Oral History

If your only experience of studying history is reading textbooks, you’ve missed the exciting and
sometimes very powerful experience of learning about an historical episode from someone who
actually experienced it. This project gives you the chance to do exactly this.
This assignment is designed to be fun and interesting, but there are several important guidelines
you should follow in order to complete it successfully. Your essays are due at the beginning of
class on December 3. They will not be accepted as email attachments and will lose a full letter
grade for every day late. Your essay counts for 15 percent of your final grade in the course.
First, interview a family member or acquaintance who lived through the Cold War. If you do not
know much about the Cold War, you may need to use the textbook to brush up on the facts about
it. This will help you in forming more specific and effective questions. What do they remember
about its events, leaders, and consequences for life in the United States? How did the Cold War
affect them personally? Some people will tell you their lives were shaped in crucial ways by the
Cold War. Others will say the Cold War did not affect them much. Both sorts of people are fair
game for this project. What shaped their experiences? You should write a 1000-word essay that
(a) describes how the person you interviewed experienced the Cold War (use your own
words but feel free to include several brief quotations from your interview if helpful)
(b) analyzes this experience, explaining the three leading factors you believe shaped why
your interviewee experienced the Cold War as they did; as you analyze their experience,
you will need to consider many possible influences, including age, gender, geographical
location, socioeconomic status, religious beliefs, ethnicity, and family background
Your essay will be graded for how effectively you describe the experiences of the individual you
interviewed, for how insightfully and thoroughly you analyze their experiences, and for how well
you write. Your essay should include the following components:
(a) a clear introduction that summarizes your interviewee’s experience and your analysis
(b) a well-organized body with detailed description and insightful analysis
(c) a concluding paragraph that summarizes the main points of your essay
Good writing is essential to clear communication. You should plan to write more than one draft
of this essay, and should carefully proofread your work before turning it in. As is common with
most academic writing, please use the third person. You do not need to include citations, but be
sure to supply the name of the person you interviewed and the date you conducted the interview.
Your essay should be double-spaced. Please use one-inch margins and an easy-to-read font, such
as Times New Roman, in a twelve-point size. Your essay should include your name, the name of
your discussion section leader, the name of the course, the exact word count, and the date. Every
page except the first should be numbered in the upper-right corner.

Oral History
Course Paper
Anthro 2a – Fall 2015
For this assignment you have a choice of 2 topics. Please select only one of these for your paper. This paper is to be at least 2000 words (approximately 6 pages), typed, double-spaced, size 10–12 font with reasonable sized margins (1”-1.5”). Spelling and grammar are important to any college paper and if you have significant grammar and spelling mistakes they will detract from your final score. This paper is worth a possible 200 points (20% of the total possible class points ). You will need to include a word count and your fieldnotes when you submit your paper in lecture on Monday, Nov. 23, 2015.
This paper should be a personalized narrative of your informant’s experiences. It should present actual, lived experiences, beliefs and values from your informant’s own life.
Topic #1 Oral History – Immigrant
For this topic you will need to interview an immigrant concerning their experiences adapting to life in the United States. You will take field notes based on your interview and then write up your findings in a full, approximately 5-7 page (minimum 2000 word) ethnography. You will be expected to utilize and apply anthropological concepts, which you have learned in this class, to your findings. You will turn in your field notes with the final version of your paper.
You will need to devise your own open-ended style of interview questions asking your informant to tell you about his or her socio-cultural experiences of adapting to American society. You may want to ask them what were the influences that caused them to migrate to the US, what sort of difficulties they faced and what, if any advantages they felt they gained through their immigration experience. Remember that you want to encourage your informant to talk as much as possible about what HE or SHE felt to be important about his or her immigration experience and what he or she would like the reader to understand about what they went through to adapt to life in the US. Also, be sure and ask your informant in what ways does he or she feel that his values have changed as a result of the immigration experience and does he or she view this as having a positive or negative impact on their life.
Please attach your interview notes to your final paper.
Topic #2 Oral History – Senior Citizen
For this topic you will conduct an interview, take notes, and write up your findings in a full five to seven page paper. Please also attach your interview notes to your final paper. You will be expected to utilize and apply anthropological concepts, which you have learned in this class, to your findings.
Your interview source should be a senior citizen, preferably a family relative or family friend, with whom you feel comfortable conducting an interview. The focus of your interview will be on what was life like for your interviewee when she or he was your “college age” (please note that they do not have to have actually attended college). What beliefs, activities, values, and hopes did your interviewee have at that time? In what ways does your informant feel that their values, beliefs and expectation have changed over time? Does he or she consider these changes to be a positive or a negative? Be sure to conduct your interview in an open-ended manner. Your
goal here is to have your informant tell you as much about his or her young adult life experiences
as possible, so don’t ask simple “yes” or “no” questions. Finally, compare his or her answers to
your own life. In what ways are his or her responses similar to or different from your own life?
Please attach your interview notes to your final paper.
Additional issues to keep in mind – This assignment should include a discussion opf
key themes from our class. In other words, whether you choose to interview an immigrant or
interview a senior citizen, you need to discuss a minimum of three issues from our class.
These issues could include topics such as immigration experiences – sexuality, dating and
marriage experiences – family and kinship experiences – economic (subsistence) experiences –
the roles of race and ethnicity in the life of your informant (including the impact of racism and/or
racial tension) – the social expectations of men and women (gender roles) as experienced by
your informant- problems related to living in an increasingly industrialized society – social
pressures related to the body – education experience- religious beliefs and experiences- or any
other topic that we cover in class this quarter. Please be sure to discuss your informants own
personal experiences as related to these key topics. Please focus on discussing how these issues
personally effected your informant’s life.
Paper Due Date: Your paper is due in class on Monday, Nov. 23, 2015. Late papers
will lose 10 points for each day that they are submitted late (the late penalty is applied to
weekends and holidays as well as weekdays). Please be sure to provide a word count on
your final paper and also you attach your fieldnotes to your completed paper. (The
fieldnotes do NOT count towards your total essay word count on this assignment).

