The need for oral history in a changing South Africa

By Marietjie Oelofse and Derek du Bruyn

 

 

The former Minister of Education, Prof. Kader Asmal, launched the South African History Project in August 2001. One of the objectives of this Project is “to encourage the recording of oral histories”. The Project is playing an important role in curriculum change, with an emphasis on the acquisition of related wider skills.[1]

In 2002, a report was compiled on behalf of the South African Historical Association regarding the outcome of the South African History Project’s conference, held at Rondebosch from 2-5 October 2002. According to the author, Prof. Elize van Eeden, one of the shortcomings that became evident from the discussions at the conference was the lack of in-depth knowledge of oral history.[2]

Against this background, it is necessary to look at the status of oral history, specifically in South Africa. Oral history makes no claim to exclusivity. However, if the oral history method is used carefully and skilfully, it can make a valuable contribution by supplementing and enriching the written record. It remains a useful and unique way of gaining access to information by using the human memory as a historical source.

 

Understanding the concept and place of oral history

Oral history is nothing more than a branch of historical research. In this context, oral history arises from history’s most ancient technique, as well as its most modern technology. The technique of collecting eyewitness accounts to history was already used by the ancient Greek historians more than two thousand years ago, and the tape recorder, which is part of the modern age, is now used to record oral history. It is an activity that draws upon the most sophisticated skills of professional historians, but can also be undertaken productively by weekend amateurs, simply by using the basic skill of human conversation.[3]

 

The use of oral history is not new. It is as old as history itself. Oral history already existed when academic history was developing among the educated strata of society. It was a community-based tradition, since most societies have always recognised the worth of preserving and passing on some kind of knowledge of the past, protecting an accumulating heritage.[4]

A number of organisations have, for some time, been engaged in the systematic collection of oral testimony. Oral history associations and societies and oral history journals and circulars have been debating and discussing ideas and problems regarding oral history. In addition, many academic historians have used oral sources in their work. The need for the collection of oral history in Southern Africa has been widely recognised since the mid-1970’s.[5] Particularly since the 1980’s in South Africa, oral history has been used as an important method for documenting the experiences and oppressions of those who lived under Apartheid. In the process it is the “discovery” of oral history as one of many kinds of historical sources again, but also a “recovery” of giving historians back the oldest skill of their own craft.[6]

 

A basic definition of oral history interviewing involves the tape-recording of what the narrator can recall from first-hand knowledge and through pre-planned interviews.[7] The information is captured in question and answer form by the interviewers. Tapes of the interview are then transcribed, summarised or indexed, and placed in a library or archive. Availability for general research, reinterpretation and verification defines oral history.[8] Oral history makes use of the relatively painless medium of relaxed conversations based on well-planned questions to gather information regarding why, how and through what things came to pass. In the process, oral history becomes a link from the immediate present to the immediate past, in an understandable and very human way.[9] It becomes a social challenge and adventure to search for historical evidence in such a source, with both opportunities and limitations.[10]

 

Oral history transforms the content and shifts the focus of history

The elitist, political focus of history, which divided up historical time according to reigns and dynasties, has shifted radically in recent years. Many historians are deliberately concentrating on the stories of ordinary people, and there is an ever-increasing interest in recording social history together with a heightened interest in the lives of factory hands, migrant workers and ghetto dwellers.[11] The emphasis is thus on a more socially oriented history, purpose and consciousness.

The shift is not only from political to social history, but the focus of history has also moved to local history. In view of the grass-roots level at which oral history functions, it has a higher potential for influencing the more limited scope and subject matter of local history. This can lead to a better perspective on the events and forces that shaped local life and thinking, which, in turn, not only lead to a better understanding of the past of a particular community, but also of the past of a region or nation. Local history thus serves as a microcosm of a nation’s history.[12]

 

Through oral history, historical information can be given to the community for interpretation and presentation. Oral history often represents all we can learn about the lives of ordinary persons. The shift of focus to an active community-oriented approach can bring history into and out of the community, broadening the knowledge of what constitutes a community’s history. In view of its focus on the day-to-day reality of lived experience, oral history lends itself well to community-based activity and collective ways of producing history. Apart from its contribution to political and institutional structures, it also adds to the economic development and the occupational and ethnic composition of its population. Some community-based local history projects have made much progress in bridging the gap between the experts and ordinary people. Members of these community projects not only provide information, but are integrally involved in the writing, production and consumption of historical material.[13]

 

The shift in the focus of history was necessary in South Africa, particularly after 1994. The country’s official history focused chiefly on political history, which was often biased. Substantial groups of people, who had been ignored, needed recognition for their role. History as a subject in its educational form had to be freed from its institutional retreats and limitations so that it could move forward by opening up new skills for learners. There was a need for a more realistic reconstruction, a more balanced account, of the past.

