Part Ib:
Writing about Hong Kong – oral history
16/9/2002
1. History:
fact, evidence and narrative
1.1.
History=fact?
1.2.
What is the difference between fact and evidence?
1.3.
Fact àààààààà
evidence àààànarrative
ààevidence
ààfactàà
… …
↑ ↑
Selection and combination Interpretation
1.4. Hermaneutic circle
2. Why oral history?
2.1. Narrative production as the basic competence for
cultural production
2.2. Oral history: “the interviewing of eye-witness
participants in the events of the past for the purposes of historical
construction”.
2.3. Oral history is “hidden from history”
2.4. Oral history: a counter strategy against the
dominant narrative
2.5. Why family history?
2.6. Collecting one’s own family history is much
easier than interviewing a stranger.
2.7. I hope that you can create some narratives about
Hong Kong relevant to yourself, your feeling and your experience rather than
take it as some stories of others.
3. Significance of “oral history”
3.1. Different material and different views
example: Hong Kong workers
3.2. Oral history gives new opportunities to see
their past in a different way.
3.3. More “unofficial” evidence: a space of
negotiation for understanding our social realities and heritage.
Example: 沈殿霞
4. Preparing for oral history
4.1.
Choosing interviewee
4.2.
Explaining to them… …
4.3.
Taping or videotaping
4.4.
Conducting interview
“[A]lthough the old survivors were walking books, I could not just leaf them over. They were persons.” (George Ewart Evans)
4.5. A good interviewer is also a good listener.
4.6. Follow-up interviews
4.7. Presenting oral history
a. Keep
the tape properly.
b. Jot
down the basic biographical information: name, birth year, birthplace, current
job, etc.
c. Transcript
is optional.
d. Write
your oral history in the form of a descriptive article. You’re free to use any style to present
to us his/her stories. Beside
general information, a specific topic as a focus of the article is
recommended.
Perks, Robert and Alistair Thomson. 1998. The Oral
History Reader. London: Routledge
唐諾•里齊，王芝芝譯1997《大家來做口述歷史》台北：遠流出版社。