Oral History and the Writing of Ethnic History: A Reconnaissance into Method and Theory

Okihiro, Gary Y.

doi:10.1093/ohr/9.1.27

Cited by 16 publications

(7 citation statements)

References 2 publications

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“…Oral history has a wide range of applications in studies of marketing, markets and the consumer. In technical terms, it is a method of gathering historical data, but it can also be approached as a subject matter through which to investigate memory (Frisch, 1990; Grele, 1985; Portelli, 1979; Thompson, 1981; Thompson, 1998), as well as a conceptual approach for understanding historical events (Okihiro, 1981). As a methodological approach, oral history shares much in common with many qualitative and interpretive approaches in marketing research which afford a certain centrality and priority to consumer voices and testimony (Elliott and Davies, 2006).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Voices passed

Davies

2011

Journal of Historical Research in Marketing

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PurposeThe paper's aim are to: review the value and credibility of oral history for historical research in marketing; and conceptualize oral history as more than a data source in historical research but also a subject to investigate memory and a conceptual approach for understanding historical events.Design/methodology/approachThe paper comprises an international historical review of oral history theory and practice linked to an examination of oral history methods in marketing.FindingsOral history is perceived as an “essentially contested concept”; a lack of consensus on universal principles has been sustained over a long time and has led to incredible diversity in theory and practice but has also made it difficult to grasp and manage. It is shown to be perspectival with analytical reach beyond individuals' recollected experiences and actions. Memory is identified as the subject as well as the source for oral history and a misconception that oral history can provide literal expressions of what experience and events were like is clarified. Oral history has been under‐utilized in marketing history and this is presented as a methodological paradox given the ubiquity of the interview in the marketing discipline more generally.Originality/valueCentral to oral history are a range of questions around issues of memory and remembering that have been largely unacknowledged in marketing and the oral history approach is perhaps uniquely placed to address some of these. Oral history critically examines the making of history and the paper highlights some of the issues this presents for historical research. Disciplinary efforts to standardize oral history are queried.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Voices passed

Davies

2011

Journal of Historical Research in Marketing

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“…Interpretations of maps were supplemented with the analysis of archival records (Okihiro 1981). These gave us information on the perspective of the government on the utility of the water body and its surroundings, and in some cases described conflicts around the use of the commons.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…However there are limitations arising from complete reliance on archival material. Written records, prepared in an environment where literacy was not the norm and coming largely from official sources, represent documentation influenced by positions that were clearly reflective of their time and environment (Okihiro 1981;Thompson 2000;Portelli 2010). Archival information was collected from the holdings of the Karnataka State Archives in Bengaluru.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Contested urban commons: mapping the transition of a lake to a sports stadium in Bangalore

2016

International Journal of the Commons

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Urban expansion is a global phenomenon during which many common spaces, often with complex histories of governance and stewardships become redefined within prevailing notions of urbanity. However, such commons often pose challenges that result in conflict with respect to their use, management, and ownership. In this paper, we use the example of a lake in the South Indian megapolis of Bengaluru (formerly Bangalore) to look at different changing notions of urban commons pictured against a backdrop of rapid urbanization, migration, and landscape change. We look at conflicts at each period of change and argue that many of these have shaped the landscape of today and perhaps may be responsible for current notions of ownership associated with the landscape. We combine landscape change analysis through geospatial means along with official archival records, oral narratives, and secondary information sources to describe gradual loss of an urban commons. We then pose that knowledge of historical contexts of access to ecosystem services, exclusion, conflict, and the mechanisms of conflict resolution around urban commons can help understand trends in contemporary management of commons. This knowledge would help shape more equitable and ecologically robust policy frameworks that govern these vulnerable resources. 266Hita Unnikrishnan et al.

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“…From this history, Achebe makes a critical political lesson to future leaders to avoid falling into depraved practices of their predecessors, what Mbembe (2015) calls a "negative moment" in, for example, his South Africa of today, a moment many African countries have experienced: you oust a dictator to establish a worse dictatorship! Crucially, therefore, it is a political statement of how African literature should act a liberating teacher to Africans in conflict resolution: how to reshape her future in a more liberating and humanizing way from recycling atrocities, animalism, individualism; it is a "recreation of a social consciousness" a living testimony for a better ideological orientation, a meaningful change… (Ulogu and Ogiageli Udogu: 2018;Rumana Sididdique: 2017;Okihiro: 1981;Amuta: 1983;Rodrigues: 2007;Neimneh and Abussamen: 2017;Zapata: 1993;Dwivedi: 2008;Olufunwa: 2002;. This is why storytellers are hated by autocrats; they say too many revealing things: "storytellers are a threat.…”

Section: D) the Story Of Perennial Deprivation Among The Massesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Matriarchy to Take Over National Duties? A Result of Failure in Nigerian (And African) Political Patriarchy of Neo-Colonial States

Peter¹,

Cornelius²

2019

RHPS

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This article examines the above topic, first of all, in the words of Maurice O"Connor (2008), as a narrative of internal dissent: Achebe reminiscing how issues in the earlier novels and in the present state of Nigeria merge as one continuous odious history of national disorientation and distortion. It, therefore, uses the storytelling methodology Achebe employs to discuss this historiography of distortion, by examining views of the key narrators who have shared the disillusioning experiences: the horrors of violence and oppression , effecting mass poverty, disillusionment and dehumanization. We examine also why storytelling is said to be of primary importance especially vis-à-vis African literature: examining the narratives as a cultural, consciousness-raising art, especially with regard to what should be the role of women in post-colonial African narratives. In discussing this, the article bears down on Beatrice as the embodiment of what, in narrative politics, Hanggi (2012) has called sane, saving politics of love, the hope for Nigeria/Africa. Through these discourses of the chief narrators, therefore, we see how Achebe endows Beatrice with the symbol of the inherent love in Motherhood that should end the horrors of "the single story" of pre and post-colonial male power, privilege and patriarchy (

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Oral History and the Writing of Ethnic History: A Reconnaissance into Method and Theory

Cited by 16 publications

References 2 publications

Voices passed

Voices passed

Contested urban commons: mapping the transition of a lake to a sports stadium in Bangalore

Matriarchy to Take Over National Duties? A Result of Failure in Nigerian (And African) Political Patriarchy of Neo-Colonial States

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