The Significance of Oral History in Documenting Cultural Changes

Abstract

Discussion Two: Oral History Oral history is essential in describing the experiences of people affected by historical events, cultural changes, and social phenomenon. It provides an opportunity to gain first-hand accounts of individuals who have experienced events essential to a particular culture. Other sources of information are limited to facts about the impacts of events on the people. However, oral history provides an opportunity to for the audience to get first-hand information on the experiences of individuals involved (StoryCorps). Often, history authored in the past could provide the details such as the dates of events and how people at the time reacted to change. Oral history makes it possible to listen to the accounts of people who have been affected by the events and the changes resulting from such experiences. Historians have an opportunity to get personal accounts of the people affected by events through oral mean of gathering information. Oral history might present some problems that may affect the accuracy of information offered by participants. While written accounts are able to provide specifics, oral history may be limited to the overall occurrences of events. When obtaining information from an individual who was young at the time an event occurred several decades before, the details may be lost in memory and prove challenging to obtain (StoryCorps). Moreover, individual perceptions may affect how people remember events and impact on the accuracy of the oral history. The video on “A Family Man” was interesting since it describes the changes in the culture of the United States over the years and the relationship between culture and the economy. According to the video, the speaker talks about his father’s strict parenting while demonstrating the commitment people had on their children. Works Cited StoryCorps. “A Family Man.” YouTube. Jun...