Paul Thompson, the well-known British oral historian, sees this shift in focus as:

“…setting in motion a cumulative process of transformation. History becomes, to put it more simply, more democratic”.[14]

 

The role of oral history in a changing socio-political environment

Oral history can increase the scope of historical writing, making it a valid and valuable source of historical information. Its value lies particularly in the following aspects, evaluated against the background of the changing socio-political environment in South Africa.

 

Oral history records unwritten and/or lost history

Oral history has performed an important service in providing access to the folk history of groups whose heritage might otherwise be lost. This is particularly true of groups and cultures that have a predominantly oral tradition, rather than a written tradition. Among illiterate and semi-literate societies, oral traditions are still the chief form of historical awareness and cultural continuity from generation to generation. Even in literate, record-keeping societies, much information goes unrecorded. In such cases, oral history becomes a fundamental and sometimes the only tool, making a substantial contribution by providing information that historians would not otherwise be able to acquire.[15]

 

If weighed carefully, this value of oral history to provide information about the past that exists in no other form, is potentially its most valuable attribute and yet, until now, the one least exploited in local history research. Countless unrecorded topics of historical interest could be fruitfully pursued if people’s memories were taped. Without the use of orally communicated material, the task of researching these topics can never be successfully undertaken. For instance, a large part of our history will be lost if the stories of old people are not recorded now. When these people die, the stories are lost forever. Old people may be seen as ‘libraries’ in their own right, and their unwritten stories need to be preserved for the future.[16]

 

There is another dimension to this when taking the situation in South Africa into consideration. Tina Sideris, who was a member of the Oral History Project of the South African Institute of Race Relations in the 1980s, argues that, for a number of reasons, the history of popular organisations has not been well documented. Illiteracy has militated against the systematic documentation of activities and organisation amongst certain groups. The informal nature of some popular organisations led to the non-existence of records and archival storage of the organisations’ activities. If, for example, trade unions or political organisations did keep official records, these were often confiscated and destroyed by the State. Many sources of historical investigation have also been removed and repressed in the form of censorship and banning. Academic writings about black people in general have concentrated almost exclusively on their roles as fighters for or against the white authorities. Material on black social history is very scarce. In addition, almost no material is available on the day-to-day lives of black people, particularly those who lived in rural areas. It is these areas, inaccessible to conventional methods of investigation, that the method of oral history allows the historian to explore.[17] The heritage of South Africa is bound to be enriched by this contribution.[18]

 

Oral testimony is very often the only alternative source for obtaining information to correct and augment an incomplete and inadequate official history. In South Africa, large sections of our history have been distorted and hidden. A lot of information about the past can be salvaged only by tapping the memories of those who have lived through it, or remember hearing older members of the family or community talk about it.

For example, one can refer to oral history interviews conducted with people involved in the events that took place in the Soweto uprising in 1976. The book, Soweto, 16 June 1976: it all started with a dog, is constructed from stories told by people who share their memories of their involvement in the events and time leading up to it and the days, months and years that followed the uprising in Soweto.[19]

The spoken reminiscences of ordinary people have helped historians to rediscover folk history and use it more effectively and also academic history can be enriched in the process.[20]

 

Oral history complements recorded sources

Historical gaps of interest and importance can be filled by using oral history methods to provide an intimate view of the events. The personal and anecdotal characteristics of recorded interviews can provide flesh for the sometimes arid bones of history. Historical records are deliberately prepared in an objective and impersonal manner, which means that the tension and influences often underlying the historical data are not reflected in the official records.[21] This relationship between oral and written sources can be summed up as follows:

