Diss. Umeå Univ., 2007.

This study investigated former students' historical imaginations and recollections emanating from a visit to an historic site as an extension of the curriculum in social studies in grade five a decade ago. Historical imagination was defined as placing children within past "actions" or experiences of history through heritage to discern for themselves the thoughts and experiences of people of the past. The following question guided this study: What was the nature of historical imagination constructed from participants' recollections through "action" and "artifact within action" based on an extended field trip to an historic site in the recent past? "Action" was defined as vigorous activity of children involved in learning through experience, such as panning for gold. "Artifact within action" referred to objects illustrative of human workmanship, such as those found in historic sites. Ten years ago, ten and eleven year old students participated in historic site ‘interpretation’ programs including a court trial, school house activities, gold panning, graveyard exploration, household chores and carpentry tasks. They explored the reconstructed townsite of Barkerville where these activities occurred. The investigation of historical imagination was not intended as an evaluation of the educational programs offered at Barkerville, nor was it intended to generalize these findings to other historical sites. The author involved young adults to construct memories of shared events from their experiences of a field trip to Barkerville. In spite of efforts to determine efficacy of education through field trips, little has been written about the stimulation of historical imagination through this process. The author’s definition of historical imagination formed the foundation for this study. In addition, the concept of shared voice or the interactive memory of former students and their teacher through conversation was developed for use through the methodology of oral history. Hermeneutics provided the interpretive instrument for constructing and understanding the narrative expressed through participants' conversation. The interview lent itself to the expression of former students' stories recollecting "action" and "artifact within action." Thematic analysis was used to interpret the conversational data. Three main themes emerged from the data: recollecting feelings, creating images and pictures and experiencing the past. Within the theme recollecting feelings, three references emerged: feelings of emotional involvement, "the actual feeling" and feeling closeness with the group. A salient conclusion of this study is that participants' historical response was evident over time, expressed as the "actual feeling" and utilized in the active construction of meaning through vivid recollections, which employed historical imagination to explain and extend historical understandings. The constructs most evident underlying historical imagination were interaction, free play, provocation, the supernatural and engagement. Furthermore, gender recollection was a significant construct and, as a result, woman's past emerged as a reference within the theme experiencing the past. / Graduate

Magister Artium - MA / It is now forty years after the start of African Socialism, or Ujamaa, in Tanzania. This study examines to what extent Tanzanians still tell their national history in ways which feature the important themes of social change that were introduced by President Julius Nyerere and his political party after independence: increasing equality, popular participation, egalitarian values and self-reliant economic development. The intention of the study is to see to what extent these ideas are still important in the ways that Tanzanians today tell their national history. The study is based on oral history interviews, with Tanzanian expatriates living in Cape Town, and is supplemented by secondary sources on the post-independence and Ujamaa periods. It argues that memory can be affected by current events. / South Africa

The purpose of this work is to introduce the reader to people whose lives have only been of marginal interest to modern historiographers. It portrays the formation of personal stories of people who live on the edges of society. The narrators are people who were older than 18 years in 1989 and who have personally experienced homelessness after the Velvet Revolution. Homelessness is explored as a public phenomenon appearing alongside the transformation of the Czech Republic. However the work also touches on the history of homelessness in the area before 1989. The research is based primarily on the oral history method with currently homeless people. Key words homelessness, oral history, 1989

Masters of Art / It is now forty years after the start of African Socialism, or Ujamaa, in Tanzania. This study examines to what extent Tanzanians still tell their national history in ways which feature the important themes of social change that were introduced by President Julius Nyerere and his political party after independence: increasing equality, popular participation, egalitarian values and self-reliant economic development

Bibliography: p. 178-192. / This dissertation uses the historical figure of Joao Albasini to explore some historiographical issues related to how people commemorate their past. Joao Albasini was a Portuguese trader who operated through the port of Delagoa Bay for a large part of the 19th Century. He was based in Portuguese East Africa in the1830's and early 1840's, and moved into what would become the Transvaal in the late 1840's, becoming a powerful political force in the region. This thesis looks at the strikingly different ways in which Albasini has been remembered by different individuals and groups. Part 1 deals with his South African family's memories of him, focusing in particular on the portrayal of Albasini in a celebration held in 1988 to commemorate the centenary of his death. This is compared with fragments of earlier family memories, in particular, with the testimony of his second daughter recorded in newspaper articles, letters and notes. This comparison is used to argue that the memories of Albasini are being shaped both by a changing social context, and by the influence of different literary genres. Part 2 looks at a doctoral thesis on Albasini written by J.B. de Vaal in the 1940's. This is placed in the context of a tradition of professional Afrikaner academic writing, which combined the conventions and claims of Rankean scientific history with the concerns of an Afrikaner Volksgeskiedenis, and which became powerful in a number of South African Universities in the early decades of this century. The text of de Vaal's thesis is examined in detail with a view to focusing on the extent to which it was shaped by this tradition. Part 3 looks at a group of oral histories collected from the former Gazankulu Homeland between 1979 and 1991, and focuses on the way in which a memory of Albasini has been used in the construction of the idea of a Tsonga/Shangaan ethnic group. One oral tradition is examined in detail, and used to argue for an approach to oral history that attempts to focus on the structure and commentary of oral history, instead of simply using it as a source of empirical fact.

