Lesson: Biographical Story Part I
Description: Congratulations! You have completed your oral history interview! Now, we continue to analyze your interview. By doing this, you place your narrator in historical context and make the interview relevant to future narrators. Here’s how:
Part I
Listen to the podcast episode, “2.36: Using Your Oral Histories – Biographical Stories Part I of III.”
“Using Your Oral Histories – Biographical Stories Part I of III”
Read: The History Matters article, which stated, “What is needed then is an understanding of oral history not so much as an exercise in fact finding but as an interpretive event, as the narrator compresses years of living into a few hours of talk, selecting, consciously and unconsciously, what to say and how to say it.”
Reflect: As you read this article in preparation of writing your final story, what does it make you think about with regard to telling the story about your narrator? Try to explain how your writing of this this story will fit within the framework of our course content (State history, Mexican-American history, African-American history, American history…) or your own personal research. Write your answer below:
Part II
Listen to “2.37: Using Your Oral Histories – Biographical Stories Part II of III.”
“Using Your Oral Histories – Biographical Stories Part II of III”
Consider: Explore our signature collection, “South Phoenix and SMCC Memories” at southphoenixoralhistory.com or collections similar to your own. Look at what has been done before and adapt it to your needs.
- How long do these stories seem to be?
- What, if any multimedia is used?
- How do the stories begin and end?
- What historical themes seem common?
- What information seems to be included in every interview?
As you listen to Parts I and II, complete the provided handout.
Story Lab Video Guide
Story Lab – Update coming Summer 2023
South Phoenix Oral History Project 