Oral History
Course Paper
Anthro 2a – Fall 2015
For this assignment you have a choice of 2 topics. Please select only one of these for your paper. This paper is to be at least 2000 words (approximately 6 pages), typed, double-spaced, size 10–12 font with reasonable sized margins (1”-1.5”). Spelling and grammar are important to any college paper and if you have significant grammar and spelling mistakes they will detract from your final score. This paper is worth a possible 200 points (20% of the total possible class points ). You will need to include a word count and your fieldnotes when you submit your paper in lecture on Monday, Nov. 23, 2015.
This paper should be a personalized narrative of your informant’s experiences. It should present actual, lived experiences, beliefs and values from your informant’s own life.
Topic #1 Oral History – Immigrant
For this topic you will need to interview an immigrant concerning their experiences adapting to life in the United States. You will take field notes based on your interview and then write up your findings in a full, approximately 5-7 page (minimum 2000 word) ethnography. You will be expected to utilize and apply anthropological concepts, which you have learned in this class, to your findings. You will turn in your field notes with the final version of your paper.
You will need to devise your own open-ended style of interview questions asking your informant to tell you about his or her socio-cultural experiences of adapting to American society. You may want to ask them what were the influences that caused them to migrate to the US, what sort of difficulties they faced and what, if any advantages they felt they gained through their immigration experience. Remember that you want to encourage your informant to talk as much as possible about what HE or SHE felt to be important about his or her immigration experience and what he or she would like the reader to understand about what they went through to adapt to life in the US. Also, be sure and ask your informant in what ways does he or she feel that his values have changed as a result of the immigration experience and does he or she view this as having a positive or negative impact on their life.
Please attach your interview notes to your final paper.
Topic #2 Oral History – Senior Citizen
For this topic you will conduct an interview, take notes, and write up your findings in a full five to seven page paper. Please also attach your interview notes to your final paper. You will be expected to utilize and apply anthropological concepts, which you have learned in this class, to your findings.
Your interview source should be a senior citizen, preferably a family relative or family friend, with whom you feel comfortable conducting an interview. The focus of your interview will be on what was life like for your interviewee when she or he was your “college age” (please note that they do not have to have actually attended college). What beliefs, activities, values, and hopes did your interviewee have at that time? In what ways does your informant feel that their values, beliefs and expectation have changed over time? Does he or she consider these changes to be a positive or a negative? Be sure to conduct your interview in an open-ended manner. Your
goal here is to have your informant tell you as much about his or her young adult life experiences
as possible, so don’t ask simple “yes” or “no” questions. Finally, compare his or her answers to
your own life. In what ways are his or her responses similar to or different from your own life?
Please attach your interview notes to your final paper.
Additional issues to keep in mind – This assignment should include a discussion opf
key themes from our class. In other words, whether you choose to interview an immigrant or
interview a senior citizen, you need to discuss a minimum of three issues from our class.
These issues could include topics such as immigration experiences – sexuality, dating and
marriage experiences – family and kinship experiences – economic (subsistence) experiences –
the roles of race and ethnicity in the life of your informant (including the impact of racism and/or
racial tension) – the social expectations of men and women (gender roles) as experienced by
your informant- problems related to living in an increasingly industrialized society – social
pressures related to the body – education experience- religious beliefs and experiences- or any
other topic that we cover in class this quarter. Please be sure to discuss your informants own
personal experiences as related to these key topics. Please focus on discussing how these issues
personally effected your informant’s life.
Paper Due Date: Your paper is due in class on Monday, Nov. 23, 2015. Late papers
will lose 10 points for each day that they are submitted late (the late penalty is applied to
weekends and holidays as well as weekdays). Please be sure to provide a word count on
your final paper and also you attach your fieldnotes to your completed paper. (The
fieldnotes do NOT count towards your total essay word count on this assignment).