The Value of Listening

               There is so much information to get out of people just by listening to their stories.  With the historiography of American Communism, you cannot get a better assessment of the lives of its most devoted followers than by simply listening to their histories.  Usually when we learn history, we experience it through a particular lens; that of the methodology taught and reinforced by the dominant schools of thought in history.  Part of these methods emphasize primary sources, but they also give weight and support to journals, personal testimony, and heavily researched secondary works.

               I remember when I presented my oral history research at the 2013 North AmericanLabor History Conference, and my panel chairperson quickly protested the utility of oral histories in understanding history.  “People cannot be trusted,” was the basic argument.  But part of this stems from an inability to understand why we listen to oral histories.  We do not necessarily collect, interpret, and listen to these histories to understand the absolute, objective assessment of history.  In fact, the entire process of doing oral history depicts this kind of a goal as a utopian fantasy:  No one has an absolute, objective assessment of history.  And this can be logically extended to all kinds of sources, though it is generally not done this way in Academia.

               Oral History teaches us that in order to understand, or even get close, to this idea of an “objective assessment of history,” we must first subject ourselves to the experiences of individuals.  Only by relating these subjective experiences will the real history come forth.  Let’s continue this mission by continuing to work with oral histories and personal testimonies.  If you have an opinion, make it known.  Let yourself be heard, but also…..be willing to listen.