Interdisciplinary Potential of Oral History and New Ways of Developing Historical Knowledge

The only slave narrative from Puerto Rico is included in Luis Diaz Soler’s Historia de la esclavitud negra en Puerto Rico (1953; 2002). This article considers this embedded account as part of the literature of slave narratives to address a gap in the literature; this is perhaps due to the account’s singularity and brevity. Beyond this, the other source for understanding the experience of enslaved women in Puerto Rico is through legal and parish documents, generated by a colonial government and church supportive of slavery. As a result, lives under enslavement are quantified statistically, and the lack of oral history or personal accounts hampers understanding of the effects of enslavement from an individual perspective. Documenting such a life comes with its own set of issues, as shown here by demonstrating the limits of various archival resources. There is no one methodology to follow to reconstruct lives and family histories under slavery, an institution designed to prevent the formation of a historical sense of self and agency. Factoring in familial connections makes my own location as a researcher visible, as knowledge is not neutral. Despite its brevity, considering Leoncia Lasalle’s account, and that of her daughter, Juana Rodriguez Lasalle, in terms of its multiple contexts—microhistory, similarities with U.S. and Cuban slave narratives, family histories, and the archive—reveals the constructed nature of the idea of historical knowledge, which also has implications for genealogical practice involved with slavery and life post-emancipation.

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Narrative of the Krueger-Scott Mansion Project: Constructing Newark History

New Jersey Studies An Interdisciplinary Journal ◽

10.14713/njs.v3i1.69 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 3 (1) ◽

pp. 151

Author(s):

Katie Singer

Keyword(s):

African American ◽

Oral History ◽

Public History ◽

Urban Environments ◽

Public Knowledge ◽

Historical Knowledge ◽

Cultural Center ◽

Cultural Sites ◽

Urban Study ◽

To Receive

Newark, New Jersey’s once proposed Krueger-Scott African-American Cultural Center (KSAACC) tells a story of history, economy, race, built environment, and much more. The Center’s development mirrors other urban stories with regard to race, preservation, urban failure, and memory, while also offering a unique understanding of Newark’s own history. The story of the 1990s Krueger-Scott project adds chapters to urban study as a whole, and to the study of Black cultural sites around the country.The KSAACC was met with and has continued to receive resistance from some of Newark’s citizens as well as local journalists and ultimately the very politicians who had at first supported the idea. The ongoing financing of what seemed to some a less than urgent project in a city that had so many pressing needs at the time became a source of tension and ultimately splintered the community. Matters such as these speak to some larger questions concerning the value and place of public history, oral history, and historic preservation in urban environments. This paper is about the creation of African-American historical knowledge and the ways America sees fit to make it public knowledge.

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Oral History and Indigenous People

Rethinking Oral History and Tradition ◽

10.1093/oso/9780190681685.003.0001 ◽

2019 ◽

pp. 1-15

Author(s):

Nēpia Mahuika

Keyword(s):

Oral History ◽

Indigenous People ◽

Indigenous Peoples ◽

Oral Tradition ◽

Folk Songs ◽

Historical Knowledge ◽

Native Peoples ◽

Indigenous Perspectives

Indigenous peoples think about oral history differently. This is the key assertion of this opening chapter, which draws on a specific Māori tribal context and community to show how native peoples maintain and employ our own interpretations of oral history. This chapter highlights the tensions and divisions between oral history and oral tradition, revealing how these disciplines have been instrumental in the colonial displacement of indigenous historical knowledge as traditions, myths, and folk songs. Drawing on a personal tribal journey and experience, this chapter reveals how indigenous perspectives remain largely absent in today’s popular oral history definitions, particularly in regard to the form, methods, theories, and politics of the discipline.

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História e oralidade nos estudos comunicacionais

Revista Observatório ◽

10.20873/uft.2447-4266.2016v2especial1p47 ◽

2016 ◽

Vol 2 (2) ◽

pp. 47

Author(s):

Juniele Rabêlo Almeida

Keyword(s):

