People and Places: Australian Oral Histories of Migration and Environmental Change

Abstract

In Australia, the practices of oral history are thriving. This chapter briefly surveys developments from the 1990s, including the use of oral history in the public sphere as a form of witnessing in government commissions collecting evidence on key social issues, including injustices for First Nations and other vulnerable Australians. The chapter then turns to two subfields where oral history has expanded recently, influenced by contemporary political and social concerns and international trends in historical scholarship. Part I examines the role of oral interviews in histories of migration as Australia has rapidly transformed into a culturally diverse nation. Research on the parallel histori..