Looking for Roots of Oral History in Czech Republic: A Short Analytical Outline of Czech Oral History Projects 1996-2011
Abstrakt
With coming of New Year 2011, Czech oral history is going to celebrate fifteenth anniversary from establishing on historical academic ground. This paper tries to conclude and analyze past and recent oral history projects side by selected points of theory and method of historiography.
Especially finished and ongoing research projects of Institute of Contemporary History (Czech Academy of Science, Prague) and their Oral History Center (established in 2000) and also student research projects on Department of Oral History and Contemporary History (established 2008) on Faculty of Humanities (Charles University, Prague). The aim of this exposé is to point out on specifics of oral history projects in post-communist society, at the times of democratic transformation building a plurality of truth and free speech and also of establishing a contemporary history as one of the domain of general history in 1990s.
There would be resumed outline of way in 2000s when the oral history become step by step regular and respected method among social sciences and humanities. The attention would be given on selected aspects of research projects: 1) general research topic and selected groups of narrators 2) methodological specifics of research 3) forms of final outputs and their response (side by historical experts but also side by public audiences).
Resume should be done in general context of Czech historiography (place of oral history projects in "general history") and also in comparison with another projects elaborated abroad, all towards possibilities and topics of research in "era of globalization and digital revolution" (A. Thompson).