Honoring our Stories: Values, Ethics and Methods of Oral History

Sometimes, history takes place on a very personal level! Oral histories are gathered by respectfully interviewing people about their experiences, often around a common theme. These stories are then ethically made available to enrich our understanding of contemporary and historical events, trends and daily life. Together, we will explore the key elements, and experience this dynamic process during our session.

Presenter: Carol S. Cohen, Professor, Adelphi University School of Social Work

This session will introduce participants to oral history as a way to collect the stories and reflections of others, while honoring narrators’ lived experiences. Oral history projects are often launched to include voices of people typically left out of the historical record, and to diversity the stories we consider. This method is not seen as simply interviewing or interrogating a subject. Instead, oral history interviewers form a partnership with the people sharing their stories, and engage in discussion of shared expectations, purposes and processes.

Shanna Farrell of the Oral History Center of the Bancroft Library, University of California Berkeley, describes the experience as both a Product (the actual oral history and its availability) and a Process (the collaborative and co-constructed method of collection). We will work together on a mini oral history project during the session. Participants will leave with an understanding of the method, and preliminary ideas for potential oral history projects.

This event is part of the SPARK Center seminar series. Organized in collaboration with the School of Social Work.

For any questions, please contact the SPARK Center at spark@adelphi.edu.