Phenomenology and the Problems of Oral History

Abstract: In this article, the author argues that many of thebest practices of oral history reflect phenomenological thinkingeven though practitioners may not describe themselves as usingphenomenological methods. The author suggests that knowledgeand application of phenomenology can clarify or minimize suchpotential problems as interviewer bias and informant unreliabilityand can refute accusations that oral history is less reliablethan history taken from documents.     

Documenting Cultural and Historical Memory: Oral History in the National Park Service

"Documenting Cultural and Historical Memory: Oral History inthe National Park Service" provides an overview and assessmentof the current state of oral history projects and programs withinthe National Park Service. Oral history has long been a particularlyvaluable resource and tool for the Park Service in preservingcultural and historical memory. Its rangers, interpreters, historians,archaeologists, ethnographers, and cultural landscape specialistsuse oral history to document the history of individual parks,as well as the events and people the parks commemorate. Theyuse oral history to create interpretive exhibits, movies, andvideos and to record perspectives on major events, figures,and movements. The Service initiates and manages a large numberof unique and significant oral history projects and programs. However, too often the value of its oral history projects andcollections has been diminished because of funding shortages,poor equipment, insufficient training, inadequate preservationmeasures, or other problems.     

Gender and the Categories of Experienced History

This paper examines the problematic relationship between oral history and gender and women's history. The article suggests that the methodological and research problems currently facing oral historians of gender in the context of multiculturalism and globalisation can only be overcome by undertaking research that links the small, local and regional focus characteristic of much oral history to new pat-terns of history writing so that a plurality of voices may be heard. The argument is illustrated by reference to two current research projects: a comparative study of the lives of young migrant women in six European countries; and a study of the meaning of Islam for migrant and non-migrant women in Bangladesh, Sudan, Ethiopia, Yemen, Mali, and Senegal compared with migrant women in the Netherlands.     

In Our Own Voices: a Guide to Conducting Life History Interviews with American Jewish Women

The valuable oral history guidebook, In Our Own Voices: A Guideto Conducting Life History Interviews with American Jewish Women,opens with this quote by Nen Lederkremen, "Without roots wecannot grow." The Jewish Women's Archive, an organization thatwas founded in 1995, has done an excellent job in enabling AmericanJewish women to record their roots. The Jewish Women's Archivefelt that women's contributions had been missing from the accountof the American Jewish experience. To rectify this, they pioneeredthe use of community-based oral history projects with Jewishwomen in Boston,     

Before Columbia: The FWP and American Oral History Research

This article compares and contrasts the approaches of the NewDeal Federal Writers' Project and the Columbia Oral HistoryProgram in an effort to reconsider the paradoxical history oforal history research in the United States and its relationshipto how many oral historians today look at their work and thehistory of their field. As it turns out, the theoretical andsocial concerns of the FWP projects are closer to current theoreticalconcerns of oral historians than the work Allan Nevins conductedin the early years of the Columbia project. The article alsoshows how awareness of the history of the intellectual and culturalcurrents that affect oral history projects in general, and theFWP's work in particular—interviews with former slaves,tenant farmers, industrial workers, and members of ethnic minorities—canhelp us analyze and use those materials. It argues that an awarenessof continuity and discontinuity in the history of oral historymakes it possible for today's oral historians to have a productivedialogue with their predecessors in the field.     

Liberal Government and the Practical History of Anthropology

This paper explores the implications of Foucault's perspective of liberal government for approaches to the practical history of anthropology. It also draws on assemblage theory to consider the changing relations between field, museum and university in relation to a range of early twentieth-century anthropological practices. These focus mainly on the development of the Boasian paradigm in the USA during the inter-war years and on the anthropological practices clustered around the Musée de l'Homme in the 1930s. Key steps in the argument focus on the role of what Foucault called “transactional realities” in mediating the practical applications of anthropology in colonial contexts and in “anthropology at home” projects. Special consideration is also given to the increasingly archival properties of anthropological collections in the early twentieth century and the consequences of this for anthropology's relations to practices of governing.     

A History of Archaeology in the Republic of Armenia

Abstract

This article traces the development of archaeological inquiry in the former Soviet Republic of Armenia, from its antiquarian roots in the 19th century, through the Soviet era, and into modern times. The resurgence of western attention in the region since the end of the Cold War has been driven by collaborative research projects from the United States, Germany, Austria, France, Italy, England, Russia, and Canada, that employ a variety of methods to understand the archaeological heritage of Armenia. Research problems are related to the Palaeolithic, Neolithic, Chalcolithic, Bronze and Iron Ages, as well as to the Urartian, Achaemenid, and Hellenistic periods.

