Oral History, Life History, and Biography

Abstract

Oral history, life history, and biography are three approaches to qualitative inquiry that share certain characteristics. At the same time, each has a unique flavor and set of goals and meaning. Narrative in style, all three approaches can often use video or photography and more recently use found data poetry, and thus multiple text analysis is often warranted. These three sister approaches have in common the end result of capturing the lived experience of an individual or a collective of individuals by telling stories. In other words, we are investigating subjectivity that is human lived experience. My reference point to distinguish among the three approaches is that of the theoretical approach of the researcher, and the statement of the researcher defining the selected approach. In this chapter I will describe and explain the three approaches and discuss the relative merits and generous contributions of each approach. Next I will discuss the touchstones and criteria for reviewing oral history, life history, and biography. In fairness I will also need to talk about narrative storytelling, a technique closely associated with these three approaches and with qualitative work in general. In addition, since this is the digital era, near the end of this chapter I will list some resources available for free on the internet through listservs, blogs, YouTube, and other sites that can enhance our understanding of oral history, life history, and biography. Finally, I look at the power and possibility of all three approaches in terms of informing social justice projects in the social sciences. Likewise, wherever possible I will add web resources for understanding these approaches because the internet is exploding with oral history and life history projects on YouTube, Myspace, Second Life, and Facebook. Wherever possible I will also include relevant blogs such as the one on institutional review, www.institutionalreviewblog.com. The requirements of any institutional review board become critical when doing oral history, life history, or biography because of the debates within the field of oral history over whether or not oral history is research. In fact, there is a federal statement on this excluding oral history from IRB review. As a result, many oral historians have taken to writing about this and as you might imagine there is a wide range of opinions. Some say all one needs is a signed consent form and others say just do the IRB review or both.