ABSTRACT
In this chapter, the author locates her research project in a specific social context at a particular moment in time. She briefly discusses the ways in which her own personal, professional and political experiences have shaped. She situates herself theoretically, acknowledging her intellectual debts to the Popular Memory Group and Mikhail Bakhtin. The author also introduces her discussion of the theory, methodology and politics of the research project with a brief life story, one which focuses on the ways in which her own modes of interpretation have been influenced by her personal relationships and lived experiences. Oral history in all its various manifestations is deeply entangled in current conflicts over theory, methodology and politics in academic research. Relational analysis is the key notion in the Popular Memory Group's own approach to oral history. The alternative content of oral history does not guarantee transformative practice; the relations of power between researcher and resource persons are even more important.
