Oral History as complement to Place–as–Text: Approaches to Service Learning

Place–as–Text in a university service learning course

Place–as–text is a curriculum developed by the National Collegiate Honors Council's Honors Semesters Committee (Braid and Long, 2000) and has been used to guide professors, graduate students, and college students to explore any place with the intention of creating an opportunity for unpacking the multi–dimensional nature of communities while offering a liberating space for various perspectives and critical examinations (Daniel, 2000). Every summer for the past ten years, a group of faculty members from multiple disciplines have taken a group of upper–level college students, ranging in number from 30–60, to Yellowstone National Park for a course examining the complex biological, social, and economic issues of the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem. One of the critical components of this travel–away course is place–as–text curriculum. The advantages of place–as–text have been discussed in numerous articles (Carvajal, 2006; Braid, 2000; Long, 2014), and the place–as–text explorations used in a Longwood University course based in Yellowstone National Park follow the best practices and procedures explained in several publications, including Carvajal (2006) and Braid and Long (2000).

The basic components of place–as–text depend upon active learning techniques in the field including observing, mapping, and interviewing. Observation is the first step of the process where students take a more meaningful look at the environment in which they find themselves. They may pose questions like, “Why is this structure here?” or “Who uses this space?”. By the end of the exercise, whether it be an hour or longer, students begin to realize that much information can be gathered by observing and experiencing a place. Mental mapping, or the act of creating the layout of a space in one's mind, is a skill that students already use, perhaps subconsciously, when exploring a place. In this context, students are asked to notice how a place is physically designed and to look introspectively at what stands out to them and why. Finally, interviewing is introduced, less as a formal procedure and more as a step to initiate casual conversations to glean information about what issues are important to local citizens. Throughout their explorations of a place, students are encouraged to talk to the various people they encounter about the spaces they inhabit and their interactions in those spaces. These casual encounters are the foundation for a complex web of connections that come together to allow one to read a place. One goal of this exercise is to give students confidence speaking with strangers in preparation for a longer, more formal oral history interview. The objective of the combination of these exercises is for students to peel back the superficial layer of generalized or pre–packaged experiences, much like a tourist experiences a place, to see a place from a variety of perspectives, and to learn about the issues relevant to the community they are exploring.

The students begin learning these techniques before they travel to Yellowstone, in a place they already know, Farmville (Virginia), their college town. They are challenged to see the town with fresh eyes and to find issues concerning local citizens. The goal here is to get students to move beyond a simple acceptance of surface experience and to start “reading” their interactions with an eye toward complexity and investigation. They are required to talk to people in the town and ask them about what their lives are like. Initially, we want the students to engage in genuine conversations rather than in prescribed interviews where both parties may tend to “perform.” With that said, we encourage students to use the ethical considerations we teach them for oral history interviewing. This exercise also gives students the opportunity to acknowledge and challenge their personal lenses and biases about a place on which they have already formed opinions. By being asked to “read” a place through its people, students start to see multiple meanings and experiences, to regain their sovereign ability to engage with the world around them. They start to reject what Walker Percy has called the symbolic complex, “that which has already been formulated – by picture postcard, geography book, tourist folders” (Percy, 1975). By reflecting on their own emotions and experiences during and after the exploration, students develop new ways of understanding both the community and themselves.

Once in the park, students perform their place–as–text exercises in cities and towns such as Jackson (Wyoming), Gardiner (Montana), and various other sites within the ecosystem. Using the observation, mapping and interviewing techniques they developed in Farmville, they are able to apply these generic techniques to critically examine any place and be more comfortable talking with people they have never encountered. This collaborative and integrative learning is essential for students to become active citizen leaders. The critical thought and self–awareness fostered by this curriculum aims to graduate students who are engaged and responsible members of the worlds in which they live, in part because they are better able to understand why people have different perspectives and opinions about issues.

Collecting Oral Histories and Exploring Place–as–text

One of the four essential components of place–as–text curriculum is direct contact with people in the community being explored (Daniel, 2000). Central to most oral history collections is the goal of preserving people's memories and their comments about their own experiences within a historical/social/geographic context. By adding oral history collection to place–as–text explorations, faculty members associated with the Longwood course in the Yellowstone ecosystem (hereafter referred to as LU@YNP), believe the students gain a deeper understanding of people's experiences in the community. These oral histories are then archived so community members will have access to the recordings and transcripts, thus also creating service learning contributions for the class and community.

Collecting oral histories is a process undertaken by different types of researchers and practitioners for many reasons (Ritchie, 2013). Oral history collection involves an interviewer, in our case this is our students, who uses an interview guide to hold conversations with interviewees. These conversations are recorded, transcribed, and then uploaded to a digital archive. Although how interviewees are identified and where the recordings are stored and accessed may be different, standards and best practices have been established by oral historians to deal with the ethics of interviewing people, storing those interviews, and using recorded interviews as research data. These standards are available through the Oral History Association, and the formal requirements of Institutional Review Boards charged with protecting the rights of research participants including, how consent can be given by interviewees, and statements about how interviewees should be treated during interviews (as equals) while discussing ideas about how to avoid stereotyping or influencing answers to the historically relevant questions being asked (Oral History Association, 2000).

