Last week, it was a lovely surprise to find out that the Oral History Reader Group (@hypirohrg) selected my latest article as the focal point for their discussion.
The article was published in this Autumn’s 2020 issue of the Oral History Journal (@oralhistoryjour). It inquires into how we can understand and find meaning in the inconsistencies and contradictions in interviewees’ first-hand accounts of their life experiences and memories. The analysis is grounded in an archival collection of in-depth life story interviews I created with 21 former Crown Court clerks, in partnership with National Life Stories British Library (www.bl.uk/projects/national-life-stories) and the London School of Economics Legal Biography Project (www.lse.ac.uk/law/legal-biography-project). The interviews are available at the British Library Sound Archive.
The Oral History Reader Group meets monthly (often online) to discuss the use of oral history in research and writing. Everyone is welcome!