Remembering: Writing Oral History

By Anna Green And Megan Hutching Eds, Auckland: Auckland University Press, 2004, 182 pages, paperback, $44.99. Reviewed by Paul Sendziuk in the December 2004 issue.

Help more readers find out about this article
Slashdot   Digg   StumbleUpon   Del.icio.us

Wendy Lowenstein, in her seminal books of the late 1970s, The Immigrants and Weevils in the Flour, did much to popularise oral research and oral history in Australia and New Zealand. The reviews that these books attracted, however, suggested that many still found her methodology problematic. In an essay published in Quadrant in November 1979, Patrick O'Farrell fired the opening salvo in what became a long running debate about the merits of oral history: 'The basic problem with oral testimony about the past is that its truth (when it is true) is not primarily about what happened or how things were, but about how the past has been recollected ... we move straight away into the world of image, selective memory, later overlays and utter subjectivity'. Since then numerous critically acclaimed and popular books that relied substantially on oral research have been published, and oral history collections in libraries and archives have grown enormously. Far from viewing the partiality of memory and story-telling as a problem, interdisciplinary-minded historians, employing the insights of anthropologists, psychologists and the like, have sought to understand the cultural and psychological factors that influence the constitution of memory, and the significance of silences in our stories. Skilled oral historians have become adept at interpreting oral testimony, rather than simply accepting it at face value.

Given the proliferation of work in this area, one might ask whether we need another book offering instruction in the art of collecting and interpreting oral histories. In Australia, Keith Windschuttle's recent rejection of the validity of oral testimony as a historical source suggests that the acceptance of oral research methodologies is far from universal, and that such a project remains warranted. The editors of Remembering: Writing Oral History certainly make a good case for their collection, citing the less-than-perfect practice of New Zealand biographers and historians who fail to adequately document or archive the interviews that they conduct, or acknowledge the sophisticated literature concerned with the interpretation of memory and narrative. Remembering is intended to address this situation by offering a range of theoretical and instructional essays, as well as seven oral history exemplars. Each of these case studies derives from specific oral history projects undertaken in New Zealand by researchers from a variety of disciplines -- not all are professional historians or academics.

Remembering opens with an essay by one of the editors, Anna Green, who quotes, admiringly, Luisa Passerini in her epigraph: 'all autobiographical memory is true; it is up to the interpreter to discover in which sense, where, [and] for which purpose'. (p 9) Green proceeds to examine three key concepts that the historian should consider when interpreting their informants' recollections of the past; these are narrative, emotion and myth. One concept in particular -- the centrality of myth in oral narratives -- is taken up to great effect by one of the other contributors, Jane Moodie, in her study of the farmers of Waikite Valley. It is a shame that other contributors did not elaborate further on the other concepts that Green identified. The author, however, provides her own examples, drawn from the Frankton Junction Oral History Project. For those looking for an introduction to oral research methodology, or who teach in this area, Green's article is perhaps the most useful of the volume, providing a concise and accessible summary of theoretical approaches to compiling and analysing oral histories.

Like Green and Moodie, most of the other contributors acknowledge their debt to Paul Thompson, Alessandro Portelli, Luisa Passerini and Australia's Alistair Thompson, who have revolutionised the way in which memory and oral testimony is interpreted. Most of the essays fail to add to the insights provided by these scholars, however, and due to their limited geographical focus, they are unlikely to interest enthusiasts of oral history outside of New Zealand. (The New Zealand orientation of the volume is not acknowledged in its title, which is rather mischievous). With this said, those looking for an introduction or survey of contemporary debates about different aspects of New Zealand history could do worse than starting with this book. Judith Binney's examination of contested Maori narratives and the politics of commemoration, and Juanita Ketchel's study of violence and resistance, are particularly provocative. Alison J Laurie, in her essay, 'Speaking the Unspoken: Lesbian Oral Histories in Aotearoa New Zealand', takes a somewhat traditional approach by using oral history to reclaim voices of the past that have long been suppressed or marginalised. Nearly all of the essays record the experiences of 'little people' -- amateur thespians, hospital staff, battered women and children -- retrieving them, to borrow from E P Thompson, from the long condescension of history.

The volume ends with two instructional essays by experienced oral historians, Lesley Hall and Megan Hutching, who write about the importance (and difficulty) of maintaining confidentiality agreements between oral history project participants and investigators, and of sensitively turning oral testimony into written text. Their intention is to emphasise the ethical core of the oral historian's practice, and the need to respect the information provided by participants and the form in which it is communicated. These essays easily stand alone and are suitable for use in undergraduate courses and those offered to budding oral historians.

Notes
1 Patrick O'Farrell, 'Oral History: Facts and Fiction', Quadrant, vol 23, no 148, 1979, pp 4-8. Replies to O'Farrell and other contributions to the debate were collected in a special edition of Oral History Association of Australia Journal (no 5, 1982-83).
2 See, for example, Raphael Samuel and Paul Thompson (eds), The Myths We Live By, London, 1990; Alessandro Portelli, The Order Has Been Carried Out: History, Memory, and Meaning of a Nazi Massacre in Rome, New York, 2003; Portelli, The Death of Luigi Trastulli and other Stories: Form and Meaning in Oral History, New York, 1991; Luisa Passerini, 'Women's Personal Narratives: Myths, Experiences, and Emotions', in Personal Narratives Group (eds), Interpreting Women's Lives: Feminist Theory and Personal Narratives, Bloomington, 1998, pp 189-97; Passerini, 'Work Ideology and Consensus under Italian Fascism', History Workshop Journal, vol 8, 1979, pp 82-108; and Alistair Thompson, Anzac Memories: Living with the Legend, Melbourne, 1994.

Citation

• Paul Sendziuk. 'Review: Remembering: Writing Oral History by Anna Green and Megan Hutching eds' [online]. Network Review of Books (Perth, Australian Public Intellectual Network), December 2004. Availability: <please cite the web address here> ISSN 1833-0932. [accessed 18 June 2013].

Back Cover Blurb

• With the ever-growing enthusiasm for genealogy and social history, Remembering, on the practice and use of oral history, and incorporating a variety of examples of presenting oral histories in print, will have eager readers. As well as the chapters on a wide range of particular cases, it explores some of the general issues that arise for those embarking on oral histories, such as confidentiality, transcribing from oral to written form, and the particular situation of Maori oral history. The 11 different authors have all had considerable experience in the field and draw on a range of backgrounds. Addressed to the interested general reader, this fascinating book shows that oral history can illuminate any area of social life and is within the reach of anyone who is alert and curious about how things used to be.

Have You Also Read?

• The Wonder Country: Making New Zealand Tourism
  
  Margaret McClure, Auckland: Auckland University Press, 2004, 318 Pages, Paperback, $NZ44.99
  Reviewed by Ian Morrison in the October 2004 issue.
  
  The Wonder Country is in many respects a good book. Margaret McClure is an accomplished researcher and an elegant prose writer. She has absorbed a vast quantity of raw data -- official and personal records, as well as secondary material -- and has crafted a smooth, lucid narrative. The team at AUP have produced a handsome volume, with the right dimensions to do justice to the many beautiful illustrations without distracting from the text. If you want to know about the development of New Zealand's tourism industry, The Wonder Country is a mine of factual information -- pleasingly presented, and organised into a straightforward narrative that manages to be at once chronological and geographic, ... read more.