Experts’ Answers to Oral History Questions

100 Questions/6

Translated by Mandana Karimi

2025-11-26

We asked several researchers and activists in the field of oral history to express their views on oral history questions. The names of each participant are listed at the beginning of their answers, and the text of all answers will be published on this portal by the end of the week. The goal of this project is to open new doors to an issue and promote scientific discussions in the field of oral history.

In this project, a question is asked every Saturday, and we ask experts to present their views in the form of a short text (about 100 words) by the end of the week. All answers will be published together so that the audience can compare and analyze the views.

The content is the opinions of the senders and does not necessarily reflect the opinion of the Oral History website. Although the answers are supposed to be based on about 100 words, in order to be polite and not to leave the discussion incomplete, in some cases, answers longer than this are also accepted.

This time, we asked experts to submit their answers by Sunday night so that all answers can be published on Tuesday.

Question 6:

Does the narrator's social status affect the expression of memories?

Ahmad Mehdi Behravand

The narrator’s social statues plays an important role in the formation of oral history narratives. The narrator is never separated from their class, political, cultural, or religious position, and this position affects their perspective on events, choice of topics, and manner of expressing memories. For example, a war commander and an ordinary soldier may tell about the same event, but their perspective and tone are not the same. These differences make oral history multilayered and meaningful. The researcher must know the narrator’s social position in order to analyze the narrative in its true context and consider it a reflection of his lived experience, not a completely impartial report of the past.

Hassan Beheshtipour

Accepting the definition that “social status is the position of an individual in the social structure and is the result of economic, occupational, educational, cultural factors, and the degree of influence,” it can be said that this status plays a decisive role in the type and content of the narrator’s memories. First, it determines their perspective; everyone interprets events from their own position. Second, their level of access to information affects the accuracy of the narrative. Third, language and tone also depend on the individual’s position. Fourth, the purpose of writing a narrative arises from this position. And fifth, the level of visibility and social credibility of memories is unequal and usually ends up benefiting those in power.

Gholamreza Azari Khakestar

The narrator's social status not only affects the content of the memory, but their style of expression also clarifies the credibility of the narrative for the audience and, in research, influences the priority of citation. Narrators with higher social status usually have access to more extensive information, and their narratives sometimes reveal hidden corners of history. In contrast, people who do not have a prominent social status like ordinary people, become important when they present a narrative on a specific topic, because they are mostly observers or witnesses of an event, and the value of their narrative lies in this direct observation.

Mohammad Mehdi Abdollahzadeh

Social status not only influences an individual’s interactions, but also plays a role in shaping their identity and self-image; therefore, the social status of both the narrator and the interviewer influences the way memories are expressed. In the relationship that develops during an interview, the self-image and mutual perceptions of the parties – some of which are rooted in their social status – determine the direction of the conversation. This influence manifests itself at six levels: the narrator’s self-image, the interviewer’s self-image, the narrator’s perception of the interviewer, the interviewer’s perception of the narrator, the narrator’s perception of the interviewer’s view of him, and the interviewer’s perception of the narrator’s view of him.

Seyyed Mohammad Sadegh Feyz

Normally, there should be no difference, but in practice, especially in the fields of revolution and war, where prominent figures are first approached, it is seen that as we move further away from the time of the events, narrators include considerations related to their social, political, and even party positions in recounting their memories. This causes the narratives to sometimes take on the color of individual and social orientations. Therefore, assessing the credibility of such memories is only possible through verification; that is, examining documents, comparing them with the memories of others, and matching them with relevant news and texts in order to determine whether the narrative is true or false.

Seyyed Vali Hashemi

This question has two aspects:

a) If the narrative is recorded at the time of the event or shortly after, usually no; because the narrator is still in the same space of the event and no mental distance has been created.

b) But if years have passed since the event and the narrator's social position has changed, my scientific and practical experience as an expert in enduring literature shows that yes, this change affects the narrative. However, it should be noted that in some cases, especially among the military, the narrative is narrated exactly as it happened and has not been changed.

Abolfath Momen

Given that today, memoirs and oral history data are research sources, the social status of the memoirist must be taken into account in their verification. First, the interviewer adjusts questions based on the individual's status to obtain data related to their role and expertise; however, if they are not skilled enough, they may be influenced by the narrator's status and be considerate or indifferent. Second, the narrator, considering their past and present status, may be expedient, emphasize their role, or consider their narrative to be the main narrative. However, an honest narrator can provide new and documented information, because their access to documents and manuscripts can enrich the memoirs.

Shafighe Niknafs

It is clear that privileges such as higher education, a proper job, and financial resources give people a superior social status, and usually lead to stronger connections and speaking power. But in oral history, the ability to speak well is not a virtue in itself. There are four main categories of oral history projects: topic-based projects, character-based or life history projects, social history, and family history. In all of these, the individual's experience and role in events are important, not social status or storytelling skills. Perhaps the underprivileged classes, who have been deprived of social privileges, are given more attention.

Gholamreza Azizi

The narrator's position, power, race, age, ethno-cultural characteristics, class, and social status seem to influence the oral history interview process and the way memories are expressed. The most important consequence of this dependence is the "selective recall and expression of memories." Sometimes the narrator deletes or modifies parts of the memories for fear of being accused of disregarding the interests of his class or even betraying it. Also, their preconsciousness of being considered a representative of their class may direct the narrative towards gaining verbal authority or defending their class, and organize the narrative in an unwritten form against other classes.

Abolfazl Hassan Abadi

Paying attention to the context of time and place in oral history interviews is very important because during the narration, different periods of the narrator's life are documented, and some past situations may conflict with their current position and they may not be willing to recount them. In such situations, the interviewer's vigilance is essential; they should not be influenced by the narrator's social position and should, by creating empathy, gaining trust, and providing a safe space, allow the narrator to freely express their memories so that information can be obtained independent of the individual's current position.

Mohammad Mohsen Mashafi

The effect of social status on the expression of memory can be traced consciously and unconsciously. In the first form, the narrator, in giving weight to events or the role of individuals, tries to formulate the narrative in a way that supports their political, economic, or historical analysis, and in this way, disregard for the standards of fairness is also possible. In the unconscious case, the coloration of memory by the social status of individuals has caused oral history to not present a single narrative. Part of the plurality of narratives in oral history is due to the fact that an individual, unintentionally and through a lens made of their own beliefs, interests, and tendencies, observes, understands, and narrates the historical event.