Oral history: Research in the South African context

Abstract

Oral history as a technique for historical documentation was initiated in the North. It has been recognised as an academic discipline in the United States, England, Germany, Spain and Canada for more than half a century. But it is as relevant in developing countries, as was shown by the number of delegates from the South at the thirteenth conference of the International Oral History Society in Rome in June 2004. Oral history has been practised in South Africa since the late 1970s. With the advent of democracy, however, new categories of oral history practitioners, new types of projects and new methodologies appeared. My purpose here is to assess and to comment upon these practices and methodologies. To what extent do they differ from those in use in the rest of the world? Is there a (South) African way of doing oral history?