Oral History ◽

Social Communication ◽

Oral Narrative ◽

Communication Studies ◽

Social Constructions ◽

Historical Knowledge ◽

Channel Condition ◽

Cultural Mediation ◽

Cultural Field ◽

Communication Processes

Concepções, métodos e formas do conhecimento histórico são expressos em diversos estudos na área de comunicação social. Buscamos analisar, na interface história e narrativa oral, aspectos da chamada mediação cultural, na qual a comunicação está para além da condição de canal. Acreditamos que os estudos comunicacionais não recaem, necessariamente, sobre especificidades técnicas, mas sobre a posição que a comunicação assume no campo histórico-cultural. Interações, expressas nos trabalhos de história oral, se configuram (e resultam) em processos comunicacionais que indicam construções sócio históricas e diferentes referenciais de pertencimento.Palavras-chave: Estudos comunicacionais, História, Narrativas Orais. Abstract: Conceptions, methods and historical knowledge forms are expressed in several studies in the area of social communication. We analyze, history and oral narrative interface, called aspects of cultural mediation, in which the communication is in addition to the channel condition. We believe that communication studies do not fall necessarily on technicalities, but on the position that the communication is in the historical-cultural field. Interactions, expressed in the works of oral history, are configured (and result) in communication processes that indicate historical social constructions and different frames of belonging.Keywords: communication Studies, History, Oral Narratives. Resumen: Conceptos, métodos y formas de conocimiento histórico se expresan en varios estudios en el área de la comunicación social. Analizamos, la historia y la interfaz de la narrativa oral, llamados aspectos de mediación cultural, en el que la comunicación es, además de la condición de canal. Creemos que los estudios de comunicación no caen necesariamente en técnicos, sino a la posición de que la comunicación es en el campo histórico-cultural. Interacciones, expresados en las obras de la historia oral, están configurados (y resultado) en los procesos de comunicación que indican construcciones sociales históricos y diferentes marcos de pertenencia.Palabras clave: Estudios de Comunicación, Historia, Historia Oral.

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L’HISTOIRE ORALE DANS LE CADRE DES ÉCRITS SUR SOI ET SUR AUTRUI: Points de réflexion au sujet de la construction d'une méthodologie production historiographique

Revista Observatório ◽

10.20873/uft.2447-4266.2016v2especial1p28fr ◽

2016 ◽

Vol 2 (2) ◽

pp. 28

Author(s):

Francisco de Assis De Sousa NASCIMENTO ◽

Fagno Da Silva Soares

Keyword(s):

Literature Review ◽

Oral History ◽

Michel Foucault ◽

Life Stories ◽

Theoretical Framework ◽

Historical Knowledge ◽

Reflective Process ◽

Michel De Certeau

RÉSUMÉCet article vise à analyser le processus réflexif de construction de la connaissance historique en se basant sur la méthodologie de l’histoire orale et la modalité des histoires de vie. On pourra ainsi tenter de comprendre ce processus chargé de sensibilités, d’émotions, d’expériences personnelles et collectives, heureuses ou traumatiques, qu’elles soient intimes ou liées à un vécu collectif. Notre fondement théorique s’appuiera sur les postulats de Michel de Certeau, Michel Foucault, Jacques Le Goff, Ulpiano Menezes, Mary Cristine Josso et Tomás Tadeu da Silva. La réflexion a été construite à partir d’une analyse bibliographique dialoguant avec des auteurs se consacrant à l’histoire orale, tels que Verena Alberti, Ana Maria Mauad, entre autres.MOTS-CLÉS Histoire; Mémoire; Oralité; Histoires de Vie. RESUMOO presente artigo visa perscrutar o processo reflexivo da construção do conhecimento histórico, através da metodologia da história oral, utilizando a modalidade das histórias de vida, por meio da qual é possível entender o processo, eivada de sensibilidades, emoções, experiências pessoais e coletivas, felizes ou traumáticas, sejam elas intimistas ou entrecruzamento com outras vivências coletivas. A fundamentação teórica baseia-se nos postulados de Michel de Certeau, Michel Foucault, Jacques Le Goff, Ulpiano Menezes, Mary Cristine Josso e Tomás Tadeu da Silva. A reflexão foi constituída a partir da análise bibliográfica que dialoga com autores devotados à História Oral como Verena Alberti, Ana Maria Mauad dentre outros.PALAVRAS-CHAVE: História; Memória; Oralidade; Histórias de Vida. ABSTRACTThis article aims to scrutinize the reflective process of the construction of historical knowledge through oral history methodology, using the method of life stories through which to understand the process in the course of a life, fraught with sensitivities, emotions personal and collective experiences, happy or traumatic, whether intimate or intersection with other collective experiences. The theoretical framework is based on the postulates of Michel de Certeau, Michel Foucault, Jacques Le Goff, Ulpiano Menezes, Mary Cristine Josso and Thomas Tadeu da Silva. The reflection was created from literature review that dialogues with authors devoted to oral history as Verena Alberti, Ana Maria Mauad among others.KEYWORDS: History; Memory; Orality; Life stories. RESUMENEste artículo tiene como objetivo examinar el proceso de reflexión de la construcción del conocimiento histórico a través de la metodología de la historia oral, utilizando el método de historias de vida a través del cual entender el proceso en el curso de una vida, lleno de sensibilidades, emociones experiencias personales y colectivas, felices o traumáticas, ya sean íntimas o de intersección con otras experiencias colectivas. El marco teórico se basa en los postulados de Michel de Certeau, Michel Foucault, Jacques Le Goff, Ulpiano Menezes, María Cristine Josso y Thomas Tadeu da Silva. La reflexión fue creado a partir de revisión de la literatura que dialoga con autores dedicados a la historia oral como Verena Alberti, Ana Maria Mauad entre otros.PALAVRAS CLAVE: Historia; Memoria; La oralidad; Historias de vida. DOI (versão em Português): http://dx.doi.org/10.20873/uft.2447-4266.2016v2especial1p28

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