In addition to interviews, I also used oral histories to collect and record the experiences and memories of rural residents relating to themes such as traditional handicrafts, rural industrialisation, livelihoods and indigenous knowledge. See Table 4.5 below for more information. An oral history often highlights a particular aspect of a person’s life, such as work life or a special role in some part of the life of a community. Furthermore, an oral history most often focuses on the community or what someone remembers about a specific event, time, issue, or place (Atkinson, 1998).
As Keegan argues, ‘in the narratives of ordinary people’s lives we begin to see some of the major forces of history at work, large social forces that are arguably the real key to understanding the past’ (Keegan, 1998: 168). At this point, the concept of memory represents more than individual experience and stands for collective economic and social experience, mainly as this relates to class. As Minkley and Rasool argue, in the 1980s national and class teleologies were collapsed into the notion of ‘the people’. ‘History from below’ was ‘people’s history’ and was connected with ‘people’s power’ and ‘people’s education’ (Minkley and Rasool, 1998: 91-92).
Oral history – ‘the interviewing of eye-witness participants in the events of the past for the purposes of historical reconstruction’ (Grele, 1996: 63) – has had a considerable impact upon contemporary history as practised in many countries. Though interviews with members of social and political elites have complemented
existing documentary sources, the most distinctive part of oral history has been to include within the historical record the experiences and perspectives of groups of people who might have been ‘hidden from history’ (Rowbotham, 1973 cited in Perks and Thomson, 1998: ix).
Moreover, throughout oral history interviews, working-class men and women, indigenous peoples or members of cultural minorities have inscribed their experiences on the historical record, and offered their own understanding of history. Furthermore, interviews have documented particular aspects of historical experience which tend to be absent from other sources, such as personal relations, domestic work or family life (Perks and Thomson, 1998: ix). My own experience of undertaking oral histories in Thailand helped me to gain a deeper sense of the historical experience of the villages. This extended from the handicraft production process in the past to the changes in the houses and villages, information which I could not get from the survey.
Oral history is a history built around people. It allows heroes not only from the leaders, but also from the unknown majority of the people. It helps the less privileged, and particularly the old, and may instil dignity and self-confidence. It brings history into, and out of, the community. It makes for an understanding between generations, and between social classes. It provides a means for radical transformation of the social meaning of history (Thompson, 1998: 28).
Oral history is based on the use of such personal memories as a basis to build history as an alternative and complement to the documents on which historians usually depend and draw (Caunce, 1994: 7). The core of oral history is memory, from which meaning can be extracted and preserved. In other words it can be said that oral history collects personal commentaries and memories of historical importance throughout recorded interviews. ‘As distinct from oral traditions – stories that societies have passed along in spoken form from generation to generation – oral history interviewing has been occurring since history was first recorded’ (Ritchie, 2003: 19).
Table 4.5 Table of Interviewees
Interviewees Key information
Community Leaders: Village Headpersons
(Pooyaiban) •
Local permission to get into the areas and to collect the information from the residents
• Basic data about villages • The main roles of leaders in
stimulating the participation of their residents in rural development projects
• Information relating to handicraft production and rural development plans and projects
• The direction, problems and
solutions of the development process in particular villages Local Officers in District and Sub-district
Administrative Organisations •
Basic data and general information in their supervision areas
• The roles of the organisation in
supporting development projects such as OTOP (One Tambon One Product)
Senior Civil Servants in National Economic and Social Development Board (both Bangkok based and Chiang Mai based), Ministry of Interior: Community Development Department and Tambon Administrative Organisation; Ministry of Industry: Department of Industrial Promotion; Ministry of Commerce: Department of Export Promotion
• Handicraft production, rural development and rural
industrialisation projects/plans and assessments.
Handicraft-Based Villagers and Private Sector: Managers from Companies, Shop Owners, Travellers
• Handicraft products, rural industries, and links between handicraft production and global production networks
Farm-Based Rural Residents; Villagers Working
in Other Occupations than Handicrafts •
Information relating to handicraft production, especially to
understanding why some people still work as farmers or why some work in other kinds of work and are not involved in any kind of handicrafts Oral Histories: Local Elders, Retired Community
Leaders such as Pooyaiban, Retired Teachers
• Collection and recording of experiences and memories such as about the history of handicrafts over the last half century and tracking further back by asking respondents to recall what parents had said (Nartsupha, 1999)
Table 4.5 above shows more information on the interviewees and the key information collected. In total, fifty-four interviews were conducted (Appendix 2), taking between 20 minutes and two hours and 25 minutes, over two periods between May and June 2007, and October 2007 and January 2008. At the end of each day of interviewing, the interviews were transcribed and some short notes were made on interesting key issues. This process can help to reduce the work load later on in the processing of the data as well as to revise some emerging issues after each interview. By regularly reassessing the interview content, some of the questions in the interview guides (Appendix 3) were adjusted when there was an emergence of interesting new key issues during the field research.