PRESENTATION ON ORAL HISTORY OF PROFESSOR NGO VINH LONG, MAINE STATE UNIVERSITY, USA

On March 13, 2008, in cooperation with The Saigon Times, Center for Vietnamese and South East Asian Studies gave a presentation on “Oral History” presented by Prof. Ngo Vinh Long, Maine State University – USA, at the conference room of The Saigon Times, 35 Nam Ky Khoi Nghia St.

Present at the presentation were 40 guests from USSH, SDRC, Hoa Sen University, Open University… and participants from other sources.

The presentation lasted the whole day. Participants listened to “Oral history: The theoretical issues” and “Oral history in comparison with interview methods of other social sciences (Anthropology, Ethnology, Political Sciences…)” in the morning; and “History of life and oral history: Issues of reality in social sciences studies in Vietnam” and “Oral history with social sciences in Vietnam” in the afternoon.

Unlike written events in books of history, Oral history includes bygone events recorded by the people that once lived in those periods of history. It is a matter of fact that the act of gathering materials has to be based on a number of pieces of equipment, namely recorders, video cameras, etc.

Throughout his presentation, Prof. Ngo Vinh Long showed that there were a number of issues in Vietnamese history that were needed to be supplemented by Oral History. A quite urgent problem, nevertheless, was that the mere subjects to Oral History – the number of still-alive eye-witnesses (Vietnamese Heroic Mothers, Female Voluntary Youths, and those who lived through the period of subsidiary economy…) was gradually decreasing.  Prof. Bui Tran Phuong, Ph.D. – Rector of Hoa Sen University, as sharing his thoughts and opinion on the issue, said that all universities throughout the country should work in association with each other so as to establish Oral history archives, in the hope to supplement the “orthodox” archives we were possessing.

For reference, please visit these websites:

The Oral History Society: http://www.ohs.org.uk

Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oral_history

Southern Oral History Program (SOPH), University of North Carolia, Chapel Hill, Southern Historical Collection:http://www.unc.edu/depts/sohp/sohpnew

Step-by-Step guide to Oral History, Hudith Moyer: http://www.dohistory.org/on_your_own/toolkit/oralHistory.html

Source: http://www.hcmussh.edu.vn/USSH/NewsEventAnnouncement/ViewNewsEvent.aspx?p0=0&p1=1399&p2=3&p4=1931&p7=&p8=0

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