Listening to Engage with Stories

I recently read Valeria Yow’s Recording Oral History: A Guide for the Humanities and Social Sciences. What I am about to write may be rather dorky, but I loved this book. I smiled, jotted down notes, nostalgically thought about the history of my hometown and now have a surplus of new readings to pursue.

What did I love most about Yow’s book? The practical examples throughout the text are straightforward, descriptive and accessible, including examples of what not to do. At times, I imagine it was difficult to write about the parts of an interview that did not go as planned or, in hindsight, the realization that a biased comment made by Yow as the interviewer may have impacted what a narrator chose to share. However, those descriptions were great learning moments for me as a reader because the complexities of oral history interviews and the truly humanistic side of academia shone through. Time again, I saw both the technical skills and the empathetic approach in oral history as compatible.

The technical skills Yow reminds interviewers of are, in some respects, what stops you as a listener from getting sucked into a story - for the entertainment aspects of it - but instead forces a new focal point - the entire person as a story themselves. In conjunction with language patterns, the nuances of body language play an important role in the deeper understanding of how an individual situates themselves in a historical moment. Thus bringing a deeper appreciation for the individual person within a collective story.

Oral history is still about uncovering a deeper understanding of the past, even when leaning into a humanistic approach to research. An interviewee is not primarily seen as a piece of information and tossed aside like a child disposing of a freshly peeled Starburst wrapper. The person is still a human whose dignity is of primary importance. Alessandro Portelli explains it as “personal respect for the people we work with and intellectual respect for the material we receive." [1] Yes, humans are fallible, yet the trustworthiness of human stories recorded and transcribed by oral historians doesn’t lack critical inquiry but the awareness of what it means to be human because it opens up greater possibilities for historical discovery in what an individual might share. [2]

I have always enjoyed hearing people tell stories about their lives, whether those stories were folklore, dramatized or turning points down a new path of self-discovery. Aspects of my motivations to engage in oral history are selfish because witnessing someone uncovering a layer of themselves is a form of magic. The ‘magic’ is part of what I love about teaching. What I really appreciated in Yow’s work is that she consistently encouraged narrators to reflect on how they impede or direct these ‘magical’ moments through consistent self-scrutiny. Teachers, too, are encouraged to implement a similar approach to what Yow described, and I jotted down some of her reflective questions for future use. The following questions are some Yow included as a reflection for the interviewer:

- What am I feeling about this narrator?

- What similarities and differences impinge on this situation?

- How does my own ideology affect this process?

- What group outside the process am I identifying with?

- Why am I doing this project in the first place?

- In selecting my topic and questions, what alternatives might I have taken? Why didn't I choose these? [3]

As the year progresses, I hope to have the opportunity to practice what I have learned in Yow’s book. Until then, enjoy one last thought from psychologist Jerome Bruner that deeply resonated with me: "Narrative expresses our deepest reasoning about ourselves and our experience. We pay attention to other personal accounts because narrative reveals 'a way of thinking and imagining' that takes us into a life. The narrative is holistic: 'it never tears asunder ideas and feelings.'" [4]

Notes

[1] Alessandro Portelli, The Battle of Valle Giulia: Orla History and the Art of Dialogue, (Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 1997), 55, as cited in Valerie Yow, Recording Oral History: A Guide for the Humanities and Social Sciences, (London: Rowman & Littlefield, 2015), 178-177.

[2] Valerie Yow, Recording Oral History: A Guide for the Humanities and Social Sciences, (London: Rowman & Littlefield, 2015), 45.

[3] Valerie Yow, Recording Oral History, 198.

[4] Jerome Bruner, “Self-Making Narratives” in Autobiographical Memory and the Construction of a Narrative Self: Developmental and Cultural Perspectives, ed. Robyn Fivush and Catherine A. Haden, (Manwah, NJ: Lawrence Erelbaum, 2003), 213-14, as cited in Valerie Yow, Recording Oral History: A Guide for the Humanities and Social Sciences, (London: Rowman & Littlefield, 2015), 19.