Oral History Research Articles

When Grief Arrives: An oral history of grief and death within queer, trans and Black, Indigenous and people of colour communities

When Grief Arrives is a narrative therapy and oral history project aimed at re-storying narratives of grief and loss within queer, trans and Black, Indigenous and people of colour communities. The project documents multi-storied accounts of grief that resist the individualisation and isolation of grieving that is common under settler colonialism and capitalism. By honouring overlooked landscapes of experience, the project seeks to generate solidarity and interconnection through shared knowledges. This article discusses the project’s methodology, ethical considerations, and the transformative potential of collective storytelling in fostering solidarity and healing within marginalised communities.

Abstract C078: Optimizing exposure science to understand disparities: the Bayview Hunters Point residential history study

Abstract Background: Understanding environmental impacts on local cancer burden requires accurate documentation of residential histories. Collection of residential history data is challenging because individuals may have difficulty recalling addresses over decades, or the detailed dates living at each location. In addition, some communities may have different concepts of where they live versus their home address. Recently, Surveillance Epidemiology and End Results (SEER) data was linked to LexisNexis longitudinal residential history database, which could address some of these challenges. As part of a larger effort to understand the impact of environmental exposures in Bayview Hunters Point (BVHP), we compared the oral residential histories against commercially available data found in LN. We hypothesized that for communities with limited financial mobility, who live in multi-generational households or have diverse definitions of “home,” commercially available data sets may fail to capture accurate residential histories and has implications for studying environmental exposures and cancer. Methods: After institutional IRB approval, community advocates helped identify long term (>20 years) BVHP residents. Group interviews, including a friend/family member to support detailed recall of residential history, were conducted. Interviews elicited residential histories (RH) with addresses and concepts of ‘home.’ Participant-reported RH were compared against records in LexisNexis (LN). We used three levels of identifiers to locate participant records: 1. Name and Date of Birth (DOB); 2. Name, DOB, and middle initial and aliases; 3. Name, DOB, augmented name, and alternate family members’ addresses. Participants were categorized by the amount of data required to find the LN record; and those who could not be located at all. Qualitative data was analyzed using Dedoose Version 7.0.23 (2016), Los Angeles, California. Results: The study included 20 participants who lived on average 40 years in BVHP. Of those, 90% were African American. The majority (65%) were female with an average age of 61. LN records for 4 participants (20%) were identified using minimal identifiers; five (25%) required inclusion of aliases. Nearly half (n=8 (40%)) required search terms that included aliases and an alternative address, highlighting the difference between where people “live” versus where they “stay;” and suggesting the importance of differences in definitions of ‘home.’ Three (15%) participants’ records could not be found in LN. Conclusion: In a historically redlined community situated at one of the country’s most contaminated superfund sites, LN data was limited in capturing complete RH. The NCI’s recent linkage of SEER with LN residential history data relies on assumptions about financial mobility and multigenerational households. The dataset may fail to capture exposures when locations where people “stay” differ from their permanent address. Our results suggest that SEER-LN data to evaluate environmental exposures should be used with caution. Citation Format: Chinomnso Okorie, Dalila Adofo, Michael Bennett, Debora Oh, Galen Joseph, Scarlett Gomez, Kim F. Rhoads. Optimizing exposure science to understand disparities: the Bayview Hunters Point residential history study [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 17th AACR Conference on the Science of Cancer Health Disparities in Racial/Ethnic Minorities and the Medically Underserved; 2024 Sep 21-24; Los Angeles, CA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev 2024;33(9 Suppl):Abstract nr C078.

Escritores nahuas: utopías comunitarias y prácticas sobre los futuros posibles en la Sierra de Zongolica, México

Two Nahua writers’ collectives in Sierra de Zongolica are the topic of this article, which explores how language and literary creation are employed to build utopian community projects. As part of the ongoing struggle against extreme marginalization and discrimination, these writers have developed collective practices and forms of organization with an eye to future projects for social transformation in a historical and social context that is nearly always adverse. Through an oral history and ethnography, the article analyzes the trajectories of the two collectives and explores how utopias and futures are built. The focus here is on the creative practices of the groups and framed within a debate on the processes of building communities and utopian projects for the future.