This thesis is a study of oral histories and literary records covering the professional development and works of Edward Blake Jr., ASLA, (1947-2010). The study considers Blake’s design principles via newly collected oral histories and a review of his literary record within the continuum of landscape architecture history from 1970 to 2010. Additionally, the study explores Blake’s position within the ecological design community to establish his status as a possible founding voice of ecologically focused landscape architecture practice in the Coastal Plains Region of the southeastern United States. The primary sources include a newly developed oral history collection with questionnaire-based interviews of Blake’s eight colleagues, professional mentors, and collaborators, along with various forms of project and process documentation generated by Edward Blake Jr. and his practice, known as The Landscape Studio. The study concludes with a distillation of Blake’s design principles, lexicon, and contribution to the field of landscape architecture.

From 1924-1959, the United Lutheran Church of America operated a girls" boarding school in Southwest Virginia. When Konnarock Training School opened, there were few educational opportunities in the isolated mountains, especially for girls. Students from five states came to Konnarock, with some receiving eleven years of education there. Konnarock Training School recruited faculty from throughout the United States and at least one teacher from Europe. These individuals lived in the Virginia mountains, taught academic classes, and engaged in extensive community outreach. A unique level of cooperation existed among church, public schools systems, and government agencies during the school's existence. The mission of Konnarock Training School was to help women reach their potential and to become leaders in their families, their church, and their communities. Students were taught, by example and by word, that they had a place in the church, that women did not have to accept prevailing social and economic circumstances, and that they could make decisions about their own lives. The day-to-day examples given to the students became a scaffold for social change; KTS encouraged the women to become authors of their own lives. This research is essentially a case study using a feminist oral history methodology. A total of twenty-three interviews with eight women alumnae and faculty of KTS provides the basis for the study. Interviews were transcribed and analyzed using the constant comparative method. In addition, extensive archival material provided data for analysis. The central argument presented is that KTS was a community embodying both Christian and feminist ideals, one that looked toward the vision of a just, equitable world but that persisted in the real and imperfect world. Overlapping themes leading to a view of the school as an example of feminist theology in practice are Family and Friends, Community, Identity, A Tradition of Leadership, and An Eschatological Focus. The role that memory plays in the telling of one's oral history is also considered. / Ed. D.

The purpose of this study was to explore and document the perspectives of the Black students who were the first to desegregate Roanoke, Virginia, schools during the 1960-1961 school year. In September of 1960, nine Black students were chosen to desegregate formerly all-White schools in Roanoke. The stories of these students have not been comprehensively researched or formally recorded. Their perspectives on the desegregation process provide valuable insight to add to the body of knowledge about the desegregation period. A review of the history of Black education on the national, state, and local levels, as well as a brief history of the City of Roanoke are provided as historical context for the desegregation of schools in Roanoke. A review of the literature documenting first person accounts from other Black students who went through the desegregation experience revealed only a small number of formally recorded accounts. Examining the perspectives of Black students who were among the first to desegregate schools can provide a critical perspective on both desegregation and the larger societal issue of integration. The effects of the desegregation experience on students have received little attention. Recording and analyzing their stories provides an important piece of the desegregation record that is currently lacking. The researcher conducted a qualitative case study incorporating interviews of the students, a review of newspaper articles and documents from the time period, and any artifacts and documents that the participants had retained from the time period. Five common themes emerged from the interviews with participants. They were: (a) rejection by White and Black peers, (b) family support, (c) preparation for life in a desegregated society, (d) a sense of loss related to not attending all-Black schools, and (e) the reflective meaning each participant made of their experience. These themes were similar to the experiences of other Black students who desegregated schools. These themes were also similar to themes found in the literature dealing with the value of all-Black schools. Continued documentation of the perspectives of Black students who desegregated schools is one of the recommendations of the study. / Ph. D.

Thesis (Ph.D. (History)) -- University of Limpopo, 2018 / The purpose of this study was to investigate the genealogy and migration of the va ka Valoyi people of Limpopo Province, South Africa. Qualitative, narrative research was used to study the oral history of the va ka Valoyi to determine the origin, migration routes and the genealogy of the 20 (twenty) communities of the va ka Valoyi in Limpopo. Data collection was done using semi-structured questionnaires. An initial list of 20 (twenty) respondents was drawn and through Snowball Sampling, the list was increased as per referrals made by the 20 (twenty) respondents during their individual interviews. At the end of the research, 67 (sixty-seven) respondents had been interviewed and secondary sources also consulted. The study has reconstructed the history of the va ka Valoyi, which had not been written before and managed to fill some gaps in the history of their associate groups that historians had not been able to fill in the past. The findings revealed that all the 20 (twenty) communities of the va ka Valoyi in Limpopo are related and identified the various relationships among them. It also revealed how the va ka Valoyi are related to ancient dynasties of the Munhumutapa, Changamire and Torwa and how they reached the Limpopo Province. KEY CONCEPTS Genealogy; Migration; va ka Valoyi; Arrival in Limpopo Province; Oral history.