Oral History

What is an oral history? The definition is a topic of heated debate. In my practice I maintain that an oral history is a long-form, life-focused interview conducted in a manner and space that fosters co-creation, shared-authority, and intersubjectivity. The narrator and the oral historian must establish trust and consent. The narrator maintains the right to edit, or redact, in whole, or in part throughout their life. The oral history can, but does not always have to, be archived, transcribed, or indexed.  The oral history may be part of a larger work, or may stand alone. The work may be published, or archived. It's all oral history. Just listen.

Turning Bullshit Into Fertilizer: Empowerment Narratives, Self-Definition, and Sense-of-Place in Agriculture in the American South 

My Master of Arts thesis in Oral History, archived at Columbia University, explores the effects of "imposed institutional memories" on ritual, memory, and the body. The project was conducted using the "empowerment narrative" interview structure, a praxis that I developed in 2015 and outlines in the written portion of the project. She used the empowerment narrative interviewing technique to conduct four oral histories with narrators living in the American South and involved in small-scale agriculture. Narrators spoke on personal life histories, sense-of-self, sense-of-place, methods of communicating memories, embodied memories, and the importance of land stewardship. The collected oral histories were examined using thematic content analysis and body language. Turning Bullshit into Fertilizer is a multimedia project. The oral histories were captured on archival-quality, born-digital audio, as well as HD video. The audio of the interviews was edited together to create a larger narrative of of sense-of-place, self-definition, and the relationship to agriculture in the American South. The complete audio narrative has been placed under extensive b-roll of the land stewarded by the narrators. The audio-visual and written portion of the project are in direct conversation, when taken together they are Turning Bullshit into Fertilizer: Empowerment Narratives, Re-Definition of Self and Sense-of-Place in Agriculture in the American South. 

Growth, Dirt & Change

The interactive oral history exhibition was presented as part of a larger oral history event, "Listening Through Time and Place", held on April 28, 2016 in the Social Hall of Union Theological Seminary in New York, NY. Attendees could listen to any of three short clips from oral histories of narrators from the American South involved in agriculture, segments that explored formative experiences with the land, teenage indiscretions, and natural disasters. A loop of images from farms related to the narrators played in the background, setting the scene for the stories head through headphones. Those who interacted with the exhibition were encouraged to take a seedling home with them from a table in the corner, encouraging them to interact with the dirt and witness the changes that take place within them. 

Documenting the Oral History Process 

How are you feeling today? Where are we? Why am I here? These are all questions I as an oral historian like to meditate on before the process of recording an oral history ever begins. I have often traveled a great distance to record a narrator. I like to take pictures of my surroundings, documenting the environment in which the interaction is about to take place. These images are archived along with the oral history in an effort to provide context to the person who may later explore the narrative. Along with the photographs, I like to keep a journal of my feelings pre and post interview. Checking in with myself as an oral historian allows me to explore, after the fact, any preconceptions or biases I may have had going in that would effect the interview space and co-creative process. My notes from after the interview help me to process anything that may have been particularly difficult to hear, a recollection of particular interest, or ideas for follow up questions if the interview is multi-part. Self care is an important part of staying healthy and sane as an oral historian, and it starts with acknowledging how you feel at all points in time. 

Audio Storytelling: Creating the Narrative Through Editing

Oral histories can stand alone, but sometimes there is a conversation to be had between a set of stories that is stronger when expressed as a whole. Audio editing as storytelling allows for a greater degree of creativity than recording, transcribing, and archiving a lone oral history. Sounds, pauses, and stories come together to create a cinematic soundscape around a theme, or series of shared events. First one must listen through the constituent stories enough times to know their content and themes almost by-heart. Then the stories can be cut up and placed together in a larger, story-boarded timeline; I like to use different colored highlighters to indicate given narrators. Once the pieces of the narratives are placed together the real creative work can begin. Trimming, elongating pauses, adding music (scoring), or sound effects, each of these actions helping the larger story to be told in a way that is compelling and resonates with an audience. 

Self Care for Oral Historians 

Oral Histories are essentially intersubjective and co-creative. As an oral historian, if I am not feeling well, if I have a physiological response to a topic, or if I hold preconceived notions about my safety and/or that of my narrator, the interview space is effected. Sometimes narrators give oral histories that cover emotionally intense topics: violence, rape, natural disasters, racism, misogyny, childhood trauma, terrorism, persecution, war. Often, we have at least some idea of uncomfortable topics that may arise.  We as oral historians have a duty to our narrators to prepare ourselves for these instances, to work with our narrators to move through the associated emotions, and to come out of the interview changed, but still breathing. There are times when difficult subjects come out of left field, it is these times where it is most important to put an emphasis on self-care in the interview space and after the oral history has taken place. Acknowledging these feelings as real and valid is an important first step. I would add that having a psychological professional whom you can contact is sometimes necessary, and an important part of an oral historian's self-care resource kit. If we as oral historians take care of ourselves, we can better interact with our narrators, and excavate new depth of human emotion and memory.