2021 Virtual Issue: Ethics
By Mark Vallero and Nicole Strunk
In their 2016 article “Who’s Afraid of Oral History? Fifty Years of Debates and Anxiety about Ethics,” Anna Sheftel and Stacey Zembrzycki remind us that, “Oral history is powerful. We fear not using that power to its full potential, or abusing it, or losing control over it altogether.” They share that our fears and anxieties as practitioners of oral history come from a place of wanting to do good, by both our narrators and by the profession we’re pursuing. We fear not being “good” enough, or causing harm to those we hope to lift up.
Those involved in oral history are vulnerable to exploitation and malpractice, and must navigate the dangerous grey areas that arise in subjective, interpersonal work. Project designs, publication expectations, trauma, shared authority, intellectual property concerns, and power structures impact how oral historians and their narrators participate in projects. These factors shape how we engage with larger historical narratives and whose voices we choose to document, interpret, and share. Hand in hand with the Oral History Review’s Special Issue on Ethics (48.2), this virtual issue brings together articles from the OHR archive addressing some of the conversations about ethics within the field of oral history.
This anthology of articles from past issues sheds light on discussions of ethics in a celebration of the opportunities that oral history can provide us, rather than as a condemnation of the ways we need to improve our methods. The questions and concerns our authors raise should not discourage oral historical work, but rather guide our navigation of murky ethical waters.
At times, history is hard to digest and deals with tragedies that can be emotionally and psychologically taxing to study. Oral history is no exception, particularly in situations where it calls on interviewers to record testimonies from narrators that have lived through horrible life events. Jennifer Cramer writes in “‘First, Do No Harm’: Tread Carefully Where Oral History, Trauma, and Current Crises Intersect,” about her observations conducting oral histories in the midst of ongoing traumas during the COVID-19 pandemic. Mark Klempner examines the potential pitfalls of interviewing about the Holocaust in “Navigating Life Review Interviews with Survivors of Trauma,” addressing the very real challenges that an interviewer deals with when interpreting traumatic events recounted in oral histories.
In contrast to other forms of historical research, oral history necessitates a careful strategy for both conducting and disseminating one’s work due to the human subjects at a project’s core. Issues of sponsorship, legality, technology, distance, and other factors come into play and can have significant influence on the final product. Anna Sheftel and Stacey Zembrzycki examine how digital technologies alter our discourse on oral history ethics in both research and presentation, highlighting the concerns that arise from new practices in “Slowing Down to Listen in the Digital Age: How New Technology Is Changing Oral History Practice.”
An important part of oral history is the relationship between interviewers and narrators, often described in our field as one of “shared authority.” In exchange for conducting an interview, oral historians must make various considerations to protect this relationship. In “Ethics and Interpersonal Relationships in Oral History Research,” Valerie Yow looks at this obligation to respect narrators, calling on oral historians to fulfill an ethical duty to ensure that interviewees and their testimony are not exploited. In one of our most recent articles, “(Un)Naming: Ethics, Agency, and Anonymity in Oral Histories with Veteran-Narrators” Mia Martin Hobbs reflects on her experience with Vietnam veterans as narrators and the issue of publishing testimonies with identifying names and personal information that arose in her research.
Although oral historians typically capture individuals’ narratives, they also place those accounts within larger community contexts, traversing issues of identity and representation. Gatchet, in “‘I’ve Got Some Antique in Me’: The Discourse of Authenticity and Identity in the African American Blues Community in Austin, Texas,” emphasizes the overlaps between cultural identity and authenticity through the lens of blues music and its role within the African American community. Gatchet recognizes authenticity within blues music, not by its sound, but by its deep ties to racial identity.
Oral historians must recognize the effects that one narrator’s words–and the way those words are excerpted, shared, and interpreted–may reflect on the many different members of their community. In “Sustainable Stewardship: A Collaborative Model for Engaged Oral History Pedagogy, Community Partnership, and Archival Growth,” Fernheimer et. al. discuss how strong community partnerships are a vital part of what they dub “sustainable stewardship”. The sustainable stewardship that the authors reference, “provides an ongoing pedagogical framework for envisioning and implementing successful student and community-focused oral history projects…even after initial funding is gone,” allowing for rewarding and collaborative relationships for all parties involved, and a more equitable hierarchy to function within.
As we bring this virtual issue to an end, let us hold on to the rest of Sheftel and Zembrzycki’s call to action to, “…keep being afraid and see what richness emerges.” We must hold onto our concerns and allow them to drive us to continuously challenge and improve our field together. Oral historians sensitive to these issues will understand the concern of ethics and could benefit from their work by keeping the lessons from this year’s virtual issue in mind.
Cramer, Jennifer A. “’First, Do No Harm’: Tread Carefully Where Oral History, Trauma, and Current Crises Intersect,” The Oral History Review 47 no. 2 (2020): 203-213.
Klempner, Mark. “Navigating Life Review Interviews with Survivors of Trauma,” The Oral History Review 27 no. 2 (2000) : 67-83.
Sheftel, Anna and Zembrzycki, Stacey. “Slowing Down to Listen in the Digital Age: How New Technology Is Changing Oral History Practice,” The Oral History Review 44 no. 1 (2017): 94-112.
Yow, Valerie. “Ethics and Interpersonal Relationships in Oral History Research,” The Oral History Review 22 no. 1,(1995): 51-66.
Hobbs, Mia Martin. “(Un)Naming: Ethics, Agency, and Anonymity in Oral Histories with Veteran-Narrators,” The Oral History Review 48, no 1 (2021): 59-82.
Gatchet, Roger Davis. “‘I’ve Got Some Antique in Me’: The Discourse of Authenticity and Identity in the African American Blues Community in Austin, Texas,” The Oral History Review 39 no. 2 (2012): 202-229.
Fernheimer, Janice W., Boyd, Douglas A., Goldstein, Beth L. & Dorpinghaus, Sarah. “Sustainable Stewardship: A Collaborative Model for Engaged Oral History Pedagogy, Community Partnership, and Archival Growth,” The Oral History Review 45 no. 2 (2018): 321-341.
