What Makes Oral History Different

Abstract

Back in 1960–61,I was an American Field Service foreign exchange student at Westchester High School here in Los Angeles—which still exists, although it has been almost swallowed up by the airport. And I had this wonderful experience of being an Italian in Los Angeles. Part of this was listening to the Italian radio station from “la bellissima città di San Pedro” on Sundays. Every Italian boy lives the day of Sunday in anxiety, waiting for the soccer results. The great privilege here was that, thanks to the time difference, by 10:00 a.m. Pd know the scores—and my Sunday anxiety was replaced by Sunday despair.

The keynote address of the thirty-eighth annual conference of the AIHA was delivered by Alessandro Portelli on November 4, 2005. Not only did Portelli knowledgeably address the topics of oral history and oral culture, given his scholarly experience in these fields, he was also able to beautifully practice what he preaches, that is, narrate orally in a story telling mode that captivated the audience. What follows is Alessandro Portelli’s keynote address, transcribed by the speaker himself.