Women's Words The Feminist Practice of Oral History

As oral history and feminist theory have gained sophistication, feminists have begun to ask new, provocative questions about the practice, ethics and value of oral history for recording women's lives. How, for example, does the appropriation and interpretation by feminist scholars alter an oral historical account? How do the questions asked affect the accounts subjects give? Can we trust what women say about their lives? What does it mean that some women are consigned by virtue of education and class to be subjects of other women's research?;The first book-length study of the subject, "Women's Words" examines through the eyes of 18 scholars in the field, the critical questions confronting oral history as a feminist methodology. The authors address political, academic, cross-cultural and contracultural issues as they relate to the practice of oral history, including the ethical dilemmas associated with first world research regarding third world women; the way in which narrative structure affects the meaning of what is recounted; the uses of oral history for the purposes of advocacy among Palestinian women; and the suitability of oral history for expressing black women's thoughts, experiences and feelings.;This book should be of interest to students and teachers of women's studies, history, anthropology, sociology and communication studies.