Oral History and Memory Studies in Turkey

Abstract

Itself a relatively new interdisciplinary field, oral history and memory studies is a fledgling research area in Turkey. This provides a contrast with history, a well-established, hegemonic discipline historically allied with the state. While many academics in the field of oral history and memory studies outside Turkey were trained in history, and through their work challenged and transformed traditional historiography, in Turkey, practitioners of oral history tend to come from other disciplines such as folklore, anthropology, sociology, literature and women’s studies. As a new field, oral history and memory studies is weakly institutionalised in academe: few universities offer courses in oral history and/or memory studies, usually on the inititative of individual academics based in other programmes. In recent years, though, with the rise of identity politics and widespread debate in the media on national history, academics as well as NGO’s, informal groups and individuals are turning to oral history as a means of rediscovering and reinterpreting the past.