Black Lives Matter: Race and Belonging in the Age of Colorblindness 6 pages Audience:As before, your audience for this project includes a mixed audience of people interested, but not necessarily well-
Oral History Option
For this option, you’ll complete a 45-60 minute interview with someone of your choosing, record their interview, transcribe a good portion of their interview, and then revise/edit their interview. You will upload a copy of the finished oral history narrative through Canvas, provide them a copy, and if you’d like to share this oral history, submit a copy of the signed release form (optional)
To offer an Oral History, follow these steps:
Choose someone to interview and set up the interview:
Pick someone you want to talk with about their experiences with the covid-19 global pandemic (the interviewee or narrator). You probably want to choose someone you know who is willing to share their experience and be recorded. When you ask to interview the person, make sure that they know why you’d like to interview them. Feel free to offer to change their name for the sake of anonymity.
Set up a time and (probably virtual) place to conduct the interview. Make sure you have their permission to interview and share the interview.
Prepare questions and materials for the interview (a device to record the interview, for instance).
Begin your interview by asking for some biographical information about the person you are interviewing. If you are interviewing an “essential worker,” for instance, ask them questions related to that such as, Where do you live? Where do you work? How long have you worked there? What do you do there?
Write questions designed to prompt the story of the interviewee’s experience with our covid-19 climate. If you’re writing about what it’s like to be an essential worker during the pandemic, for instance, ask questions such as, What’s it like to go to work everyday? Do you feel safe at work? How do you feel about being designated an essential worker? What concerns you about working during a pandemic? The key thing with the questions is to facilitate their story, not your agenda, so your questions will probably change once the interview is underway. The best questions are follow-up questions about what someone has just said.
Make sure you have a recording device (such as a phone or a zoom video) and that you have permission to record.
Conduct the interview.
The interview should probably last between 45-60 minutes.
Ask away, making sure that you listen to the person you interview and adjust your questions so that they reflect that you’ve heard and so they facilitate the telling of that person’s story. The point here is to honor the story that person wants to share.
Avoid retraumatization. When talking to someone about recollections and experiences that can be deeply painful, using a trauma-informed approach can help to facilitate safety and trust. Trauma-informed care is a framework through which practitioners understand the far-reaching impacts of trauma on people’s lives, recognize the signs of trauma, and prioritize emotional well-being and the prevention of retraumatization in their interactions with clients (or in the case of oral historians, narrators)….
Allow enough time for the interviews…
Respect narrators’ self-determination…
Emphasize narrators’ anonymity…
Solicit input from narrators and give them choices…1
Transcribe the interview:
Listen to the recording and type up the interview. This might take a while, so leave yourself time.
Follow-up with the interviewee on any questions you have via email, text, or phone, if you need to.
Edit and revise the interview by removing the questions you asked so the interview sounds like a narrative. Feel free to use the first-person when writing this out.
Here’s how to cite your source on a Works Cited page:
Example: Rodriguez, Olga. Phone interview. 12 Sept. 2019.
Optional--Informed Consent. About twenty-five teachers in VVUSD, MVUSD, and at MVC are conducting oral history projects with their students this year. We are doing this work together and hope to publish a number of oral history narratives on the website here. If you think your narrator’s story should be shared and that they would be willing to share it (even if it’s anonymous!), then ask them to sign the form at the end of this handout. This group of students, their teachers, and their narrators will be invited to an April 24thevent being hosted in Perris! More details to come…
RELEASE FORM
I, _______________________________ (full name) hereby give permission for the Researching (With) Our Communities through Oral Histories Project, taking place at Moreno Valley College to record, transcribe, and consider this interview for publication.
I understand that I have complete control over how my interview can be used, and can choose to remain anonymous if the interview is used in any form. (This includes, and is not limited to, text or audio excerpts of the interview in newspapers, magazines, and the internet.) If I choose to remain anonymous, I will select the name I would like the Researching (With) Our Communities through Oral Histories Project to use and will communicate that name to the interviewer. I understand that Voice of Witness may share the final project across their media channels and on their website
I will receive a transcript and/or recording of my interview from the Researching (With) Our Communities through Oral Histories Project for my personal use upon my request.
The Researching (With) Our Communities through Oral Histories Project will not publish anything without my consent, and will do everything to protect my privacy. They will not share my identity or personal information with anyone else. If I do not speak English, I will be provided with an interpreter who will explain this consent form in my language.
_________________________________ Signature
_________________________________ Date
_________________________________ Address
_________________________________City, State, Zip
_________________________________Phone #
_________________________________Other way of getting in contact
_________________________________Interviewer’s name
Background: This oral history project, which has taken place since the 2017-18 academic year, focuses on representing diverse stories of the Inland Empire. The goal is to highlight people who call the Inland Empire home. This project has been funded through a fellowship made available through Voice of Witness and is currently funded by California Teachers Association Institute for Teaching. This project will be made public in a variety of ways: through social media, publication on a website and/or book, and public events. If you have any questions, please contact Jennifer Escobar, English faculty at Moreno Valley College, at 951-571-6412 or [email protected] Thank you for your contribution to helping us highlight the amazing people of the Inland Empire!
1 From Say It Forward: A Guide to Social Justice Storytelling, eds. Cliff Mayotte and Claire Kiefer, Haymarket, p. 9
