Holocaust Survivor Testimony: Time, Methodology, and... to begin my study of Holocaust survivor testimonies. During the required semester, I will begin to investigate the characteristics of both large-scale national oral history projects and smaller local and regional efforts to collect testimonies from Holocaust survivors. At the end of the semester I will have the data needed to begin analyzing my findings and begin writing for publication. PROJECT DESCRIPTION During this, the initial stages of a new research project, I will begin to accumulate data that specifically informs the processes involved interviewing the Holocaust survivors. In the 65 years since the end of World War II, there have been over 100 academic institutions, memorial organizations, and individual scholars who have interviewed and collected the oral histories of Holocaust survivors (http://www.ushmm.org/research/ collections /storiaoral/research/). These efforts are primarily the work of Jewish organizations, and the largest collections of testimonies concern Jewish survivors. But some collections focus on and include other groups who survived the Holocaust. The initial stages of my research will include gathering information on the scope, scope, processes, and methodology used in larger interview projects (United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, Voices of the Shoah Project, and the Fortunoff Online Video Archive at Yale University). The preliminary phase of my project will focus on a comparative analysis of the motivations, formulations and objectives of the interview activities. Proposed research With ... halfway through the document ... information was collected) influenced the nature of the information requested, the interviewees' responses and the transcription process. While transcripts are less of an issue in the age of video testimony, I believe the training and qualifications of the interviewer; the construction of interview guides and the objectives of the sponsoring organization may have shaped the nature of the data that was (and still is) collected. This study will contribute to the fields of qualitative sociology by exploring the influence and interaction between methodology, culture, and history. It will also provide insights into the effects of time and culture on the content and nature of Holocaust survivor testimonies. As such, I hope that it can also, more generally, contribute to the fields of Holocaust studies, sociological methodology and the sociology of knowledge..

Topic > Holocaust Survivor Testimony: Time, Methodology, and... to begin my study of Holocaust survivor testimonies. During the required semester, I will begin to investigate the characteristics of both large-scale national oral history projects and smaller local and regional efforts to collect testimonies from Holocaust survivors. At the end of the semester I will have the data needed to begin analyzing my findings and begin writing for publication. PROJECT DESCRIPTION During this, the initial stages of a new research project, I will begin to accumulate data that specifically informs the processes involved interviewing the Holocaust survivors. In the 65 years since the end of World War II, there have been over 100 academic institutions, memorial organizations, and individual scholars who have interviewed and collected the oral histories of Holocaust survivors (http://www.ushmm.org/research/ collections /storiaoral/research/). These efforts are primarily the work of Jewish organizations, and the largest collections of testimonies concern Jewish survivors. But some collections focus on and include other groups who survived the Holocaust. The initial stages of my research will include gathering information on the scope, scope, processes, and methodology used in larger interview projects (United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, Voices of the Shoah Project, and the Fortunoff Online Video Archive at Yale University). The preliminary phase of my project will focus on a comparative analysis of the motivations, formulations and objectives of the interview activities. Proposed research With ... halfway through the document ... information was collected) influenced the nature of the information requested, the interviewees' responses and the transcription process. While transcripts are less of an issue in the age of video testimony, I believe the training and qualifications of the interviewer; the construction of interview guides and the objectives of the sponsoring organization may have shaped the nature of the data that was (and still is) collected. This study will contribute to the fields of qualitative sociology by exploring the influence and interaction between methodology, culture, and history. It will also provide insights into the effects of time and culture on the content and nature of Holocaust survivor testimonies. As such, I hope that it can also, more generally, contribute to the fields of Holocaust studies, sociological methodology and the sociology of knowledge..