Oral History Training Requires Profound Discourse

Edited and interviewed by Akram Dashtban
Translated by Kianoush Borzouei

2024-10-28

Dr. Abolfazl Hasanabadi, a scholar in local history and director of the Astan Quds Razavi Manuscripts Center, shared his insights on oral history education in an interview with Iran’s Oral History site. He emphasized that oral history training has always been workshop-based and experiential. While short courses sometimes come with certification, two decades of experience in oral history training suggest that short-term workshops merely serve as an introduction to the field and fall short in deepening one's knowledge.

Commenting on the current state of oral history training, Hasanabadi noted, “In Iran, oral history workshops have been held for over two decades. Official institutions such as the Organization of Islamic Revolution Documents, Astan Quds Razavi, the Cultural Front of the Islamic Revolution, and the Foundation for the Preservation and Publication of Sacred Defense Works have organized various workshops covering interviewing techniques, writing, authentication, and more. Sometimes, article writing and project-based initiatives have sought to enrich these efforts. However, if we regard oral history as a science, it becomes clear that we face considerable shortcomings in educational standards, with much relying on the personal experiences and trial and error of its practitioners.”

He continued, “Oral history has yet to fully integrate into the academic discourse of our universities. Instead, it is generally confined to workshops or 6 to 8 hour sessions, which are insufficient for a thorough education in oral history. To incorporate academic discourse, we need 3 to 6 month programs. Our training approach has predominantly been workshop-oriented and experiential.”

While acknowledging the availability of various published works, including theoretical ones on oral history, the director emphasized that the field remains focused on broader general themes. “Deeper discussions are essential—such as oral history’s relationship with qualitative studies, which is often overlooked. Oral history requires specialists to fulfill its nuanced needs, similar to how twenty years of commitment have contributed to the field's current growth.”

According to Hasanabadi, “Although various themes within oral history have been explored theoretically and scientifically, one emerging concern is the role of oral history in war historiography. What role does oral history play in chronicling the war? As we know, a significant portion of the documentation of the eight-year Sacred Defense is carried by oral history. After nearly twenty years of efforts to establish methodologies and scientific frameworks, we must now evaluate whether oral history has attained its rightful place in war historiography.”

He added, “Fortunately, the importance of oral history has been recognized since the 2010s by writers and historians, leading to numerous conferences, with another scheduled for March this year.”

Discussing oral history documentation and its use, Hasanabadi noted, “Today, films, photographs, and audio recordings are considered valid documents. Over the past two decades, scientific approaches to interviewing have advanced, with researchers increasingly mindful of their methods. Yet we still need more defined standards and criteria for training.”

Hasanabadi emphasized that if oral history is treated as a documented record, it must adhere to established standards in terms of structure, subject matter, authenticity, and verification. “By ensuring authenticity, the research subject becomes more credible and enriched. For those working in oral history with the capacity to generate texts, tools such as recording devices and interviews are integral and widely used. However, these tools also serve historians, thus creating closer ties between oral history and historiography. Nevertheless, historiography takes a step beyond, where oral history serves as an auxiliary tool alongside other research subjects. Numerous books have been published on historiography and oral history. In certain cases, historiography mandates reliance on oral history; however, it imposes a higher level of integration and reporting rigor.” A pertinent example is the creation of the Sacred Defense Encyclopedia, pursued across various institutions and heavily reliant on oral history as a primary source.

“This raises an essential question: Is the use of oral history in developing an oral history encyclopedia identical to producing a Sacred Defense book? Certainly, there are differences. Since the early 2000s, a more professional approach has been taken, yet we must deliberate and proceed with increased awareness. Oral history has not yet gained widespread academic traction and is only taught in a few institutions by experienced instructors, mostly with a practical orientation. In reality, we lack professional standards for teaching oral history, and this limitation is not unique to our country.”

He concluded, “In the United States during the 1970s and 80s, oral history was integrated into theses and dissertations. Today, guidelines for book production have been developed, which also merits discussion and analysis.”