For those unfamiliar with Armenia, this article is meant as a primer to the history of the discipline as it has been practiced in the region. For those already engaged in archaeology there, it is our hope that this discussion will lend an added historical dimension to ongoing field projects.     

Intellectual History and the History of Philosophy

Summary

The issue which I wish to address in this paper is the widespread tendency in Anglophone philosophy to insist on a separation between the history of philosophy and the history of ideas or intellectual history. This separation reflects an anxiety on the part of philosophers lest the special character of philosophy will be dissolved into something else in the hands of historians. And it is borne of a fundamental tension between those who think of philosophy's past as a source of ideas and arguments of interest to the present, and those who hold that the philosophy of the past should be studied on its own terms, in relation to its immediate context, without reference to the present. The challenge, then, is to re-historicise the history of philosophy, and to keep the philosophers onside.     

“食货派”的经济史研究方法探讨

20世纪30年代的食货派,针对社会史论战陷入理论之争的弊病,对经济史研究方法展开了积极地探讨。主张从问题入手、广搜史料、寻绎结论,强调借用西方经济学理论和比照西方经济史以及倡导"综合研究法",形成了学派鲜明的治史风格。但其治史方法又存在着明显的不足与局限,尤其是未能全面正确认识马克思主义唯物史观的指导作用,而是有条件、有限度地运用唯物史观进行史学研究。食货派学术生命过早的终结,与其治史方法自身的缺陷不无关系。     

历史与现实

历史与现实只是两个词,而不是两回事。语言把本体弄成两半,同时又遮蔽了另一半。这样,一半是语言性的“历史”和“现实”,一半是事实性的历史与现实。“历史即现实”这个新历史观的命题在最抽象的意义上,它是最具体的,同时,在最具体的意义上,它又是最抽象的。本质上,历史首先是一种深度的存在。只有在历史的无限深度之下,才有永恒的意义。历史是距离人们最远而又最近的东西。但人们只知道“最远”而不知道“最近”,所以,人们的历史观就大成问题。     

历史与记忆

当代史学和历史哲学中关于记忆问题的探讨为我们关于史学的理解提供了新的视角。在这一视野下,记忆超越单纯个体心理的层次获得了作为脑外"文化记忆"的历史维度。在历史与记忆关系的层面上,历史记忆的多元性对历史记载的单一性提供了重要的补益,同时,史学文本的宏观视野对于历史记忆的微观局部性和片断性亦显示出认识上的优越性。在认识论维度之外,历史记忆诉诸历史正义的道义性是其十分显著的特质,于此凸显史学科学性与道义性维度复杂的张力关系,历史科学性不能成为漠视道义性的理由。最后,在历史与记忆关系上传统的历史本位立场之外,对人生有意义的历史终究要落实在人间的历史记忆中,从而彰显记忆本位的合理性,这或许是关注历史记忆所能带给我们的一点理论启示。     

Evolutionary Theory of History

Several attempts have been made recently to apply Darwinian evolutionary theory to the study of culture change and social history. The essential elements in such a theory are that variations occur in a population, and that a process of selective retention operates during their replication and transmission. Location of such variable "units" in the semantic structure of cognition provides the individual psychological basis for an evolutionary theory of history. Selection operates on both the level of cognition and on its "phenotypic" expression in action in relation to individual preferred sources of psychological satisfaction. Social power comprises the principal selective forces within the sociocultural environment. Sociocultural evolution takes place both as a result of the unintended consequences of action and through the struggle of individuals and groups in pursuit of opposing interests. The implications for historiography are methodological in that evolutionary theory of history sharpens the focus of explanatory situational analysis, and interpretive in that it provides a paradigmatic metanarrative for the understanding of historical change.     

Collaborative Oral History in a Correctional Setting: Promise and Pitfalls

This article examines the challenges of collaborative oral historyresearch. Collaborative oral history—sometimes called"reciprocal ethnography"—involves the process of engagingour interviewees in the analysis of the interviews we generateand/or the creation of any products drawn from those interviews.The article contrasts the author's earlier experience on anoral history/photographic book with a more recent collaborationon an oral history and performance project in a correctionalinstitution. The author focuses on the difficulties of "sharingauthority" in collaborative research within a correctional setting,raising issues about the promise and pitfalls of collaborativeoral history research more generally.     

