Oral Histories of the Mao Era: Politics and Ethics

Session Submission Type: Organized Panel

Abstract

In recent years, researchers seeking to understand more localized historical narratives of the Mao era have begun seeking out the voices of elderly Chinese who lived through the early Communist period. This new wave of interest in oral history provides a timely opportunity for scholars across disciplines to engage in a discussion about research methodologies and fieldwork dilemmas. Presenters on this panel bring to bear their own experiences in conducting interviews in diverse ethnic and geographic settings, while analyzing the methodological, ethical, and practical challenges of “doing oral history” in China. For the purposes of broadening the discussion, this panel deliberately uses a loose definition of oral history that includes ethnographic research, informal interviews, and recorded oral histories preserved for archives.

Drawing on their research experiences in predominately ethnically Han, Hui, and Tibetan cities and towns in China, panelists explore thorny issues of memory, objectivity, authority, and agency, and discuss the Chinese state’s role in patrolling the boundaries of oral history. Papers raise critical questions about oral history methodology, such as: what might be lost in the process of transcribing and translating interviews? How can oral history best be integrated and combined with data from written documents? Who are the various audiences and beneficiaries of oral history research conducted in China? And finally, what kind of voices and perspectives tend to be left out of oral histories?

Area of Study

• China and Inner Asia

Session Organizer

• Dasa Pejchar Mortensen, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

Chair

• Gail Hershatter, University of California, Santa Cruz

Individual Presentations

• Oral Sources and PRC History: Best and Worst Practices - Jeremy Brown, Simon Fraser University

• Voices of the Powerless: Oral History and the 1975 Muslim Uprising in Yunnan Province - Xian Wang, University of British Columbia

• Contested Oral Narratives of the Cultural Revolution in Shangri-la, Yunnan Province - Dasa Pejchar Mortensen, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

• Talking History on Film: Pearls and Perils - Carma Hinton, George Mason University

Discussant

• Gail Hershatter, University of California, Santa Cruz