We ask authors of projects reviewed in Oral History Review to answer 5 questions about why we should read their projects. In our latest installment of the series, Vann Newkirk II discusses his podcast Floodlines produced through The Atlantic, which focuses on the the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans. Sheldon Yeakley’s review of the Floodlines podcast is […]
There is no doubt that story-telling can be therapeutic. But, we as oral historians are trained to document while therapists are trained in their field with entirely different goals. Oral historians record stories that offer experiential information in order to create primary sources that are preserved and made available to the public. It is wonderful when, through the course of an oral history interview, we can help the interviewee heal as perhaps part of their therapy, but I believe that it’s best for oral historians to stick to the overall goal of documenting — while being especially careful with respondents who have recently experienced trauma.
Jennifer Abraham Cramer, director of Louisiana State University’s T. Harry Williams Center for Oral History, “Oral History in Disasters Zones."
[Staff note: In light of today’s anniversary, an excerpt from an interview we conducted with our media review editor about conducting oral history research following Hurricanes Katrina and Rita.]
pbsthisdayinhistory: August 29, 2005: Hurricane Katrina Hits New Orleans Eight years ago today, Hurricane Katrina made landfall in New Orleans, Louisiana. The Category 4 storm claimed almost 2,000 lives and caused $80 billion in damage. Watch NOVA’s “Storm that Drowned a City” to see what led to the devastating floods that Katrina unleashed on New […]