“Alone, each one is incomplete, but together they form a harmonious union, with the one offering objective interpretation based upon sound evidence, and the other giving a personalized immediacy, a sense of being there and of participation”.[22]

 

Written sources usually provide the who, what, when, and where of history, while oral history can add better insights into the how and why, giving a fuller historical record. Written records relate the facts of what happened, while oral sources provide insights into how people felt about what happened. Oral history often expresses how people felt about certain important events and movements, how they reacted to them, and how these events affected their lives. Details of what happened, as well as the emotional responses of individuals to the event itself, provide a human dimension to eyewitness accounts of historical occurrences.[23]

 

Oral history gives a “voice to the voiceless”

The value of oral history lies specifically in the broadening of sources of historical information to include the voices and perspectives of ordinary people, thus expanding the historian’s database. This is particularly important in South Africa, where repression and discrimination have muted the voice of the majority of people.[24] An attempt is made to “give a voice” to the experiences and everyday stories of ordinary people, and these historical narratives, as communicated through oral testimony, are a means of overcoming the silence.[25] Oral history provides a voice to the voiceless, to the poor, the marginalized and the illiterate. A former resident of District Six, Cape Town, once remarked:

"We have a voice. We want to be heard. They don't have to give us anything. We just want someone to listen to us".[26]

 

Oral evidence can be presented in a form that is accessible to a wide range of people. For example, during the Truth and Reconciliation Commission in South Africa it was also ordinary people who appeared before the Commission to tell their stories unhindered to all. The Truth and Reconciliation Commission in South Africa uncovered the past by using the politics of historical and personal memory for the purpose of reconciliation.[27] Antjie Krog describes it as follows:

“Many voices of this country were long silent, unheard, often unheeded before they spoke, in their own tongues, at the microphones of South Africa’s Truth Commission. The voices of ordinary people have entered the public discourse and shaped the passage of history. They speak here to all who care to listen”.[28]

 

In this sense oral history makes a social contribution, assisting the less privileged in their journey towards dignity and self-confidence. It gives ordinary people confidence in their own speech as a means of expressing themselves, in their own memories and interpretations of the past and their ability to contribute to the writing of history. Approaching a person to record his/her story conveys the message that their life is of value and of significance in itself. This process captures an alternative view of history and reveals a great deal about an individual and about a culture.[29]

Tim Keegan argues that:

“in the narratives of ordinary people’s lives we begin to see some of the major forces of history at work, large social forces that are arguably the real key to understanding the past”.[30]

 

Oral history, political reconciliation and nation-building

Oral history also has vital political importance. Understanding the past from the point of view of the oppressed people in South Africa is a powerful way to uncover the “past-present relationship” through memory. This can play an important role in restoring a sense of pride and confidence in people.[31]

The history of political resistance and political organisation can be documented systematically through oral history, so that it can be used with greater political purpose. Communities who have gone through forced removals offer a good example. Under the threat and conditions of forced removal, communities develop a strong sense of their history and their right to land ownership. Recording the history of these communities and making it widely available may help to justify their claims to the land.[32]

Here, oral history forms the connection between the past and the political struggle, between power and knowledge, between political and social history, and between memory and history.[33]

 

The need for oral history to change outdated teaching methods

The advent of a new political dispensation demanded that the old apartheid-based Bantu education be abolished and a new curriculum be implemented for learners of all races. In 1997, Curriculum 2005 was heralded as the new system which would replace the old one. Although the future status of history as an independent subject was uncertain even before 1994, Curriculum 2005 marginalized it even further.

 

From contents-based to outcomes-based history

During August 2001, then Minister Asmal launched the South African History Project to officially investigate the state of the subject in South African schools and suggest possible solutions. Particularly noteworthy is the project’s aim to investigate “new teaching methods for teachers, as well as the fresh focus on ordinary people, oral history and indigenous knowledge systems”. Until recently, history curricula gave little or no attention at all to these aspects of history.[34]

In the past, most teachers saw history purely as the teaching of textbook content, with very little emphasis on critical thinking and analysis. Learners had to memorise the facts and simply reproduce them for evaluation. This approach is based on the so-called ‘transmission model’, which implies that the teacher or lecturer conveys knowledge to passive learners and students, who then reproduce it during formal assessment. The main aim of Curriculum 2005 and the concept of outcomes-based education (OBE) is to replace the “transmission model” by the so-called “active-learning model”, which aims to make learners and students more responsible for their own learning.[35]

