Below is a selected and annotated bibliography of scholarly works concerning oral history, with a particular focus on survivor testimony in the context of genocide and mass violence. While in no way comprehensive, this list’s purpose is to direct those interested in research with testimonies to some of the major works on this topic in the fields of history, oral history, and genocide and memory studies. The bibliography is compiled by the staff at the USC Shoah Foundation Center for Advanced Genocide Research.
Witnessing Witnessing: On the Reception of Holocaust Survivor Testimony. Fordham University Press.
Engaging critically with some of the major theories in genocide and trauma studies, this work examines the reception of testimonies about the Holocaust.
Narrating our Pasts: The Social Construction of Oral History. Cambridge University Press.
Tonkin’s book emphasizes oral history as social action, and includes her discussions of the relationship between memory, cognition and history, and the variety of genres in oral narratives of the past.
The Voice of the Past: Oral History. Oxford University Press.
A broad overview of oral history, including its origins and development, its social and historical role, and its relationship with memory. The book also offers an insight into the practice of oral history, including interviewing, copyright, and confidentiality.
“Four Paradigm Transformations in Oral History.” The Oral History Review 34(1): 49-70.
A review of critical developments in the history of oral history, with a discussion of four theoretical and practical paradigms in the field.
The Battle of Valle Giulia: Oral History and the Art of Dialogue. University of Wisconsin Press.
This is a collection of Portelli’s essays on oral history methodology, theory, and ethics, with an emphasis on the relationship between interviewers and interviewees.
“What Makes Oral History Different?” In Oral History, Oral Culture, and Italian Americans, edited by Luisa del Guidice, pp. 21-30. Springer.
In this important article from 1979, Portelli argues that orality, narrative form, subjectivity, memory, and the relationship between the interviewer and the interviewee – all distinctive characteristics of oral history – should be considered oral history’s strengths, not weaknesses.
“The Audiovisual Unconscious: Media and Trauma in the Video Archive for Holocaust Testimonies.” Critical Inquiry 39(1): 142-166.
A discussion of the relationship between testimony and audiovisual technology, arguing that technology influences the way testimony and trauma are theorized.
The Oral History Reader. Routledge.
A collection of major articles on theory, method, and use of oral history. Includes current thinking around traumatic memory, particularly concerning the interpretation of traumatic memories, and truth and inaccuracy in testimony.
Survivors: An Oral History of the Armenian Genocide. University of California Press.
A book that focuses on 103 testimonies of Armenian genocide survivors, with a reflection on survivor’s responses to the genocide.
Holocaust Testimonies: The Ruins of Memory. Yale University Press.
This is a first book-length study of videotaped testimonies of the Holocaust survivors. It discusses the ideas of Holocaust testimonies as disrupted narratives, the reliability and credibility of memory, and testimony as a form of remembering.