‘The Store’ Oral History Project

ABSTRACT The Store Oral History Project is a collection of 20 oral histories gathered from members of the Newcastle community in 2019, sharing their thoughts and memories of the Newcastle and Suburban Co-operative Society Ltd, known locally as ‘The Store’. The project builds on existing knowledge about ‘The Store’ that was the biggest and most successful co-operative society in Australia, established in 1898. In 1974, at its peak it operated 15 other retail branches and had 98,000 members and employed 1450 workers. 1 It provided grocery, retail goods, services including a health fund, funeral fund, travel agency. Eventually, increased shopper mobility and competition from suburban shopping centres saw ‘The Store’ close in 1981 after 83 years of service. Closure left a lasting impact upon the community and in the wake of the demolition and renewal of the former Hunter Street site, this project commemorates and celebrates The Store's legacy. This article discusses how the project provided a unique opportunity for a university Library to collaborate with industry partners, the community, employed students and provided Work Integrated learning students’ opportunities to build GLAM sector knowledge and skills. Twenty oral histories are publicly available on Livinghistories@UON. 2 These amplified voices of ‘The Store’ add meaning to existing narratives, as well as the University’s archival holdings of this old Newcastle icon. In 2019, the University of Newcastle (Australia) Auchmuty library embarked on a new project aimed to record stories associated with The Newcastle and Suburban Co-operative Society Ltd, known locally as ‘The Store’, established in Newcastle West, in 1898. The main store building opened in Hunter Street Newcastle, New South Wales, in 1906.

Advocacy through storytelling: challenging eating disorders and eating disorders stigma

BackgroundAlthough eating disorders (EDs) are among the most stigmatised mental illnesses, a number of individuals break past this stigma and engage in ED advocacy by sharing their recovery stories. Little is known, however, about the role of such advocacy in their healing journeys.MethodsTo bridge this gap, the authors examined the role of autobiographical oral storytelling in the ED recovery of adult advocates. Autobiographical oral history interviews were carried out with adult advocates (n = 16) recovering from EDs. The data were analysed using a mixture of actantial and thematic analyses. Authors also used activity theory to categorise how storytelling was translated into concrete social actions. Results were then interpreted through frameworks of embodiment and the intersectionality of identity.ResultsAdvocates chose to share their ED stories as a way to embody resilience and make meaning from their ED experiences. Beyond personal gains, the social benefits of sharing their stories included raising hope and openness to converse further with audiences, advocating for greater ED resources (e.g., ED literacy among school staff), and offering new training initiatives for healthcare professionals. The ties between storytelling and the unique aspects of one’s identity are also discussed.ConclusionsEngaging in advocacy through storytelling can positively affect both the advocates and the audiences with whom they connect. Future studies, informed by feminist biopsychosocial frameworks, can examine storytelling as a therapeutic intervention. Such frameworks serve as alternatives to biomedical models of EDs and mental illnesses. They also emphasise the need for broader changes that destabilise oppressive body cultures and display how storytelling can help mobilise change.

Muslims in Interwar Vienna: The Making and Failing of a Community

This article explores the making of a unified Muslim community in interwar Austria and its ultimate failure. It argues that while the Islamischer Kulturbund Wien represented a visionary idea which aimed at establishing a Muslim community, rooted in both faith and Austrian society, it ultimately remained the dream of only a select few individuals. The association succeeded in strategically positioning itself as the representative body of Muslims in Austria; however, due to a lack of commitment from its members and the rise of fascism in Austria, this early attempt to establish a unified Muslim community in Austria eventually failed. By incorporating unofficial sources in various languages, including private letters, oral history interviews, and newspapers, alongside official archival material, the article amplifies the voice, perspective and agency of key Muslim figures involved, allowing for a more fully developed understanding of the internal and external dynamics of Muslim activism in interwar Vienna.

Some theoretical aspects and experience of oral history study of the modern russian-ukrainian war

Some theoretical aspects and experience of oral history study of the modern russian-ukrainian war

May 1968 Protests in France in the Collective Memory of the European Commission Politicians

Introduction. The May 1968 protests are an important place of remembrance in the history of Europe. Methods and materials. The author uses the methods of studying collective memory to analyze the image of the May protests in the collective memory of the European Union. The article analyzes how former members of the European Commission recall the events of 1968 within the framework of The European Commission 1958–1973: History and Memories of an Institution project and how the May protests are woven into the history of European unification. The project was implemented in the early 2000s with the aim of compiling an oral history of the European Union and the European Commission in particular. Analysis. The author summarizes the image of the protests and highlights the general features of the description of the events of 1968. Based on examples of interviews with Fausta Deshormes La Valle, Odile Benoist-Lucie, Franz Froschmaier, and Raymond Barre, the article summarizes a comprehensive picture of the crisis year of 1968, which affected both the political, social, and economic spheres of life in Europe. Results. The memory of the protests, actualized through the interviews, correlates with the first reaction of European politicians in 1968. A significant difference is the selectivity of memories. Politicians in interviews do not recall the violence that the protests caused or the eclecticism of the slogans of the rebel students; the positive image of the protests dominates. The common motif present in most of the interviews is the feeling of young people’s disappointment in the ideals of a united Europe. The May protests are presented as a turning point in the history of Europe, which prompted European politicians to act and further deepen the integration.