 

Oral history as a teaching tool

Studies conducted in both Britain and the USA since the 1950’s have indicated that learners and students of all ages respond more positively to oral history as a teaching tool for subjects such as history, social studies, environmental studies, english, journalism and drama, than to more traditional methods. Although little research has been done to investigate oral history’s possibilities in the South African context, we believe that the general principles of oral history teaching can be adapted successfully to suit local circumstances.[36]

 

Oral history has been used successfully as a teaching tool for learners at all stages of social and intellectual development. Each level of education requires a specific teaching approach to oral history.

At primary school level, oral history is not used for teaching subject matter as such, but rather as a tool to help learners develop social skills and an environmental awareness. Oral history is particularly useful at the stage when learners only have very limited reading skills. Even at this early stage it is possible to involve learners in oral history projects, but the focus should be on group work rather than individual efforts. Such projects may be focused on the learners’ immediate family members, such as grandparents. By conducting the interviews themselves, the learners are involved in a process of ’learning through doing’. From a historical perspective, oral history helps learners to build up a meaningful framework of historical chronology, and they also begin to grasp where they, as well as their relatives, fit into it.[37]

At secondary school level, oral history becomes more sophisticated and more closely connected to the content of curricula. By combining history with other social sciences and languages, learners come to appreciate subjects within a broader context and develop an understanding of the interrelatedness of different disciplines. Learners should become aware of the sources of oral history, including place names, myths, legends, poems and songs, and should know how to use these sources.[38]

When learners reach the tertiary level of education, the focus of oral history shifts from group work to individual work. Students should be able to conduct a complete oral history project from start to finish. Students should be able to compare, verify, and integrate the various oral sources. At this level, oral history may either be approached as a separate course, or as a module of a combined course in history and other social sciences such as Sociology and Anthropology. Oral history theory needs to be interwoven with practical experience, and it should be directed towards specific issues such as HIV/Aids, or historical incidents such as the Soweto unrest of 1976.[39]

 

Oral history and skills development

The main focus of current curriculum strategies in South African as well as in most Western educational institutions is the promotion of so-called “transferable skills”. Transferable skills, which include both subject-specific and generic skills, are basically skills that are seen as relevant to the needs of the contemporary world. Not only do the principles underlying oral history teaching closely reflect current ideas about effective learning and teaching, but oral history also lends itself to the development of a wide range of personal and transferable skills.[40]

 

The American historian Donald A. Ritchie argues that oral history helps learners to break loose from their textbooks and become their own collectors of information. Learners seem to learn best from what they have researched themselves. Oral history interviewing turns learners into historical investigators: they must be able to choose a topic, identify suitable interviewees, do the research, conduct the interviews and transcribe the interviews themselves. During this process, they acquire numerous essential skills that are usually neglected in many schools.[41] The following skills may be developed:

• Research skills: Learners involved in oral history develop the desire to find out more from other sources, leading to searches in libraries and archives. Learners are exposed to the value of primary sources, of which oral history recordings and related archival material are good examples. They develop research and questioning skills when they are confronted with contradictory evidence. Different people give different versions of the same event, and the interviewee’s story may differ from the textbook account. Not only does the learner develop the ability to verify the different sources, but he/she also realises in the process that historical events do not affect all people the same way.[42]
• Language skills: The development of language skills includes both the written and spoken language. Learners develop language skills by formulating questions, conducting interviews and transcribing them. In addition, learners develop listening skills since they have to focus on the interviewee’s speech during an interview. By interviewing others or being interviewed themselves, learners can also gain confidence with regard to expressing themselves in words.[43]
• Technical skills: These skills are acquired mainly through the handling of equipment used for recording and transcribing an interview. An oral history project may also lead to the collecting of related artefacts and photographs and, in the process, learners learn how to handle such items and take care of them.[44]
• Social skills: The interview process develops some important social skills during the learners’ interaction with interviewees. They learn how to communicate with adults, they develop tact and patience, they experience feelings of empathy towards others and they are confronted with conflicting values and attitudes to life. Another important aspect that should be emphasised here is the opportunities that oral history offers for learners to work together in teams.[45]
• Cognitive and other skills: These include an understanding of historical concepts and timelines, genealogy, cause and effect relationships and problem-solving skills. Writing reports about individual oral history experiences also develops analytical and composition skills. The by-products of developing these skills are the opportunities for self-revelation and the development of self-worth.[46]

