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ORAL HISTORY IN THE UKRAINIAN COMMUNITY BY ANISA HANDZIA SAWYCKYJ 2. Preparing to conduct an oral history interview Continued from Dec. 1977 issue of ’’Nashe Zhyttia” If you have already chosen an oral author, it is a good idea to take a few intermediate steps in order to lay a solid ground work for the interview to come. This preparation lies in inter personal relations, legal considerations and technical expertise. Each of these areas is important both to the short term success and the long term value of your project. So let us examine them one by one. Following a certain procedure in contacting your potential oral author will usually get you off to a good start. If the per son is someone you do not know personally, it helps to have an intermediary (someone who knows both of you) introduce you and vouch for your seriousness, credibility, etc. If an inter mediary cannot be found, you should write a contact letter to the oral author and state what the project consists of, who you are and why you have chosen him/her to interview. You might also mention the name of an organization or parish you belong to if you happen to know that the person supports this in stitution. This will tend to legitimize you in the eyes of your oral author even more. The letter should conclude with a promise to follow-up with a telephone call soon. In the follow-up call, refer to the letter and elaborate on what you are seeking from the oral author. Answer any questions he/she may have. If possible set a date for the in terview and give the oral author an idea of what topics you are interested in exploring, since he/she will probably want to re minisce, and even dig up some old photographs or mementos. Indeed, you should encourage this, for it's an excellent inter viewing approach to go through old photographs together. WOMAN VIEWS & NEWS IN WOMAN'S WORLD When a baby boy is born it is difficult to predict what he will be doing 25 years later. One cannot say for sure whether he will become an artist, a doctor or a guidance counselor because he will be permitted to develop and to fulfill his own unique potential — particularly if he is white and middle class in America. If that same newborn child is a girl, on the other hand, one can predict with confidence how she is likely to be spending her time 25 years later. The odds are extremely high that she will be a homemaker. In addition, she will probably work out side the home in a dead-end, low-status job. Of all female workers, about 78% are employed as clerical workers, service workers — for example, beauticians, waiters and domestics — factory workers and sales clerks. Fewer than 4% of all employed women fill those positions which, to most people, connote professional careers. As this "predictability test" reveals, being female in our society uniquely qualifies an individual for domestic work — either by itself or in conjunction with unskilled labor, typing, nursing or teaching. Gender, rather than the individual’s potential, intelligence, aptitudes and talents, define her role in life. The important point is not that the role of homemaker is necessarily inferior, but that a woman’s individuality is not considered to be significant; even if her IQ is in the genius range, it is irrelevant. Her interests and abilities, her need and Don’t be too specific in listing the questions you will ask, how ever. After all, you don’t want the person to feel they are pre paring for an exam, and giving you all the ’’right” answers. The idea is to list some general topics and let the conversation flow. If you are not very good at communicating by telephone, an alternative to a follow-up phone call can be a personal visit. (Specify this in the letter). In addition to discussing the up coming interview, you get a chance to develop some rapport and trust with your interviewee. Also, you might notice some speech problems, language limitations or lapses of memory — all of which you will have to take into account when you your self prepare for the first interview. (The personal visit works best in situations where the oral author is elderly or home- bound. A working person may not be as willing to spare the time and the privacy. Use your judgement on this matter). Don’t let it surprise you that there are legal considerations involved in doing an oral history project. You should know, and should make clear to the oral author, that the oral history memoirs he/she supplies you belong to the oral author, and no one else. He/she has the ultimate say on the future disposition of the tapes and any transcriptions made from them. This is an important ’’selling point” if you find your interviewee is some what hesitant to talk to you. Hesitation is a perfectly normal response to an request for an in-depth taped interview. You yourself probably wouldn’t want to commit your words to a taped interview unless you could re-read the transcriptions and make any revisions, MOTRIA KUSHNIR motivation for self-fulfillment, her capacity to contribute to society do not figure as dominant factors in determining the central core of her life and work. Our society manages to consign a large segment of its population to the role of home maker solely on the basis of sex. The important point is that, in spite of their unique identities, the majority of women end up in virtually the same role. Why? Why jobs rather than growing careers? Why nurse rather than physician, teacher rather than principal, secretary rather than executive, stewardess rather than pilot, technician rather than scientist? Discrimination on the basis of sex offers a partial answer. Females are excluded not only from good jobs, but also from training opportunities to qualify for good jobs. Nevertheless, if all discrimination were to end tomorrow, it is still not likely that a drastic change would occur. Discrimination impedes women who choose to become lawyers or managers or engineers. But it does not, by itself, help one to understand why so many women "choose" to be secretaries instead of executives or volunteer campaign workers instead of candidates for elective office. Discrimi nation does not explain why so many young women envision a future which includes only marriage, children and living happily ever after — their vision being all the more surprising given the divorce statistics, the labor statistics which show that ever more wives and mothers have to work and the demographic 24 НАШЕ ЖИТТЯ 1978 Видання C оюзу Українок A мерики - перевидано в електронному форматі в 2012 році . A рхів C У A - Ню Йорк , Н . Й . C Ш A.
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