口述历史在美国刍议

Notes on Oral History in America

口述历史资源反映的是大众文化和大众记忆内容 ,收集整理这方面资源 ,有助于增强公民道德意识及其自觉的社会主人翁态度。为了准确深入地再现口述历史 ,发挥口述资源的作用 ,历史学者应在尊重史实并不断提高史料分析技能的前提下 ,善于去捕捉有用信息 ,把握好与被采访者在思想情感上进行沟通与交流的契机。

Oral sources represent popular culture and collective memory, which empower people, and are important for civic education. A historian, in order to most accurately and thoughtfully interpret oral sources, should do a thorough work of examining his or her own position as both interviewer and historian, and examining interviewee's position as a real person with on-going thoughts and emotions. Both parties are interactive within the larger social and historical context. Oral history should be incorporated into the network of making better changes for social development.