A case study on love motif of the Kazakh historical legends

The purpose of the article is to analyze the functions of love motif in the plot structure of Kazakh legends and systematize the texts according to the degree of its expression and plot-forming function. Using eight texts as an example, historical legends with a rudimentary and expanded love theme are separated, the specificity of a romance conflict and its role in oral narrative are defined. The national system of values is described. A conclusion is made about the integration of interethnic communication in historical legends, genre and content originality of modern Kazakh legends.

Heritage Education as a Tool of Social, Ethnic, and Religious Cohesion in Iraq: Empirical Insights

ABSTRACT While the politicization of cultural heritage in Iraq is widely covered by research, little attention is dedicated to how exactly heritage education has been implemented, the knowledge gap this article aims to address. Focusing on the methods employed to educate an average citizen in cultural heritage (how) rather than on the motivation behind them (why), the article unveils novel empirical data drawn from 25 oral history interviews with Iraqi heritage-sector stakeholders demonstrating several important findings. First, a profound gap emerges between cultural awareness levels in pre-1990 and contemporary Iraqi society. Second, the data allows us to identify 12 categories of pre-1990 heritage education strategies, nearly all of which are currently missing or slowly being revived. Third, the respondents disclose a strong reliance on heritage education potential for raising cultural awareness in the sectarianism-torn society. Finally, the article suggests a holistic and inclusive heritage education methodology as a tool of social, ethnic, and religious cohesion in Iraq.

Der gut strukturierte Tod

Abstract Based on the example of King Conrad I’s death, this paper wants to contribute to the question of how medieval historiography chose and arranged its contents. It postulates that chroniclers narrated their histories just like medieval authors of fictional literature by using plot schemes. Before King Conrad I died, Ottonian sources tell us, he had called for his brother and designated the Saxonian Duke Henry I king. Former research saw vast similarities between the sources as either evidence for their reliability, as textual references, or regarded them as written result of an oral tradition at the Ottonian court. A comparison with several ( East-/West- ) Franconian and English narratives about other rulers’ deaths ( e. g. Pepin the Younger, William the Conqueror or Saladin ) shows us that not only Ottonian, but chroniclers in general used the same textual elements, which they arranged in a similar order. One reason for this might be references to the Bible and hagiography. However, since there are no obvious linguistic borrowings tangible between the narratives, the death of Conrad I in the Ottonian sources can be interpreted as a variation of narratives, based on a more widespread scheme used probably all over Latin Europe. This scheme was distributed in different ways: by the use of textual models, but also by the adaption of oral narratives.

Cultural heritage re-search: Reimagining the collective memory of Copándaro de Galeana, Michoacán

The author reconnects with the ongoing struggles of her parents’ hometown, Copándaro de Galeana, located in Michoacán, Mexico, in this ethnographic critical research. Employing critical survey methods and analyzing the community’s identity reclamation through two festivals, El Carnaval and El Festival de las Almas y las Flores, the author collaborates with family members and friends to create a collective memory of Copándaro de Galeana’s intangible cultural heritage, underscoring the community’s self-expressed Resistant Knowledges. As a critical cultural heritage study, this article addresses the dichotomy of exploitation vs empowerment present in archival aspects of cultural heritage preservation methods. It also examines how the author’s position as a Chicana/Mestiza, attempting to reconnect with her indigenous roots and the duality of Indigenismo, aids or counters the empowerment of Copándaro de Galeana. Situated within the broader theme of “Resistant Knowledges: Unmasking Coloniality through the re-search of local to global communities,” the study addresses specific subtopics, emphasizing autonomous movements, identity and representation, and community resilience. Recognizing the important role that oral history has played in recording Copándaro de Galeana’s memory, the author similarly includes community members’ recollections and personal experiences to form a decolonized re-search article.

