The Oral Historian as Memorist

This paper explores some issues in relation to oral historyand memory that emerge in Alessandro Portelli's The Order HasBeen Carried Out. I examine the contemporary role of the oralhistorian, the relationship between the present and the pastin memory work, and make some comments about how we might articulatethe field of oral history with memory studies more closely forthe enrichment of both.     

Identity,uncertainty and responsibility: privileging place in a risk society

That young people today reside within social worlds of unprecedented ‘risk’ is a persuasive position. While such discourses have become increasingly pervasive, there has been little interest in exploring contemporary shifts within specific socio-geographic contexts: place has been largely invisible. This paper considers Ulrich Beck's ‘risk society’ theses as a framework for exploring the experiences of 85 young residents of a regional Australian centre. These young people's stories revealed complex and often contradictory, tensions in relation to identity, uncertainty and responsibility. Socio-geographic location was found to be a significant feature in the negotiation and repercussion of these young people's lives.     

Active Citizenship and Local Representational Politics in Twenty-First Century Ireland: The Role of Residents Groups within Dublin's Planning Arena

This paper explores the relationship between active citizenship at a local level and the workings of local government, focusing on urban planning processes in the Greater Dublin Area, Ireland. The paper argues that to fully understand the role of community actors within urban planning, there is a need to look beyond the institutions of planning and formal avenues of decision-making to examine the overlapping, disorganized and informal practices that are increasingly mobilized to influence planning outcomes. We argue that a key motivation for community action within our case study areas relates to the perceived failure in traditional representative democracy in managing rapid urban growth and addressing quality of life concerns of local residents. Rather than collaborate with the state in organized planning arenas, community actors play a key role in informal politics both outside and against the state, leading to tensions between state efforts to promote active citizenship and the resultant community action.     

Reacting to the Powers that Be: Investigations of a Calabrian,Post-Medieval Community

The town of Bova (Calabria, Italy) is a post-medieval montane community that remained inaccessible well into the twentieth century. Archival research, field survey, and spatial analyses provide a foundation for investigating the effects of social and political restructuring on the economic and social development of the community. Attitudes of laxness, disinterest, or ignorance have been attributed to inhabitants of this region. They can be interpreted as projected upon the citizens of Bova and others in southern Calabria by those in more urban centers to the north. Potentially, they reflect preferred survival strategies in the face of shifting imperial control.     

The absent-present researcher: data analysis of pre-recorded parent-driven campaign videos

ABSTRACT

In recent years, there has been a proliferation of sophisticated, user-friendly and accessible instruments of video data collection (e.g. mobile/cell phones and tablets) which facilitate video-based research and analysis. This paper reports on the opportunities and challenges of undertaking video analysis by reporting on the qualitative video analysis of a subset of 30 purposively selected videos from #notanurse_but, a parent-driven video campaign initiated by WellChild, a UK charity. This paper provides insight into one way of conducting video analysis, appreciating that a variety of approaches exist and that methodological reflections on analytical work with video recordings are limited. The authors critically consider researcher subjectivity; the everydayness of video data; making assumptions; and the incomplete picture provided by video data. Despite notable limitations to the approach of video analysis as a standalone method, the authors conclude that video analysis is capable of eliciting data that may not otherwise be obtained.