the largest collection of oral history of the Jim Crow Era. From 1993 to 1995 researchers organized more than one thousand aged black southerners’ oral history interviews on their memories of the era of legal segregation. The accounts of the 1,260 interviews in this selection express the authentic personalities and moving personal stories that give the experience of the book a genuine feel of the South during the late-19th to mid-20th
Women In Tera W. Hunter's To Joy My Freedom
1327 Words | 6 PagesAs Hunter mentions, “By the end of the (19th) century, African Americans had deployed a multitude of strategies in the workplace, in their neighborhoods, and in the political arena to protect their personal dignity and the integrity of their families and communities”. In order to address these topics, she recurs to newspaper articles, personal testimonies, historical documents, and photographs, among others; in order to compile a series of life experiences that give proof about the complex situations that African American communities faced and their relation to the organizing process of African American
Memoirs In Jeannette Walls The Glass Castle
794 Words | 4 PagesNonfiction is a place without opinion and needs reliable sources of information to base the writings upon. Memoirs are someone’s life in their own opinion and should be labeled as fiction to warn that all events in the work may or may not be
Identity And Identity In Thomas King's Short Story 'Borders'
608 Words | 3 PagesYou tell me, and I won’t put it down on the form, No-one will know but you and me”. It’s obvious that the author, Thomas King, is trying to make awareness about the treatment of Aboriginals are facing in
African Americans During The Harlem Renaissance
470 Words | 2 PagesThe struggle of the African American people was shown through the stories they told and wrote. An example is a story written by Langston Hughes titled, I, Too “Tomorrow, I’ll be at the table When company comes. Nobody’ll dare Say to me, ‘Eat in the kitchen,’ Then.” (Hughes 8-14). Langston Hughes through this story communicates that he will start being seen as an equal
The Myth Of The Negro Past Analysis
903 Words | 4 PagesThroughout chapter three of The Myth of the Negro Past, Melville Herkovits writes about the African culture back before slaves were brought to the Americas. He refutes many previously thought ideas that African Americans have no past or shared culture which the myth in the title of the book. In chapter three entitled, “The African Cultural Heritage,” Herskovits argued that African Americans descended from a people with a rich series of cultural traditions (Willaims 3). One of the aspects that Herkovits looks into is death in the African family and funerals rites. The ties between ancestors and gods are extremely close in Dahomey and the Yoruba cultures, he even says the power of man doesn’t end when that person dies,
Summary Of Lee Smith's Oral History
1631 Words | 7 PagesOral History, Lee Smith’s fifth novel, was published in 1983 and garnered national attention due to its status as a “Book-of-the-Month Club” selection (“Biography”). Oral History opens at the base of Hoot Owl Mountain, home to the remaining descendants of the almost mythical Cantrell family. A younger and somewhat estranged family member, Jennifer, comes to the Appalachian setting to gather information about her unknown past for a college assignment, appropriately termed “Oral History.” She is drawn to the small, now coal-mining community due to a legend surrounding the Cantrell family and their former home, Hoot Owl Holler. The legend morphed into a ghost story involving a haunted cabin, witchcraft, and a supposed curse on the family at hand.
Sugar In The Blood Summary
1413 Words | 6 PagesStuart gave well historical accounts of how the much mixing of people from different cultural background and race conglomerate to form cultural setting currently present in the Caribbean islands. The literature from this novel can be successfully applied in learning institution teach race and ethnic relation courses to assist students in gaining a significant understanding the Barbados inhabitants history. Though the author of the book speaks of the assimilation race in a very compassionate way, she efficaciously demonstrates the how the spectrum of color originated in this Island. According to her, this societal predicament connects to colonialism; the slave trade from Africa to American as well as the oppressive injustices came with the expansion of sugar plantations to meet the booming market demand during the period. The slaves worked under a harsh environmental condition where their masters denied them fundamental rights of human being.
Adolf Hitler's Single Story
1280 Words | 6 PagesThis shows us that we don’t have proof of the credibility of some of these memoirs. We could read a memoir, and be manipulated by the danger of a single story. Articles, newspapers, and books may be exaggerated and far from the truth. Many people will just read an piece of literature or hear of news and assume it’s true without second guessing it, especially if it is from the media. When referring to
Advantages And Disadvantages Of Oral History
778 Words | 4 PagesThe combination of these advantages allows for the individual to give an authentic response to questions about their experiences, rather than formulate a well thought out written response. Oral history has many advantages, but as a primary source there are a few disadvantages. One of which is an individual recalling a false memory. In some cases when events took plave more than forty years ago, the individual could have trouble remembering the exact details of their experience. Another disadvantage is the recollection being only one persons point of view.
More about Reflection On Oral History
Fanny Kemble's Journal Essay
511 Words | 3 PagesGenealogical Research Of Andrea Stuart Sugar In The Blood
963 Words | 4 PagesSummary: Difference Between Negro And Black History
234 Words | 1 PagesJudith Ortiz Cofer's Silent Dancing
1389 Words | 6 PagesCreating African Americans Chapter 1 Summary
485 Words | 2 PagesSummary Of Remembering Jim Crow
699 Words | 3 PagesWomen In Tera W. Hunter's To Joy My Freedom
1327 Words | 6 PagesMemoirs In Jeannette Walls The Glass Castle
794 Words | 4 PagesIdentity And Identity In Thomas King's Short Story 'Borders'
608 Words | 3 PagesAfrican Americans During The Harlem Renaissance
470 Words | 2 PagesThe Myth Of The Negro Past Analysis
903 Words | 4 PagesSummary Of Lee Smith's Oral History
1631 Words | 7 PagesSugar In The Blood Summary
1413 Words | 6 PagesAdolf Hitler's Single Story
1280 Words | 6 PagesAdvantages And Disadvantages Of Oral History
778 Words | 4 Pages