But how does one assess healing or personal development?
How does one measure the growing capacity to listen, to reserve judgment, to generate a commitment to archiving another’s story, to both lose and better see oneself, to understand that the past is ever-present?
The weakening of oracy, with the rise and spread of the printed word, combined with the adoption of reductionist and empirically based methods in academic study, meant that the significance of oral testimonies was poorly understood.
As a result, while oral sources often played a significant part in the writing of histories, these were just as often downplayed in comparison with evidence drawn from documents.
We aim In relation to these goals, oral history pedagogy offers the opportunity to connect students and storytellers.
For all participants, there is a greater potential for critical (and current) attention to shared historical legacies.Since the 1970s oral history in Britain has grown from being a method in folklore studies to become a key component in community histories.Oral history continues to be an important means by which non-academics can actively participate in 'making history'.In short, interviewees and interviewers understand that they are part of a larger story.The following learning outcomes, then, endeavor to link content related to the work of James Baldwin to the stories that give his writing (and the civil rights period) further context.That he left an imprint at the college through a talk to past students offered one important historical and conceptual link.Present and past students engage as listeners upon the local and national stage concerning civil rights.However, there are many ways of doing oral history even within single national contexts.In Britain the Oral History Society has played a key role in facilitating and developing the use of oral history.The lack of acknowledgement of oral sources was compounded by a failure to access their value in any meaningful way.This was set to change in the second half of the 20th century.