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Lookup NU author(s): Professor Mairi Maclean, Professor Charles Harvey
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License (CC BY-NC-ND).
This paper examines the relevance of employing an oral history method and narrative interview techniques for business historians. We explore the use of oral history interviews as a means of capturing the expression of subjective experience in narrative and metaphor. We do so by analysing interviews concerning the transition of East German identities following reunification with West Germany. Self-expression emerges as critical to the vital identity work required for social integration following transformation, metaphor providing a means of articulating deep-rooted patterns of thought. We demonstrate that employing an oral history methodology can benefit business historians by affording access to the human dimension of a research project, unlocking the subjective understanding of experience by low-power actors among the non-hegemonic classes. Hence, employing an oral history methodology provides a valuable means of countering narrative imperialism, exemplified here by the dominant West German success story grounded in Western-style individual freedom.
Author(s): Maclean M, Harvey C, Stringfellow L
Publication type: Article
Publication status: Published
Journal: Business History
Year: 2017
Volume: 59
Issue: 8
Pages: 1218-1241
Online publication date: 07/09/2016
Acceptance date: 08/08/2016
Date deposited: 11/08/2016
ISSN (print): 0007-6791
ISSN (electronic): 1743-7938
Publisher: Taylor & Francis
URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/00076791.2016.1223048
DOI: 10.1080/00076791.2016.1223048
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