Oral History of Muharram

In Shi'ia Islam, the lunar month of Muharram is mingled with commemoration of the martyrdom of the third Shi'a Imam (Hussain ibn Ali, peace be upon him) on the day of Ashura (Muharram 10, October 10, 680 CE) in the land of Karbala, Iraq. Even though, it now passes more than 1200 years from the brutal killing of Imam Hussein and 72 of his companions, Shi'as have handed down the story of the savage slaughter by heart from generation to generation. Everyone in the Shi'a society has an impression of the story in accordance with what they have heard from their fathers or religious preachers in gatherings of Shi'as to mourn for the great loss during Muharram.

"Old Journalism is Like Riding in a Carriage": Behzadi

Journalism in the past was like climbing into and riding in a carriage, compared to what is being practiced today said veteran journalist Behrouz Behzadi, addressing an oral history gathering on journalism here in Tehran last week. Journalism in the past was so much different from what is being practiced in today's world, and people's understanding of the past of the practice is only possible through memories and oral history of the veteran practitioners, said Behzadi. He said the growth of communications in the past 50 years is unprecedented throughout history.

The Practitioners Speak on Oral History (1)

Allison Penner: My name is Allison Penner. I’m at Columbia University in New York, New York with Ron Grele. The date is June 15th 2012, and we are doing an interview on the practices of oral history and Ron’s experience with that. So I guess just to get started here, what attracted you to oral history? How did you become an oral historian? Ronald Grele: Actually it’s kind of a mundane answer. I was looking for a job. I had finished my residency at Rutgers University for the Ph.D. and I had taken a one-year teaching assignment at Lafayette College in Easton, Pennsylvania. At that time I was married; I had four children. My daughter, who is the fourth, was born in Easton.

Two New Books in History

“The Memories of Unruliness Era” (parts of Taghi Makinejad’s life, one of the 53 activists of Iran Tudeh Party) by Yusuf Niknam and “The Social Ideas of Muslim Intellectuals” by Taghi Azad Armaki was published. Iran Book News Agency (IBNA) – “A look at Taghi Makinejad’s life”, “Memories and Notes of Taghi Makinejad”, “An Interview with Taghi Makinejad”, “Ceaseless (examples of his ideas and books)” and “Photos and Documents” are chapters of this book of 212 pages by Yusuf Niknam. In some part of this book it reads, “History of the 53 and some of its members’ roles in formation of Iran Tudeh Party after August, 1941 is a rather recognized part of Iran contemporary history. A collection of documents and also memories of some of its members have been already published”.

Locals included in oral history collection project

Some Grand Falls-Windsor residents got to share their reflections of home today as part of a national project. Collecting the oral histories of cities and towns across Canada is a passion for Charles Ketchabaw and Annie McEwen. They’ve been on the road for over 150 days and have begun a trip that will take them across Newfoundland and Labrador driving their “Storymobile” with their project called, A Tale of a Town – Canada. The project’s goal is to collect stories from people that frequent main streets of towns and cities, a press release stated.

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