当代中国口述史学透视

1948年哥伦比亚大学口述历史研究室的建立 ,正式标志着现代口述史学的诞生。经过 50多年的发展 ,口述史学成为历史学中一支举足轻重的分支学科。但是 ,到底中国有没有口述史学 ?这个问题很少被人问及 ,也很少有人做出明确的回答。口述史学在中国的发展和普遍流行将是一个必然的趋势 ,甚至在随后的几年内会有一个发展高潮。那么未来中国口述史学将如何发展 ,以一个怎样的高度作为起点呢 ?要解决这个问题 ,笔者觉得应该了解中国口述史学的渊源和现状。本文集中探讨当代中国口述史学的发展状况。     

环境史中的欧洲特殊道路问题

欧洲为什么率先进行工业革命是一个永恒的问题,从东西方环境史比较的角度可能会对此得出独特的解释。当然,这种比较必须建立在坚实的实地研究的基础上。本文要分析的十个问题是：谨慎对待精神观点,环境史的制度分析,耕地与牧场的平衡与失衡,西欧的婚姻模式,延续、持续性和自给自足,森林和权力,欧洲多中心主义的优势,魏特夫“亚细亚生产方式”的绿色复兴,欧洲殖民主义的环境影响,环境史上是否存在一个“欧洲奇迹”。从这十方面的比较中会对“环境史中的欧洲特殊道路问题”有更清楚的把握,进而揭示出一个辩证的历史逻辑,即“长期的成功恰恰加剧了危机”。这或许就是东方前现代的繁荣昭示给现在西方文明的前景。     

Teaching and Social Reform in the 1960s: Lessons from National Teacher Corps Oral Histories

Abstract: This article draws on oral history narratives to examinethe beliefs and expectations that brought a group of young peopleto the field of teaching in the 1960s through the National TeacherCorps (NTC). The oral histories address the identities, politics,aims, and backgrounds of a dozen NTC participants. By situatingthe voices of these young people within a larger social andhistorical context, the article uses oral history testimonyto reconsider existing accounts of social reform movements andteaching in the 1960s and early 1970s. Specifically, the oralhistories allow Teacher Corps participants to emerge as individualswho represent an important if largely unexplored populationthat took part in 1960s movements toward greater equality andsocial justice and who embraced the unique perspective thatteaching in ordinary schools serving poor and minority studentscould offer meaningful opportunities for grassroots, socialreform activity.     

解释中国历史的新思维:环境史——评述伊懋可教授的新著《象之退隐:中国环境史》

这是一篇对伊懋可教授的新著《象之退隐 :中国环境史》的评述 ,由三部分组成。第一部分分析了伊懋可的环境史概念、理论基础和本书的分析框架 ,认为它是经济史、科技文化史和环境史的有机结合。第二部分分析它的史料和方法论特点。史料方面引人注目的是诗歌、传教士回忆录和多种语言研究成果的吸收。在方法论上主要使用了跨学科研究、比较研究和综合分析与案例研究相结合的方法。第三部分提出了三个需要深入研究的问题 ,分别是人口增长与环境破坏的关系 ,介于文人环境意识和农业生产之间的农学知识 ,以及双向比较方法的应用等问题。总之 ,《象之退隐》虽然存在一些问题 ,但瑕不掩瑜。它是一部谁也绕不开的著作 ,在某种程度上预示着中国史研究的新方向     

皮锡瑞《经学历史》并非经学史著作

《经学历史》的"十个时代",一直被学术界视为皮锡瑞所分中国经学史的"十期",并因此将《经学历史》视作中国第一本经学史著作。然而细读《经学历史》,可见书中分十个时代所作的论述,并非是对经学史的分期与评述,而是着力宣扬"尊孔"、"崇经"的思想,体现出皮锡瑞"信古"、"宗汉"、"主郑"的经学取向。因此《经学历史》绝非经学史书,而是一本借史立论的经学论著。     

当前高句丽史研究中的几个问题

本认为,经过百多年的研究,高句丽史研究已经有了雄厚的学术基础。在新的历史条件下,为了高句丽史研究的理论形态和实践形态发展得更充分,就应该在研究方法和研究手段上有所创新。进而从联系起来研究、专门化研究、献资料和考古资料的关系、“一史两用”和“双向继承”等方面阐明了对高句丽史研究的认识。