Students in the LU@YNP class are taught about oral histories and the ethics of interviewing even before they are allowed to do place–as–text explorations. Faculty use theoretical resources such as John Stuart Mills’ ‘the sociological imagination’ (Mills, 1959) and social media resources such as “The Danger of a Single Story” TedTalk (Adichie, 2009) to engage students in critical conversation about stereotypes and assumptions and how these perceptions might inadvertently influence the archive produced. These resources stimulate a conversation about respecting others’ points–of–view and using verbal and nonverbal communication to show support and respect towards interviewees and the stories they share. Students then practice writing historically relevant questions in different contexts. Finally, we discuss consent and research protocols including the rights of the interviewee. Students learn that they must have interviewees sign consent forms and also state that they consent to the interview on the recording. Students then conduct practice interviews before entering the field. The development of interview guides takes place in groups and is overseen by faculty advisors. Additionally, students who have worked on the project before and have extensive training in oral history collection are included in each group so that every group will have at least one member, a student advisor, with interviewing experience. Interviewees are chosen and contacted based on the goal of the oral history collection.

Over the past several years, and based on student feedback, the researchers on this project have developed several best practices for helping students get the interview started. Those best practices include the following: 1.

Make your interviewee comfortable before you start the recorder.

During the interview, we ask the students to consider asking the following questions to assist them in facilitating a conversation:

How long have you lived in the area? How did you or your family first come to the area? What are some of your impressions of this place? What have you seen change here? Do you have any stories you would want someone 100 years from now to know about?

We also provide some tips that will help with the flow of the interview as well as with the future transcription:

Generally, let the interviewee do the talking (the interviewer should be heard less than 10 percent of the time). The interviewer should try not to give oral comments like “interesting” or “yes” because this affects the flow of the stories being collecting. Instead, head nodding and other non–verbal forms of communication should be used. As the last question, ask the interviewee who else he or she thinks should be interviewed. Finally, take a picture with the interviewee after the interview is over, if they will allow it.

With training, an experienced student or faculty member as part of the group, and these simple instructions in hand, most students feel comfortable conducting an oral history interview. Of course, some interviews are longer than others, but no matter how long interviews last, students learn a research technique and experience place–as–text through the eyes of their interviewee. These interviews often help students gain knowledge of the communities they are studying because they are able to ask their interviewee about the space and how that has changed overtime. Additionally, these collections have created recordings of individuals that help to produce accessible and lasting archives of community experience and knowledge.

Oral History Collection as Service Learning

According to the National Service–Learning Clearinghouse (2016), service learning is “a teaching and learning strategy that integrates meaningful community service with instruction and reflection to enrich the learning experience, teach civic responsibility, and strengthen communities”. In most social science disciplines, interviewing is a research technique taught in research methods courses. In the course described in this paper, students are not only learning interview research techniques, they are also contributing to a community organization or archive by collecting oral histories of community. In previous years, the LU@YNP course has partnered with the Yellowstone Gateway Museum to collect oral histories from residents of Paradise Valley. This collection was part of a larger project sponsored by the museum and the Historical Society of Livingston (Montana). Participation in this project had a number of benefits for students. These benefits included completing a service project which provided an opportunity to learn skills and accumulate credit in their award, contributing to a community archive, and experiencing two–way service learning through contact with community members. Additional collections have focused on interviewing long–term residents of the small towns that surround Yellowstone National Park. Many of these interviews were scheduled by students as they completed their place–as–text exploration. These collections have been archived in the Virginia Oral History Archive at Longwood University.

Prior to collecting interviews, students meet with the director of the museum or community members who talk to them about the need for oral history collection in the Yellowstone National Park area. After interviews are collected, students reflect on the importance of their interview in the broader context of the area and community. These reflections have shown that combing place–as–text explorations with an oral history interview, students are able to broaden their understanding of Yellowstone National Park and the people who live there. But perhaps most importantly, students embrace a system of exploration and learning that demands complex self–reflection as the following quotes suggest.

During my trip to Yellowstone National Park, many activities contributed to the experience. One of those activities was an oral history collection. This was done as part of a larger project helping a local museum gather stories from the elders in the community who were involved with the railroad, which had shut down many years ago. Those who worked on the railroad were far and few between. In another town, we were asked to gather stories from people that lived in the community of Gardiner. This was to see how life was in the Yellowstone area, and see what concerns they have that the park or park visitors may not always voice. Doing both of these interviews allowed me to get a sense of how it was to live next to one of the greatest places in the world, while also learning more than what can be seen, or told by a tour guide of the park that works there for the summer. It allowed me to get a understanding of how it [Yellowstone] is year round, interact and see how the community is, while also experiencing something greater than just another summer trip (student 1).

Originally YNP [Yellowstone National Park] was just a beautiful and rare place. But through the stories of the people we interviewed YNP became: a homestead, a history lesson, a livelihood, and even a sanctuary. The collection allowed me to respect and love the land and its people we were visiting that much more (student 2).

Additionally, students were able to understand that their interviews were part of a larger service project to the community. Many of the interviews conducted are now available through the Yellowstone Gateway Museum.

I was able to learn so much about how YNP [Yellowstone National Park] became to be– the trials and tribulations and how much effort people had to put into the park to make it the way it is today, and now others can have the experience of listening to these [interviews] too. The whole experience was incredibly positive (student 3).

Each year, when new explorations are undertaken, students interview new people, and thus experience place–as–text differently than students from previous years. Additionally, the oral history archive continues to grow creating a depth of knowledge that would otherwise be lost.

This approach to student service learning and exploration has created a lasting legacy in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem and had a profoundly positive effect on the students of Longwood University. This has promoted an appreciation of stories and histories, positive opportunities to experience lifelong learning through analysis of oral histories and a deeper understanding of the area and the people who live there.