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Centre for Policy on Ageing | |
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Telling it in time
— interpreting consistency and change in the life stories of Holocaust survivors | | Author(s) | Brian Schiff |
| Journal title | International Journal of Aging and Human Development, vol 60, no 3, 2005 |
| Pages | pp 189-212 |
| Source | http://baywood.com |
| Keywords | Jewish ; War ; Memory and Reminiscence ; Interpretation ; Qualitative Studies. |
| Annotation | The author inquires into the life of a single Holocaust survivor in order to give a "thick description" of the dynamics of talking about the past over time. David K, born in 1928 in Gheorgheni, Hungary, was deported to Auschwitz in 1944, where he spent one month before entering slave labour camps in Mühldorf and Mittergars. The author's reading of David's life is based on two interviews, the first from 1982 (at age 54) and the second from 1995 (at age 67). "Narrative mapping", a method of structural interpretation based on the work of Labov and Waletzky (1967) is used, in order to visualise the amount of overall consistency between the two interviews. The individual narratives that are repeated over time are also studied carefully. Schiff's reading of David's interviews suggests strong consistency along with significant changes. There is great consistency in the structure and content of narratives, but differences in the point of evaluations of narratives. Schiff also argues that David's later interview contains several new narratives and integrates historical insights into his account of the past. The merits of two explanations for this change, culture and time in development are discussed; and possible strategies for researchers interested in working with the vast archives of survivor interviews are suggested. (RH). |
| Accession Number | CPA-050613202 A |
| Classmark | TKS: VMC: DB: 4CC: 3DP |
Data © Centre for Policy on Ageing |
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| ...from the Ageinfo database published by Centre for Policy on Ageing. |
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