„Journey to Mezeritch”. About an experience of oral history

• Main Author: Agata Stolarz
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Ośrodek "Pamięć i Przyszłość" - "Remembrance and Future" Centre 2014-10-01
• Series: Wrocławski Rocznik Historii Mówionej
• Subjects: oral history; methodology; międzyrzec podlaski
• Online Access: https://wrhm.pl/wrhm/article/view/68/52

What makes oral history different from any other history research method is the fact that a historian is actively involved in gathering information about events from the past. A category of performance borrowed from anthropology and ethnology shows that not only may a researcher influence a person narrating their story (e.g. by asking particular questions), it is also the storyteller who may influence the researcher, both in an existential as well as an epistemological dimension. The article discusses the problem of oral history research experience on the basis of an interview that the author carried out with the eighty-three-year old Kazimierz on the topic of the history of Międzyrzec Podlaski. The author presents the influence this interview had on her practicing oral history method as well as the history itself in a wider context. A reflection on the experience of oral history understood as a kind of research intuition (J. Huizinga) and a form of experiencing a research situation (F. Ankersmit), allows for a closer look at the issue of a researchers’ self-awareness and as a result on factors influencing their way of gathering information and the process of constructing history narration.