Reminiscing is an important way in which people, especially older individuals, keep their sense of self in a changing world. Oral history makes for contact with surrounding communities and hence understanding between social classes and between generations. Oral history is a way of facilitating the past speaking to the present in a conversational way.

The personal individual experience is a microcosm of testimony within the larger tide of history important. The voice of the witness can be become prominent.  There is a power inherent in real stories told by real, everyday people. They are compelling and more human that the traditional documentary record. The use of the human voice is fresh, personal, truer, particular and always brings the past into the present with extraordinary immediacy.

Oral history provides a public forum for people who have been historically invisible. It recognises the individuals need to speak. It promotes human dignity. It testifies and continues the tradition of story telling. Oral history celebrates and legitimises its narratives as sources of documentation. The interview provides a means of discovering written documents and photographs, which would not have otherwise been traced but also gives a community the confidence to write its own history. People remember rituals, names, songs, stories, skills but it is the document that stands the test of time. All in all, oral history enlivens the wider sense of cultural heritage and should be used a lot more in the promotion of our heritage.

To be continued…

References:

Andrews et Al., 2006, "Their finest hour: older people, oral histories and the historical geography of social life", Social and Cultural Geography, Vol.7, no.2, pages 153-176.

Thompson, P.R., 2000, The Voice of the Past, Oxford University Press, Oxford.

My thanks to Mary O’Driscoll, Northside Folklore Project and Dr. Denis Linehan, Department of Geography, UCC for their help and insights.

Captions:

428a. Mullinahassig Falls, western Aghabullogue Parish (discovered in my travels in recent times) (pictures: Kieran McCarthy)

428b. At work at the Northside Folklore Project especially in oral history, February 2008, l-r, Geraldine Healy, David O’Leary, Nano Nagle, Noel O’Shaughnessy and Mary O’Driscoll. (Project Manager)

428c. Maud Cotter, Lee View Dripsey. Maud’s house is a B&B during the summer months and she and her family take special pride in decorating the walls of the premises with colourful flowers (which has impressed me traveling to and from Dripsey in the last year).

Comments (0) »

Show/Hide comment form

Name

Email

Title

Comment

Write the displayed characters

Add Comment