Despite a long and rich tradition of oral history research, few are aware of the innovative and groundbreaking work of oral historians in Canada. For this first primer on the practices within the discipline, the editors of The Canadian Oral History Reader have gathered some of the best contributions from a diverse field.

Essays survey and explore fundamental and often thorny aspects in oral history methodology, interpretation, preservation and presentation, and advocacy. In plain language, they explain how to conduct research with indigenous communities, navigate difficult relationships with informants, and negotiate issues of copyright, slander, and libel. The authors ask how people’s memories and stories can be used as historical evidence – and whether it is ethical to use them at all. Their detailed and compelling case studies draw readers into the thrills and predicaments of recording people’s most intimate experiences, and refashioning them in transcripts and academic analyses. They also consider how to best present and preserve this invaluable archive of Canadian memories.

The Canadian Oral History Reader provides a rich resource for community and university researchers, undergraduate and graduate students, and independent scholars and documentarians, and serves as a springboard and reference point for global discussions about Canadian contributions to the international practice of oral history.

Contributors include Brian Calliou (independent scholar), Elise Chenier (Simon Fraser University), Julie Cruikshank (University of British Columbia), Alexander Freund (University of Winnipeg), Steven High (Concordia University), Nancy Janovicek (University of Calgary), Jill Jarvis-Tonus (independent scholar), Kristina R. Llewellyn (Renison University College, University of Waterloo), Bronwen Low (McGill University), Claudia Malacrida (University of Lethbridge), Joy Parr (Western University), Joan Sangster (Trent University), Emmanuelle Sonntag (Université du Québec à Montréal), Pamela Sugiman (Ryerson University), Winona Wheeler (University of Saskatchewan), and Stacey Zembrzycki (Concordia University).

Kristina R. Llewellyn is associate professor of social development studies at Renison University College, University of Waterloo and author of Democracy’s Angels: The Work of Women Teachers.

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Alexander Freund is an associate professor in the Department of History and the Chair in German-Canadian Studies at the University of Winnipeg.

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Nolan Reilly is professor of history and co-director of the Oral History Centre at the University of Winnipeg.

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