The Concept Of Oral History And Its Functions

One of the most significant methods of rejuvenating history, which developed around this time, was that of exploiting the oral traditions to create an oral history. However oral history was not something completely new but has been in use since the beginning of human civilization as the Columbia Encyclopedia notes: ‘Primitive societies have long relied on oral traditions to preserve a record of the past in the absence of written histories. In Western society, the use of oral material goes back to early Greek historians Herodotus and Thucydides, both of whom made extensive use of oral reports from witnesses. The modern concept of oral history was developed in the 1940s by Allan Nevins and his associates at Columbia University.’ 

Oral history can be defined as the collection of stories and reminiscences of individuals possessing direct knowledge of experiences of important historical events. The techniques of modern oral history have developed along with the availability of technology as oral historians make use of audiotapes and videotapes to gather their material. They usually conduct planned interviews with people who have lived experiences of significant past events to record their memories which will serve as crucial information for future generations. They usually interview a large number of people to get different perspectives about the same event. Oral history is different from the conventional accounts of history as it focuses on subjective opinions and thoughts. Thus it can be understood as a postmodern social justice project which includes the voices of society left on the margins and periphery and are usually forgotten. The use of personal testimonies validates, acknowledges and celebrates the subjectivities of participants to reach a new understanding of their lived experiences.

Oral history serves the need to reveal stories from the past so that we can preserve more than just a bureaucratic account of a person’s life. A sense of history plays a pivotal role in not only empowering us and forcing us to make sense of who we are, but also illuminates the present conditions. Testimony as oral history opens up society to new ways of understanding history, a history the public was completely oblivious to. Moreover the historical record created through testimonies is inclusive of various and multiple competing perspectives. The situation (such as, war, repression, struggle for survival, etc.) implicated in testimonials conveys an urgency to communicate a problem as Suroopa Mukherjee observes: ‘Oral history becomes the vital mode of understanding the nature of this violence and the way in which it affects the day-to-day lives of ordinary people. Testimonials take us deep into the psyche of people who stand at the other end of the spectrum, far removed from such decision making bodies as government offices and the boardroom of corporate bosses.’ While exploring personal or narrative truth concerned with the factual and forensic truth, the social or cultural truth is revealed which consequently leads to a healing and restorative truth. 

Oral historians discuss ethical issues to create a moral account of the historical events. The oral history projects usually revolve around a community comprising of survivors of terrible tragedies such as the Holocaust. For instance, there is an archive of over 70,000 interviews at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. Often oral history is rooted in individual national contexts as The 1947 Partition Archive dealing with the events of the Partition of India ‘collect and preserve the stories of those who lived through this tumultuous time, to make sure this great human tragedy isn’t forgotten.’ Similarly The Sikh Diaspora Project focuses on the aftermath of the 1984 massacre of Sikhs in India who have eventually migrated to the U.S. and Canada. The advent of the Internet has ushered in a widespread global interest in oral history and the process of collecting and disseminating data has become easier as a consequence. 

By infusing personal memories and emotions to the account of a particular historical event, oral history raises questions about ethical and moral issues and thus, effectively attempts to humanise history.