Oral History Off the Record

Sherna Berger Gluck, California State University, USA Julie Cruikshank, University of British Columbia, Canada Tatiana Argounova, University of Aberdeen, UK Joan Sangster, Trent University, Canada Martha Norkunas, Middle Tennessee State University, USA Alan Wong, Concordia University, Canada Elizabeth Miller, Concordia University, Canada Pamela Sugiman, Ryerson University, Canada Monica Eileen Patterson, Concordia University, Canada Nancy Janovicek, University of Calgary, Canada Nadia Jones-Gailani, University of Toronto, Canada Alexander Freund, University of Winnipeg, Canada Luis van Isschot, City University of New York, USA Steven High, Concordia University, Canada Alessandro Portelli, University of Rome "Sapienza", Italy

• Foreword; Steven High Introduction: Toward an Ethnography of Practice; Anna Sheftel and Stacey Zembrzycki PART I: REFLECTIONS ON A LIFETIME OF LISTENING Section Introduction: Henry Greenspan 1. From California to Kufr Nameh and Back: Reflections on Forty Years of Feminist Oral History; Sherna Berger Gluck 2. "On" and "Off" the Record in Shifting Times and Circumstances; Julie Cruikshank and Tatiana Argounova 3. Politics and Praxis in Canadian Working-Class Oral History; Joan Sangster PART II: ENCOUNTERS IN VULNERABILITY, FAMILIARITY, AND FRIENDSHIP Section Introduction: Hourig Attarian 4. The Vulnerable Listener; Martha Norkunas 5. Listen and Learn: Familiarity and Feeling in the Oral History Interview; Alan Wong 6. Going Places: Helping Youth with Refugee Experiences Take Their Stories Public; Elizabeth Miller 7. Not Just Another Interviewee: Befriending a Holocaust Survivor; Stacey Zembrzycki PART III: THE INTERSECTION OF ETHICS AND POLITICS Section Introduction: Leyla Neyzi 8. I CanHear Lois Now: Corrections to My Story of the Internment of Japanese Canadians - "For the Record"; Pamela Sugiman 9. Third Parties in 'Third Spaces': Reflecting on the Role of the Translator in Oral History Interviews with Iraqi Diasporic Women; Nadia Jones-Gailani 10. "If you told me you wanted to talk about the '60s, I wouldn't have called you back": Reflections on Collective Memory and the Practice of Oral History; Nancy Janovicek 11. The Ethical Murk of Using Testimony in Oral Historical Research in South Africa; Monica Eileen Patterson PART IV: CONSIDERING SILENCE Section Introduction: Erin Jessee 12. Toward an Ethics of Silence? Negotiating Off-the-Record Events and Identity in Oral History; Alexander Freund 13. The Heart of Activism in Colombia: Reflections on Activism and Oral History Research in a Conflict Area; Luis van Isschot 14. "I don't fancy history very much": Reflections on Interviewee Recruitment and Refusal in Bosnia-Herzegovina; Anna Sheftel Afterword; Alessandro Portelli

' the essays in this collection reflect on those sensitive, uncomfortable and sometimes daunting moments in interviews that are usually left unmentioned. They show that the required skills of openness and patience can be gained only through practice and conscious critical evaluation of what we learn in theory. I found the essays wise and constructive in presenting the political, ethical and personal challenges that researchers face in interactions with subjects of their studies.' - LSE Review of Books Blog "Oral History Off the Record, an interdisciplinary collection of essays, will appeal to a beginner learning oral history methods as well as the accomplished practitioner. The contributors are so honest, so willing to make themselves vulnerable, that you feel compelled to think deeply about issues in the oral history interview that were scarcely alluded to earlier. You won't want to put this book down, but if you have to, you will find yourself continuing to think about it." - Valerie Yow, author of Recording Oral History: A Guide for the Humanities and Social Sciences "The interview is the keystone of our practice. This volume opens up that practice to self-reflexive scrutiny and interrogation and introduces the reader - the old hand as much as the newcomer - to honest appraisals of the interview process by some of the best known practitioners in the field. Oral History Off the Record is an honest and insightful appraisal of how we go about our craft from a range of disciplinary perspectives. The contributors share their anxieties, their struggles, their vulnerabilities, and their successes; this personal perspective makes this book a refreshing, engaging, and important intervention." - Lynn Abrams, Professor of Modern History, University of Glasgow, UK