Simon Fraser University
Engaging the World

Course Outlines

Summer 2023 - HIST 451 D100

Oral History: Theories and Practices (4)

Class Number: 3245

Delivery Method: In Person

Overview

  • Course Times + Location:

    May 8 – Aug 4, 2023: Mon, 9:30 a.m.–12:20 p.m.
    Burnaby

  • Prerequisites:

    45 units.

Description

CALENDAR DESCRIPTION:

Examines ethical issues and methodological challenges that revolve around conducting oral interviews for research purposes. Students will also design and complete an oral interview project.

COURSE DETAILS:

Queer SFU

Oral history is an interview-based method of collecting information about people and their past. Grounded in the tradition of social history, it exists as its own sub-field of historical practice. Although begun as a means to record the history of those whose voices are not typically captured in traditional archives, it has expanded to include every kind of history imaginable. This term, we are teaming up with Burnaby Museum to produce a queer oral history of SFU. Students will engage with both methodological issues as well as the scholarly historical works based on oral interviews. They will also conduct an oral history interview about LGBTQ+ experience at SFU, which they will use as the basis for a research paper and public history presentation.

Grading

  • Seminar Presentation 10%
  • Book Review 20%
  • Annotated research bibliography 10%
  • Final research essay 30%
  • Short Audio Documentary 10%
  • Participation 20%

Materials

REQUIRED READING:

Portelli Alessandro. 2011. They Say in Harlan County: An Oral History. New York: Oxford University Press.

Patrick Johnson, Honeypot: Black Southern Women Who Love Women. (Duke University Press, 2019).

Hugh Johnson, The Radical Campus (Vancouver: D & M Publishers, 2009).


REQUIRED READING NOTES:

Your personalized Course Material list, including digital and physical textbooks, are available through the SFU Bookstore website by simply entering your Computing ID at: shop.sfu.ca/course-materials/my-personalized-course-materials.

Registrar Notes:

ACADEMIC INTEGRITY: YOUR WORK, YOUR SUCCESS

SFU’s Academic Integrity website http://www.sfu.ca/students/academicintegrity.html is filled with information on what is meant by academic dishonesty, where you can find resources to help with your studies and the consequences of cheating. Check out the site for more information and videos that help explain the issues in plain English.

Each student is responsible for his or her conduct as it affects the university community. Academic dishonesty, in whatever form, is ultimately destructive of the values of the university. Furthermore, it is unfair and discouraging to the majority of students who pursue their studies honestly. Scholarly integrity is required of all members of the university. http://www.sfu.ca/policies/gazette/student/s10-01.html

RELIGIOUS ACCOMMODATION

Students with a faith background who may need accommodations during the semester are encouraged to assess their needs as soon as possible and review the Multifaith religious accommodations website. The page outlines ways they begin working toward an accommodation and ensure solutions can be reached in a timely fashion.