Exploring Personal History

A Case Study of an Italian Immigrant Woman

Bibliographic Data

ID11078022
AuthorsJennifer Scuro (0000-0002-9538-2755, Fordham and Pace Universities, New York City, corresponding author)
Year2004
Volume31
Issue1
Pages43-69
Publication date2004-01-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueThe Oral History Review (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0094-0798 • E-ISSN: 1533-8592
PublisherInforma UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1525/ohr.2004.31.1.43
OpenAlexW1982809480
LanguageEN
Citations received2
References cited1

This paper is a study of an Italian immigrant woman based on interviews conducted with my grandmother in 1996. Her testimony alongside traditional conceptual frameworks shows that interpreting oral history is a work that must be handled with care. With this article, I have tried to give validity and context to the uniqueness of the experience of an Italian-American immigrant woman. I also argue against Virignia Yans-McLaughlin's interpretation of interviews and the basis of her comparative work. Following Jürgen Habermas's call for self-knowledge in Knowledge and Human Interests (1968), this paper is a work of personal discovery as well as an attempt to liberate and take responsibility for the ways in which interpretation of immigrant testimony can enforce presuppositions and suppress careful and interested dialogue about gender difference and ethnic diversity

Context (archaeology · Diversity (politics · Epistemology · Ethnic group · Immigration · Interpretation (philosophy · Linguistics · Oral history · Political science · Presupposition · Sociology · Anthropology · Gender Studies · History · Law · Oral History, Memory, Narrative Analysis · Psychology · Social Psychology

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