 

Oral history, social history, and outcomes-based education

Within the South African context, one can safely argue that oral history fits in with the modern teaching trend of moving away from an emphasis on political history, to a focus on social history. The history of everyday life, the role of the ordinary citizen in shaping events and the importance of social issues such as racism, reconciliation and women’s rights, are undoubtedly gaining prominence in current curriculum developments. It is in this regard that oral history as a teaching tool is coming to the fore. Oral history presents learners with different viewpoints and exposes the individual beliefs, opinions and experiences that underlie people's social concerns and opinions. Examples of oral history projects that explore social history issues, include the following: the living conditions of working-class communities in South Africa’s urban areas, the history of labour resistance against racial segregation in the workplace in the 1970’s and the living and working conditions of African mine workers on South Africa’s gold mines during the 1980’s. All of these possible projects will not only shed light on the social lives of the so-called underclasses, but will also provide important insights into the history of popular consciousness. Furthermore, projects of this nature emphasise the role that social experience plays in the making of history.[47]

 

As already mentioned, the other important mantra in current educational thinking in South Africa is outcomes-based education (OBE). Outcomes-based education stands in stark contrast to the previous focus on contents-based education, where only the facts and the learner’s reproduction of them were important. In order to bring history in line with outcomes-based education the focus of the subject should shift to a field related to social history, namely community history or micro-history, according to South African historian Tony Cubbin. Cubbin is of the opinion that local history is:

“..a powerful means of restoring academic history to the realm of the active, relevant and real in our community lives”.[48]

The active community-oriented approach is of crucial importance in view of the lack of even the most basic recorded information regarding significant segments of South African society. Therefore, the most effective way to utilise oral history as a teaching tool is to use it specifically for the teaching of community history.[49]

 

A South African case study

It is however specifically at university level that oral history is slowly gaining ground as a teaching tool and as a discipline in its own right.[50]

 

Since 2001, the Free State Provincial Archives and the Department of history at the University of the Free State have joined forces for the training of post-graduate history students in oral history. Oral history constitutes a compulsory module of the GES 601 Honours Degree course, together with history theory, history methodology and South African historiography. The student is expected to complete a project that forms the core of the Oral History Module.

The assistance of the Free State Provincial Archives was enlisted in order to offer the students an opportunity for the practical application of oral history methodology. It was then decided to include practical sessions at the Archives as a compulsory part of the course, and to involve the students in oral history projects undertaken by the Archives. The practical sessions consist of a training session, the conduction of at least one full-length interview and the transcription of the interview. The students are then evaluated on their practical work, and a mark that counts 20% towards their semester mark, is allocated.

 

Since 2003, the Archives have also assisted the Department of History with the practical training of third-year history students. This usually includes a life-history type of interview conducted with a chosen candidate. The students must compile a suitable questionnaire, conduct the interview and also transcribe the full interview. The students are then evaluated on the questionnaire and the interview, as well as the transcription.

Combining practical hands-on training in oral history methodology with oral history theory has numerous advantages for both the post-graduate and third-year students. The students benefit from their exposure to the real-life working conditions at the Archives and can draw on the expertise of the Archives staff.

 

Conclusion

Oral history has gained considerable ground in the past few decades and is now utilised by historical societies, museums, schools, curricula, reminiscence therapists, archives and academic historians.

Oral history has an important part to play in the reconstruction of the South African past. It corrects other perspectives just as much as other perspectives correct it. It is therefore important not to make a distinction between “real history”’ and “oral history”.

It is therefore necessary for South African historians to come to a point where documentary evidence is accepted alongside oral history, as part of the available material for research.

Although opposition to oral history will not immediately cease, it is impossible to exclude oral history from serious consideration, since all sources can be queried. And, most of all, there are numerous ordinary people out there with important stories and memories to add to the richness of South Africa’s history.