Making Space for the Present

I know what you might be thinking: what’s a blog about history doing talking about the present?

One of the reasons why I like to study history is that I like to think about how the past has shaped the situations we find ourselves in today. Public history, in particular, is inherently connected to the present. Yes, the topics are usually historical in nature, but it’s all about how we interpret them in the here and now for a current audience.

It is important to remember that in 50 years (or technically even in 50 seconds), the things we are living through now will become part of the past. I find that sometimes it can be easy to speed through the days thinking only about the future. But, every now and then, we stumble into a situation that forces us to slow down and reminds us that we are living through history. The recent pandemic is one obvious example. I remember one moment in the spring of 2020 vividly, where I was on my front driveway, washing a car. I remember pausing for a moment to think—This feels strange. Right now I’m just doing a normal chore, but one day I will see this time period reflected in the pages of history textbooks.

Oral history is one branch of public history that is especially linked to the present. There are many ways of thinking about oral history and debates on how exactly we define it. Briefly, oral history involves a conversation between the interviewer and the interviewee, or narrator, where the narrator is asked questions about past experiences or about stories that have been passed down to them. Often, the goal is to record memories and experiences that are not typically found in traditional historical sources.

While in some ways, it seems obvious to connect oral history with the present, there are a few ideas which have recently deepened my understanding of oral history and have really made me think about the intersection between the past and the present within this context.

As I’ve been reading about the theory behind oral history, one concept that has really struck me is the idea that oral history forces us to slow down. In their 2017 article, historians Anna Sheftel and Stacey Zembrzycki highlight how oral history is all about “slow, thoughtful, and engaged listening.”[1] Although they acknowledge that technology in oral history has its benefits, especially in terms of accessibility, they also question how the ideas of speed and efficiency will impact the art of oral history.

I’ve mentioned in an earlier post that one of the things I love about history is that it allows me to step into someone else’s shoes. But it’s also important to remember which shoes we are already wearing, so to speak. One term that often comes up is “positionality.”

“Positionality is the social and political context that creates your identity in terms of race, class, gender, sexuality, and ability status. Positionality also describes how your identity influences, and potentially biases, your understanding of and outlook on the world.”[2]

I love the idea of becoming aware of how our own identities and past experiences shape our opinions and the way we interact with others before engaging as an interviewer in oral history. We need to acknowledge our own humanness, reflect on who we are in the present moment and be aware that our identities will affect how we engage with the practice of oral history. Once we understand the present, we are more ready to engage with others and listen to their stories about the past. We can’t eliminate our biases and perspectives, but we can recognize them.

In her book, Recording Oral History: A Guide for the Humanities and Social Sciences, Valerie Yow summarizes the interviewer’s involvement in the process of oral history: “In striving to see the world as the narrator sees it, we realize that this stance compels us to have compassion for the narrator. We cannot work with complete objectivity and don’t want to.”[3] In other words, “objective” historical research is not the goal. Instead, we should recognize the importance of our own perspective and how it influences our interpretation of the past, and embrace the present moment.

[1] Anna Sheftel and Stacey Zembrzycki, “Slowing Down to Listen in the Digital Age: How New Technology is Changing Oral History Practice,” Oral History Review 44 (2017). [2] “Positionality,” Dictionary.com, August 23, 2018, https://www.dictionary.com/e/gender-sexuality/positionality/. [3] Valerie Yow, Recording Oral History: A Guide for the Humanities and Social Sciences, (Lanham: Rowan and Littlefield), 10.