by ACCOUNT CLOSED on February 13th, 2009

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It's true that both written and oral history are subject to extreme bias and one-sidedness; but isn't oral history further flawed, because there is no way to prove what was spoken (before audio recordings) whereas you CAN find millenia-old texts?

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by Trissinger on May 8th, 2009
I would have thought that oral history would be extremely flawed. Yet, as I've been reading this book on the Roma people, (BURY ME STANDING by Isabel Fonseca) I've been intrigued by how Roma from different areas in Europe & central Asia have basically the same stories, language, etc. even though Roma in different communities have absolutely no contact with one another.
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by SkyClad on February 13th, 2009
When you go looking for the truth, you have to remember that only the victorious write the history books.
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- It certainly has been that way in the mainstream, but I've found a great many recent historians who go to great lengths to unearth suppressed accounts.
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  For example, I read a first-hand account by an Aztec civilian of the Spanish invasion. It was filled with pretty unbelievable stuff like goddesses descending to the Earth...but then again, even the Spanish accounts speak of the Virgin Mary coming down.
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  by ACCOUNT CLOSED on February 13th, 2009
- This is the type of history I really enjoy. Not the cut and paste version that so many people accept as gospel. I also like for historians to write of events in a manner that expresses the social mores of the time, without applying current society's moral judgements to the account. I like to view history as if I were there at the very time it was taking place, experiencing the events in the setting, time, and values of the time. I may not be expressing this very well; but, I hope you know what I mean.
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  by SkyClad on February 14th, 2009
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It's true that both written and oral history are subject to extreme bias and one-sidedness; but isn't oral history further flawed, because there is no way to prove what was spoken (before audio recordings) whereas you CAN find millenia-old texts?

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It's true that both written and oral history are subject to extreme bias and one-sidedness; but isn't oral history further flawed, because there is no way to prove what was spoken (before audio recordings) whereas you CAN find millenia-old texts?

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