Becoming a Rescuer in the Pyrenees: Border Guides Who took Jews from France to Franco’s Spain (1940–1943)

Abstract During the Holocaust, thousands of Jews in France fled Europe via Franco’s Spain. When leaving France, refugees who lacked the required travel documents avoided police and customs officers at the Franco-Spanish border by walking over the Pyrenees. Guides (passeurs) led them through the mountains to the border, choosing trails and times that would make encounters with police patrols less likely. Most charged large sums of money, but some worked without payment. This article explores why the latter group engaged in this dangerous form of rescue, by examining how they became border guides. It focuses on two French farmers, a French Christian brother at a sanatorium, and an antifascist activist from Germany. The sources analyzed include the memoirs, unpublished accounts, diaries, letters and oral history interviews of the guides, their work associates, and the refugees; as well as official correspondence between French police and government officials in the Pyrenees region, and the archival records of the Brothers of the Christian Schools. The author’s primary research finding is that the border guides considered in this study undertook the dangerous task of guiding refugees because they had had a series of experiences and had engaged in a series of actions that made it more feasible for them to do so when asked. Their values and understanding of their work also help explain why they became guides. Reflections on the implications of this research for our comprehension of bystanders’ actions conclude the article.

UNESCO, mining heritage and the scalar sustainability of tourism geographies at industrial World Heritage Sites

PurposeIndustrial heritage works within a world of contradictions, contentions and scalar liminality. Archaeologists and historians focus upon oral histories and discourses of tangible and intangible memory and heritage while planners and economists see industrial World Heritage, in particular, as a marketing ploy to redevelop deindustrialized spaces. Within this liminality, we explore the potential for geographical perspectives to solder such contradictions into transdisciplinary heritage assessments and tourism contexts. How might the spatial tools of landscape and scalar analyses expose alternative and sustainable futures within broader patterns of industrial heritage management and consumption?Design/methodology/approachUsing three comparative cases, interview and landscape methods and conducting discourse analysis within a spatial and scalar framework, we explore the increasing presence of industrial World Heritage.FindingsWe present both an institutional reflection upon the complexities of heritage discourse across complex spatial configurations and the intersectional historical, cultural, political, environmental and economic geographies that guide and emerge out of World Heritage Designations. Framed scalarly and spatially, we highlight common interpretation, tourism and heritage management styles and concerns found across industrial World Heritage. We point out trans-scalar considerations for future municipalities and regions looking to utilize their industrial landscapes and narratives.Originality/valueWe believe that more theoretical groundings in space and scale may lead to both the flexibility and the applicability needed to assess and, in turn, manage trans-scalar and trans-spatial complex heritage sites. These perspectives may be uniquely poised to assess the complex geographies of industrial, particularly mining, World Heritage Sites.

“You’ve Got Me Feeling Emotions”: Affective Norms of Deliberation in the Philippine lgbtqia+ Rights Movement

Abstract In contentious politics and deliberation, emotions function as rhetorical resources to substantiate claims and as evaluative criteria to assess social ties among actors. For social movements, then, emotions are vital in framing demands and sustaining collective participation. Grounded on accounts gathered from Filipinx lgbtqia+ rights movement through oral history interviews and analyzed through narrative and thematic approaches, this article illustrates the role of emotions when adherents deliberate with various interlocutors. I argue that advocates utilize affective ties to expand access to deliberative institutions and to sustain discussions of their claims. I also submit that specific ideologies motivate the idealization of particular affective norms when activists engage specific interlocutors. Hence, emotions figure in the movement both as framing tools and deliberative norms that need to be deliberated as well.

Trans(inter?)textual Migrations (Relations?) in the Traditional (Postmodernist?) Narrative of Salman Rushdie

Salman Rushdie's narrative style reflects a blend of traditional oral storytelling and postmodern literary techniques. This duality makes it challenging to categorize him strictly as either a traditional or postmodernist writer. His works, such as Midnight’s Children, exhibit fragmented storytelling akin to oral narratives, where the narrator frequently digresses, influenced by their environment and memories. These digressions create intertextual relationships, not just between texts but also between the text and the non-textual world, a technique which is called the "grasshopper narrative” in this paper. Rushdie's Midnight’s Children is heavily influenced by both Eastern oral traditions and Western literary techniques. The narrative is interspersed with references and borrowings from other texts and traditions, creating a tapestry of intertextual and trans-textual relations. For instance, characters and motifs from Forster’s A Passage to India and Kipling’s Kim find their way into Rushdie’s narrative, creating a dialogue between these works and Rushdie’s own. Moreover, the novel’s fragmented structure and the presence of a listener, Padma, enhance its oral storytelling feel, reinforcing its connection to traditional Eastern narratives. The influence of Western authors like Günter Grass and Gabriel García Márquez is also evident. These influences blend with Rushdie’s use of magic realism and his unique narrative style. Furthermore, Rushdie’s cinematic influences and his use of film vocabulary add another layer to his complex narrative structure. Rushdie’s narrative technique is a hybrid of traditional oral storytelling and postmodernist intertextuality, creating rich, multi-layered texts that traverse cultural and textual boundaries.

