Workshop: “Oral history as a qualitative research technique: organisational, methodological, and ethical challenges/considerations”

This workshop aims to allow young and established researchers who use or plan to use oral history and qualitative interviews as sources to exchange their knowledge and experiences. The workshop is co-organised by two members of the Basel Graduate School of History.

Oral history interviews play an important role in field-based research. They are used not only in historical research, but also in social science studies. Accordingly, there are different interpretations of what oral history is and what the role of the researcher and the interviewee is in these interviews. Interviewing requires extensive preparation and reflection before, during, and after the interview. In this workshop, we focus on the organisational, logistical, methodological, and ethical processes of interviewing. It is open to all PhD and Master’s students in the humanities and social sciences who have either already conducted interviews during their fieldwork or are planning to do so in the future, whether abroad or in Switzerland. Together we will share interpretations and experiences from different disciplinary and geographical perspectives, discuss difficulties and identify approaches.

This workshop will be led by two members of the Basel Graduate School of History (BGSH), Max Hufschmidt and Andrea Graf, in collaboration with Breeanna Elliott from the Department of History at Yale University. All three have conducted extensive oral history research in different parts of Africa.

Participants in the workshop will be asked to submit a short reflection (ca. 0.5 page) before the workshop on a specific problem they have encountered, an interesting observation they have made or, if they have not yet conducted interviews, a reflection on their expectations regarding interviews.

Workshop Programme:

09:00-09:50 – Introduction and inputs

09:50-10:00 – Break

10:00-10:50 – Group work

The participants are divided into small groups, each of them discussing one of the different stages of an interview:

a.) Before an interview

b.) During an interview

c.) After an interview

10:50-11:00 – Break

11:00 – 12:00 – Presentation & discussion

Each group presents their results, followed by plenary discussion

12:00 – Lunch

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