Methods for Recording Accounts by War Veterans
Oral historiography is the process of recording history by in-person interviews whose transcripts are stored without any subjective interpretations. Oral historiography is a form of interview in which the interviewer has a brief understanding of a given topic and seeks to reach out for details by the questions they ask the interviewees to clarify a historical event from the viewpoints of an eyewitness. This needs thorough policy-making, well-defined objectives and research projects as well as an audience, interviewers and interviewees. Generally speaking, oral historiography of sacrifice and martyrdom is faced with two major challenges:
1. Theoretical challenges
2. Executive challenges
Despite the fact that oral history enjoys a clear and unambiguous definition, there are still major disagreements between scholars of the field that need to be addressed; when it comes to martyrdom and sacrifice, the differences become bold relief and new challenges arise that must be considered:
-How should the issue of sacrifice and martyrdom be properly defined in oral history?
The boundaries of narrative by personal accounts of sacrifice and martyrdom should be well defined.
-Has the era of martyrdom and sacrifice come to an end?
-Should war be deemed as a period of time with a beginning and an end, or should it be seen as a dynamic cultural and political phenomenon?
Another theoretical challenge in oral historiography of martyrdom and sacrifice are the emotional and scientific dimensions of the study. Are we looking at the whole issue from an emotional perspective or from a scientific point of view?
Executive challenges can be divided into three categories: policy-making challenges, application challenges and project management challenges.
Regarding policy making, the government partnership in oral history projects is a major challenge. The history of the Sacred Defense is totally dependent on government activities. All government institutions must cooperate to facilitate oral history projects so that invaluable personal perspectives are recorded and registered based on an efficient mechanism with government support.
In regards to application challenges, the lack of a comprehensive data bank for storage of oral history data is felt. The result of this lack is that the institutions and organizations active in restoration of the Sacred Defense relics are inclined to pursue oral history projects based on their wish without following a common model so that unnecessary works are eliminated and progress is made more rapidly in the field.
Iran Daily,
Monday, September 29, 2014
Translated by: Abbas Hajihashemi
