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Exercise 7: Talk To Your Mother (Part I due April 17; Part II due April 23)

Overview

For the final assignment, you will interview a woman from another generation about her experience of the issues and events covered in this course. The exercise has multiple aims:

  1. The main objective is to encourage you to have a meaningful conversation with someone important to you, and to record this person's stories so that they will be remembered.

  2. The second point is to prompt you to apply different analytical tools from our readings in twentieth-century feminist thought to the experiences of people close to you.

  3. The third is to introduce you to the practice of oral history.

  4. Finally, the assignment is designed to help you pull together material needed to answer one of the essay questions that will appear on the final exam.

You will complete this project in two parts. The first will be due in class and electronically on April 17 and count toward your "in-class assignment" grade. The second will be due in class and electronically on April 23.

Part I:

In preparation for our April 17 class, please:

  • Explore What is Oral History? on the "History Matters" web site; be sure to read the pages in the section on "Getting Started," including "What is Oral History?," "How do Historians Use It?" and "Interpreting Oral History."

  • Read the Oral History Techniques page on the Indiana University Center for the Study of History and Memory Website.

These sites explain historians mean when they refer to "oral history" as a source, and introduce the practices required if one is collecting material to place in an archive or for use in a historical project. If it is possible for you to conduct your interview in ways that conform to these standards, I encourage you to do so; however, you will be able to complete this assignment without following all of the recommended steps.

I. A. Review the reading you have thus far completed in Feminism in Our Time and Flux. Identify passages from three different selections that you think represent distinct strands of feminist thought, and which contain ideas that you would like to discuss.

Selection 1:

Citation [3 line box]

Strand of Feminist Thought [1 line box]

Passage [20 lines]

Selection 2:

Citation [3 line box]

Strand of Feminist Thought [1 line box]

Passage [20 lines]

Selection 3:

Citation [3 line box]

Strand of Feminist Thought [1 line box]

Passage [20 lines]

I. B. With these passages in mind, generate five questions that you think will help you discuss related issues with your potential interviewee.

  1. [5 line box]

  2. [5 line box]

  3. [5 line box]

  4. [5 line box]

  5. [5 line box]

I. C. Contact the person you wish to interview, explain the topic, and get her permission to take notes (or otherwise record) your conversation. You will need to provide general information about your subject in the exercise, but she may remain anonymous if she wishes.

[check box] I certify that I have obtained the consent of the woman I will interview for this assignment.

 

Part II:

Due April 23

Part II A: Profile of interviewee

  1. Year of birth: [1 line box]

  2. Place of birth: [1 line box]

  3. Place of current residence: [1 line box]

  4. Occupation: [1 line box]

  5. Other personal and/or professional information: [30 line box]

Part II B:

Identify four passages from your interview that lend themselves to interpretation using the different strands of feminist thought we have been studying, or in which you see another source of connection to the issues and events covered in this course. For each, post the prompting question, a transcription of the relevant parts of the interviewee's response, and an explanation of the connection you see to the course material.

Passage 1:

  • Interview Question [5 line box]

  • Transcribed Response [30 line box]

  • Connection to Course [25 line box]

Passage 2:

  • Interview Question [5 line box]

  • Transcribed Response [30 line box]

  • Connection to Course [25 line box]

Passage 3:

  • Interview Question [5 line box]

  • Transcribed Response [30 line box]

  • Connection to Course [25 line box]

Passage 4:

  • Interview Question [5 line box]

  • Transcribed Response [30 line box]

  • Connection to Course [25 line box]