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An Introduction to Point of Departure in Oral History Interviews
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The point of departure constitutes a key component of narration as the motif of oral history biographies, diaries and interviews. It addresses the questions as to from which point of time the narration of life events should start and whether the interviewer should restrict the interview to a section of interviewee's life or also ask about the backgrounds and contexts. This paper is an attempt to underline the significance of developing a regular framework of the interviewee's life to overcome the disorder plaguing the recorded interviews. Answering these questions requires a consideration of the type of memory (political, social, cultural and economic) and its function; however, a single model for the point of departure could be prescribed with some degree of flexibility. In fact, this paper aims to address oral history narration and its applications in recording memories as oral history interview is an informal and conversational type of interview in which detailed, qualitative and comprehensive information is obtained. Moreover, the contemporary researcher has no choice but to accept the recorded memories and make no change in their structure and nature.
When the memories of politicians are recorded using the oral history active interview technique, the point of departure covers the interviewees' political activities. Similarly, the interviewers are inclined to start the interview asking immediately about the wartime and even a certain operation when interviewing war veterans. Political activists are also expected to answer questions regarding their political and armed activities. Furthermore, major economic and cultural figures are asked about related activities. While this method seems to be free of shortcomings, a thorough study of interviews reveals that many opportunities have been lost and major issues ignored. This is true of all interviews. In person-centered interviews in which the narration moves from the interviewer to predefined and sometimes random subjects (i.e. social issues), awareness of the interviewee's family, social, cultural and even political background is of great importance. In subject-centered interviews, awareness of the family background and psychological and social characteristics of the major players is necessary as the oral history also pays attention to the causes, goals and the players of the event. Therefore, moving from the outer to the inner of events requires the recognition of causes and goals of a purposeful social behavior whose lack of realization makes the collected data of little historical added value; i.e. extra qualitative and quantitative information the interviewer/historian extracts from the depth of historical events.
This essential component of interview and thus the interviewee's memories and biography are ignored due to different reasons the most important of which is that the interviewer sees no point in asking about it and focuses on the main subject instead. This also satisfies the readers who are seeking to read the original narration conforming to the title of the book or interview. In oral historians and scholars' view, this method is not free of shortcomings as no personality is developed spontaneously and no event occurs without proper backgrounds. In addition, the interviewees sometimes refuse to rekindle their childhood memories due to different personal reasons. Bitter memories, indigence and low status and income all and all provide good reasons to avoid recounting childhood memories. While the interviewers are not permitted to act like investigators, they can manipulate the questions in order to minimize the challenge. Sometimes, the interviewees fail to narrate their childhood memories due to the interviewers' focus on the main subject.
One of the objectives of interviewing is to encourage the interviewee to talk about his/her childhood complexes and thus find solace. Proper questions on childhood pave the ground for gaining the interviewee's confidence and establish intimate relations between the interviewee and interviewer. Being engraved on the interviewee's mind, childhood events are narrated in more detail and thus improve the quality of the data.
Needless to say, a skilled interviewer does his/her best to explore and decipher this section of the interviewee's life. Any oral history interview with political, cultural and social figures requires addressing questions regarding:
• their family background
• their social and family conditions
• their social class and status; growing up in rural or urban areas
• their level of financial welfare
• their family's level of education
• their family's religious, political and social beliefs
• their contacts and relations
• their level of education and major of study
In conclusion, a well-thought-of question package determines the main framework of interview in advance and is flexible enough to cover all aspects of an historical event and its players and consider its backgrounds and contexts as well as individual and collective experience during the interview process.
Mahdi Abolhassani Taraqqi (PhD)
University of Isfahan
& Isfahan University of Art
Translated by: Katayoun Davallou
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