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Wed 12 April
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    11.00 - 13.00
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Thu 13 April
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Fri 14 April
    08.30 - 10.30
    11.00 - 13.00
    14.00 - 16.00
    16.30 - 18.30

Sat 15 April
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Friday 14 April 2023 08.30 - 10.30
X-9 ORA07 Listening in. Ethics, Emotions and Relations in the Re-analysis of Interviews
Västra Hamngatan 25 AK2 136 (Z)
Network: Oral History Chair: Andrea Strutz
Organizer: Andrea Althaus Discussants: -
Andrea Althaus : From a Distance. Methodological Considerations on the Secondary Analysis of Conversational Dynamics in Oral History Interviews
The relationship between interviewer and interviewee, which unfolds and changes during an interview, shapes the narrative. Oral historians therefore usually include the analysis of conversational dynamics in their evaluation. While in the primary analysis the interviewer and the analysing person are identical, in the secondary analysis of archived interviews the ... (Show more)
The relationship between interviewer and interviewee, which unfolds and changes during an interview, shapes the narrative. Oral historians therefore usually include the analysis of conversational dynamics in their evaluation. While in the primary analysis the interviewer and the analysing person are identical, in the secondary analysis of archived interviews the circle of participants expands to include a third person; a person who has no memories of the interview situation and usually knows little or nothing about the context in which the interview took place. Off-the-record statements and the mood experienced in the face-to-face encounter are no longer tangible from a distance. However, the temporal, spatial, and personal distance also helps to better understand what the interviewee wants to tell, what the interviewer wants to hear, and how the relationship between those involved in the conversation develops. In my paper, I will elaborate on different dimensions of evaluation that enrich a secondary analysis of conversational dynamics. Using a specific example – an almost 30-year-old (seven-and-a-half-hour) audio recording – I will show that it makes sense to reconstruct the conversation in its concrete historical, biographical, narrative, and aural contexts. In doing so, I will also raise the question of what can be learned from the analysis of "old" interviews for future interview practice. (Show less)

Linde Apel : Beyond Primary/secondary Dualism. The (Re-)use of Interviews as Research Data
Over almost 30 years ago, English-language oral history began to think about how it is possible and whether it is legitimate to use interviews in a context other than their original one. Although German-language oral history also has decades of experience in dealing with archived interviews this debate began later. ... (Show more)
Over almost 30 years ago, English-language oral history began to think about how it is possible and whether it is legitimate to use interviews in a context other than their original one. Although German-language oral history also has decades of experience in dealing with archived interviews this debate began later. How did it proceed, what are the specifics, what is the state of affairs, and what can we learn from it for the future of oral history?
I would like to discuss this in particular in the context of the debate about the handling of interviews as qualitative research data and the conception of digital research data infrastructures. I am also interested in options in which a later analysis can be thought through before interviews are conducted, ideally without hindering and limiting the interview. In particular, I would like to reflect on the fact that with easy digital accessibility of (a high number) of interviews, questions of proximity and distance influence our analysis differently than when we interpret interviews that we conducted oneself. What happens when the relationship between interviewer an interviewee fades or never existed? What happens with commitment and responsibility when a personally conducted oral history interview turns into an oral source? (Show less)

Janine Kristina Schemmer : Emotions Connect – Listening and Proximity in the Secondary Analysis of Oral Sources
Emotional qualities of narratives become apparent during a conversation as well as in the recording of oral history interviews. Despite a physical, spatial and temporal distance, listening in thus enables an immediate emotional proximity in the secondary analysis. According to Roland Barthes, "hearing a voice [...] opens up the relationship ... (Show more)
Emotional qualities of narratives become apparent during a conversation as well as in the recording of oral history interviews. Despite a physical, spatial and temporal distance, listening in thus enables an immediate emotional proximity in the secondary analysis. According to Roland Barthes, "hearing a voice [...] opens up the relationship to the other." (Barthes 2006) Therefore, listening in can be considered an intersection between the first and secondary analysis. As Luisa Passerini convincingly argued in 2009, emotions furthermore connect on several levels: among historical subjects, between the researcher and the object / subject of study, between the private and the public sphere, and between different disciplinary approaches. In my talk, I want to trace these relationships through listening in to interviews conducted and archived in the context of a local cultural project, engaging with a marginal area in the region Friuli Venezia-Giulia, located in the northeast of Italy, bordering Austria and Slovenia. This region was the site of major European conflicts in the twentieth century. The frictions continue to characterize the social memory, and cultural projects are part of dealing with the past.
Emotions triggered by listening are often emphasised, but methodically hardly analysed. Since meaning is – as is well known – conveyed in the voice, the tone and the rhythm, I will explore "the heuristic power of the ear" (Duden 2004). We can consciously listen in to the initial conversation, the acoustic space, and the communicative connection between the participants. In reflecting on emotions, we can ascribe objective meaning to them, which in turn influences our conclusions about the narratives and the feelings present in interviews. The focus of my talk will lie on the relation between private and public. What can be said about the interrelation between knowledge production and embodied memory? What emotions do the interviewers evoke? How can embodied experience be heard? Which emotions are shared, which remain unexpressed? To address these questions, I will connect approaches of oral history and anthropological perspectives of emotional practices. (Show less)

George J. Severs : The Time of Listening: Emotions and Ethics in Oral History Re-use
Oral history interviews are being re-used – or secondarily analysed – at a growing rate. This trend was evident before the Covid-19 pandemic but the lockdowns and travel restrictions designed to prevent its spread have seen more historians than ever looking to re-use their own interviews or to access and ... (Show more)
Oral history interviews are being re-used – or secondarily analysed – at a growing rate. This trend was evident before the Covid-19 pandemic but the lockdowns and travel restrictions designed to prevent its spread have seen more historians than ever looking to re-use their own interviews or to access and analyse digitally accessible oral archives. This is both a challenge and an encouraging development. Oral history has never simply been about the interviewer and the interviewee. Alessandro Portelli argued in 2019 that oral histories see the collision of three moments: ‘the time of the events, the time of the telling, and, when we factor in the archive, the time of listening’.
This paper fleshes out some of the practical and ethical issues at play when conducting secondary analyses of interviews which the analyst has not themselves conducted. It will discuss two major themes: how to deal with emotions in secondary analysis and the ethical issues at play. The place of emotions has been central to secondary analysis literature, cemented by Joanna Bornat’s groundbreaking article on re-analysing one’s own interviews. I will extend these discussions by focusing on the emotional content present in two oral history re-use projects I have worked on. Each project was sensitive and highly emotional: one on HIV and AIDS, the other on rape and sexual abuse. In establishing the possibilities of traversing these aural emotional landscapes, I will also suggest some pertinent ethical considerations for oral historians engaged in secondary analysis more broadly. (Show less)



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