Articles

From the Interviewer's Perspective: Interviewing Women Conscientious Objectors

It is not only the people we interview who are required to reflect on the interview process. Interviewers themselves may be profoundly changed by the experience but there is little in the literature that acknowledges this. This article explores the ways in which I was forced to redefine my personal position as a direct result of interviewing women who were conscientious objectors during the Second World War; and how my questioning and responses may (or, indeed, should) have affected what was said.
Author(s): Rena Feld
Keywords: interview relationship; women conscientious objectors; Second World War; reflexivity

Issues in Cross-Cultural Interviewing: Japanese Women in England

In this paper I consider what can be gained and lost through cross-cultural interviewing. As an English woman interviewing Japanese women who live long-term in England, I examine how issues such as identity and choice of language can affect the quality of research.
Author(s): Susan K. Burton
Keywords: Japan; gender; migration; cross-cultural interviewing

A Second Take: Revisiting Interviews with a Different Purpose

Revisiting oral history interviews with secondary analysis in mind raises a number of issues for oral historians and others interested in archived data. Taking the example of a return to a set of interviews with the founders of the geriatric specialty in the UK, where issues of race and ethnicity emerge from a subsequent reading, this article explores whether questions raised are ethical or theoretical. It concludes by suggesting the need to be aware of the social and historical contexts of data, both original and subsequent, when revisiting oral history interview material.
Author(s): Joanna Bornat
Keywords: archives; ethics; geriatricians; ethnicity; data re-use

'Dear Reader I Killed Him': Ethical and Emotional Issues in Researching Convicted Murderers through the Analysis of Interview Transcripts

When conducting oral history interviews empathetic relationships tend to be created between the researcher and the subject, and this is seen as an essential aid for historical/sociological analysis. By employing examples from the Freemantle Prison Oral History Project, this article examines the basis of these empathetic relationships -the emotional reaction of the interviewer to what is being narrated by the interviewee. It questions whether it is possible to maintain an emotional/empathetic relationship with 'unlikeable' subjects; whether the emotions created during an inter- view are retained in transcripted interviews; and the implications this may have for interpretive analysis.
Author(s): Barry S. Godfrey
Keywords: emotions; methodology; prisons; violence

Sisterhood? Exploring Power Relations in the Collection of Oral History

Collecting oral histories from Irish nuns living in England, my own worries - as an Irish woman, raised Catholic, now living in England - centred on the ethical issues involved in interviewing women with whom I shared a similar background. In particular, I was anxious not to over-emphasise the commonalties between us, thus abusing my 'powerful position as interviewer - a central theme within feminist methodology literature. In fact, however, my experiences did not bear this out and, in the interviews, I rarely felt the one in power. Exploring the unresolved issue of 'sisterhood' in the collection of oral history, this article draws attention to the complex power dynamics at work in the interview encounter.
Author(s): Yvonne McKenna
Keywords: power dynamics; feminist methodologies, Irish nuns in England; interviewing

The Last Rock in the Empire: Evacuation, Identity and Myth in Gibraltar

Before the Second World War the people of Gibraltar were keen colonials, ABSTRACT proud to be British. By the end of the war the idea of a separate Gibraltarian identity had developed. This article examines the impact of evacuation during the Second World War, the post-war return and the closure of the border with Spain by Franco (1969-83) which also played a pivotal role in the evolution of the Gibraltarian. It also looks at Gibraltarian identity today and spotlights the powerful myths people hold about themselves. Today, the common feeling of persecution and common grievances against Spain and Britain are what define belonging, constituting the true site of identity. It is the on-going battles that bond the people together. This is a vital history for those who seek to understand the Rock's unhappy position.
Author(s): Caroline Norrie
Keywords: Gibraltar; wartime evacuation; identity; myth

Public History

Costeno Voices: Oral History on Nicaragua's Caribbean Coast

This article describes a three-week visit to the Atlantic coast of Nicaragua at the invitation of URACCAN (University of the Caribbean Coast of ' Nicaragua) in which we worked with staff, students and community workers at two of the university's campuses to deliver a series of oral history training workshops. Using a discussion-based and interactive approach we learned a great deal ourselves about the country and its people. The article highlights oral history's role in enabling the autonomous region's multi- ethnic and multi-lingual communities to preserve their cultural identity, languages and tradition.
Author(s): Padmini Broomfield and Cynara Davies
Keywords: Nicaragua; training; indigenous people; ethnic groups

Reviews

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A Fighting Union. An Oral History of the South African Railway and Harbour Workers' Union

The Man from the Sunrise Side

Speaking to Immigrants: Oral Testimony and the History of Australian Migration

The Good Women of China: Hidden Voices

Thirty-Three Years in the Trenches. Memoirs of a Sussex Working Man

Shards of Memory: Woven Lives in Four Generations

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