Emotional Labour in Oral History Research

“The authors lift a rug of shame and fear, exposing the troubling emotions many researchers feel when interviewing—a practice that is proclaimed as liberating and enlightening for interviewees and interviewers alike. But this study is not simple navel gazing. Instead, the authors reveal, with great sensitivity, grounded in a broad review of the literature, and based on candid interviews with practitioners, the emotional work researchers invest in their practice. Their book is an immense resource for oral historians and other researchers to help them think about and vocalize their own troubling feelings evoked in interviews, and to facilitate advocacy for better support on and off campus.”

Alexander Freund, The University of Winnipeg

“Doing oral history research is an evocative practise for both the oral historian and the narrator. These evocations and their impact, across a range of fieldwork contexts, necessarily involves a diverse range of emotions with fluctuating degrees of intensity for participants. While several generations of oral historians have referred to such issues, there have been insufficient attention given to the complexity of the emotional labour of oral history that is “co-constructed” through what Luisa Passerini famously argued is the “primacy of intersubjectivity”. It was therefore rather rewarding to read this astute methodological account of the emotional labour of oral historians. The book thoughtfully brings the percolating emotional textures of oral history practise to the surface in ways that will help student and seasoned oral historians to navigate the affective twists and turns of oral history practice.”

Sean Field, University of Cape Town