Social learning and collective action in flood-hazard management in Manitoba, Canada

ABSTRACT Knowledge of social learning about flood hazards in the literature, especially regarding its transformation into collective action for risk reduction, is very limited. This study addresses these gaps by developing an integrated framework that describes how social learning is transformed into collective action – particularly the underlying components and processes – and then applying it to empirical case studies of two communities, (namely, St. Adolphe and St. Agathe) of the Rural Municipality of Ritchot, Manitoba, Canada. Primary data were collected during the summer months of 2022 using participatory research appraisal (PRA) tools (i.e. key informant interviews and oral histories), while secondary data were collected primarily via government and NGO sources. The findings revealed that a) the flood experience and related interactions among community members and local institutions produced unique and distinct types of social learning, and b) that local and multilevel institutions had helped to create learning platforms that facilitated the formation of strategies for collective action related to flood risk reduction. These processes resulted in single – and double-loop learning at the community level. Based on the findings of this work, we recommend that learning and reflection relating to community members’ flood experiences be integrated into disaster risk reduction and management policies.

Revisiting African indigenous eco-spirituality and eco-solidarity: an autobiographical case of totemism among the Kipsigis

African indigenous knowledge systems and ecologies have often been marginalised in global environmental discourses due to their ‘unscientific’ and non-empirical nature. There is, however, a growing appreciation that African cosmology and ecologies are spiritual, theistic, and ordered where one mode of existence presupposes all the others and that a balance must be maintained among the different forms of life for harmonious coexistence. One way of maintaining balance among the different forms of existence was through totemic taboos. Using the Kipsigis community of Kenya, particularly the belief and practice of totemism, this article examines through oral history and storytelling, how totems created physical and spiritual bonds between the community and environment through taboos. Acknowledging that these invaluable indigenous ecological knowledge systems have eroded due to urbanisation, modernisation, and Christianisation, this article makes an autobiographical case for how young people can revisit such knowledges to inspire an eco-spirituality that, combined with scientific and technological efforts, will enhance environmental conservation. (This article is published in the thematic collection ‘African ecologies: the value and politics of indigenous knowledges’, edited by Adriaan van Klinken, Simon Manda, Damaris Parsitau and Abel Ugba.)

The Role of Patient Organizations in Shaping Research, Health Policies, and Health Services for Rare Genetic Diseases: The Dutch Experience.

In 2023, the genetics scientific community celebrated two special anniversaries: the discovery of the double helix structure of DNA was published in 1953 and in 2003 the Human Genome Project was declared completed and made publicly available. To this day, genetics and genomics research is continuing to evolve at high pace and is identifying a steadily increasing number of genes as causal for distinct genetic diseases. The success story of genetics and genomics would not be complete without taking due account of the role of patient advocacy organizations in this process. This paper is based on the personal narrative (oral history) of a father whose daughter was born with a rare genetic disease (RGD) in the 1960s. The first-hand experience of living as a family with an RGD in those days made him a leading pioneer not only in the foundation of patient organizations at national, pan-European, and international levels but also in the development of multi-stakeholder co-operation and networking. Today, patient advocacy organizations play an active role in shaping health and research policies at national, EU, and international levels to ensure that their needs in regard to advancing RGD diagnostics, care, and treatment are addressed.

Nubians Are Baganda from Bombo: Unpacking the Luwalo Tax Protests and the Nubian Identity Crisis in Colonial Buganda (1891-1940)

This study challenges the dominant narrative that the 1940 Luwalo tax protests in Buganda were solely a result of the Nubians' militant and uncompromising nature. Instead, it posits that these protests were deeply rooted in unresolved identity issues imposed on the Nubian community by British colonial authorities since their arrival in Uganda in the 1890s. By examining the 1940 protest and the subsequent arrest and imprisonment of Nubian protesters, the research raises critical questions about the politics of colonial identity construction and deconstruction. It investigates why some Nubians resisted the payment of native taxes while others complied, the minimal press coverage of the protests, and the role of colonial tax policies, such as the Luwalo tax, in reshaping Nubian identity. Additionally, the study highlights the often-overlooked role of Nubian women in these protests. A historical research methodology was employed, utilizing both primary and secondary sources, including government documents, colonial correspondences, and newspapers, to uncover the broader socio-political context of the protests. Oral histories, gathered through interviews with 5 surviving Nubian elders and 9 of their descendants, provided valuable insights into identity struggles and the impact of colonial policies. This combination of archival research and oral history offers an elaborate analysis of how colonial tax policies influenced Nubian identity, contributing to the broader narrative of resistance and identity preservation within the community