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EDITOR'S INTRODUCTION
The relationship between oral history and journalism has often attracted comment, and indeed many people involved in the practice of oral history have previous experience in journalism. Mark Feldstein, an award-winning journalist who now holds an academic position that straddles the fields of oral history and journalism, is ideally suited to comment on the similarities and differences between the two disciplines, which he calls "kissing cousins." He suggests that while there are fundamental differences in approach, oral historians and journalists nonetheless can learn from each other.
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The issue of editing oral history transcripts engenders controversy, and indeed opinions regarding approaches to editing vary widely within the profession. The OHR has examined this issue periodically, most recently in an article by Carl Wilmsen three years ago. In this issue, Rebecca Jones, who argues that the approach to editing should be driven by the ultimate purpose of the project, takes readers through the editing decisions that she made in a project examining Australian immigration, an enterprise that was characterized by the multiethnic backgrounds of its narrators.
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Finally, Jennifer Scuro uses her interview with her grandmother, an Italian immigrant to the United States, to examine theories about immigrant testimony. In an essay that reflects both a voyage of personal discovery and an academic analysis of ideas relating to the interpretation of immigrant interviews, Scuro suggests that caution should be exercised in particular in the use of oral histories in comparative studies of immigrant groups. |
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AJD
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