An Introduction to Oral History

‘An Introduction To Oral History’ is a lively and engaging session which will demonstrate the power of oral history to reveal the untold stories of people whose voices have been marginalised by mainstream accounts of the past. Delivered as an interactive workshop, the session will enable participants to consider how oral history may be used as part of an evolving research methodology for PhD researchers to capture interviewees’ actual lived experiences.

This 90-minute session will explore how our beliefs and values shape our approach to oral history, definitions of oral history found in academic literature and how the principles and practices that underpin oral history may be applied to PhD research. Participants will also be introduced to the golden rules for effective oral history interviewing, the essentials of research ethics and the equipment needed to record interviews. Furthermore, they will have the opportunity to critically assess the role that the oral history method may play in their ongoing research development.

Outcomes

By the end of this workshop, participants will have:

• Acquired an introductory working knowledge of the principles and practices that inform oral history as a research method for social science PGRs;
• Explored the beliefs and values which shape our engagement with oral history as part of an evolving PhD research methodology;
• Discovered how oral history as a research method is defined, how it may be used and its relationship with existing scholarship relevant to PhD-level study;
• Learnt more about ethics, informed consent and working with participants;
• Acquired knowledge about the golden rules of interviewing: working with participants; active listening; open questions; framework for best practice; preparation and equipment.
• Explored next steps in using oral history as part of ongoing PhD research development.

Contributors

Dr Angela Maye-Banbury is the Founder of Oral History Made Easy, Chair of Achill Oral Histories and Emeritus Fellow in Oral History and Research Methods at Sheffield Hallam University. As a practicing oral historian, she has taught oral history to a wide range of postgraduate and undergraduate students. Over the course of her thirty-year-long career, Angela has designed and delivered many oral history training programmes to enable community organisations to lead their own oral history projects. Her oral history research informed her single and co-authored research papers submitted as part of Sheffield Hallam University Research Excellence Framework submission. A senior member of the Higher Education Academy, research lead for her former department and student engagement specialist, Angela was awarded Faculty inspirational teacher award in 2017 in recognition of her outstanding contribution to the student experience.

Dr Steve Parkes is a Senior Research Fellow at the Centre for Regional Economic & Social Research (CRESR), Sheffield Hallam University, and Deputy Director of the Space, Place, Environment and Liveability Pathway for the WRDTP.