“Stories within Stories: Disentangling Narrative Levels of Oral History Testimonies”

Najlah Attieh 1301, Library Building, Beirut Campus

The Deppartent of Social Sciences is hosting a lecture entitled “Stories within Stories: Disentangling Narrative Levels of Oral History Testimonies” on Wednesday, November 18 to be given by researcher Magnus Dølerud.

Dølerud is a doctoral fellow at the Centre for Middle Eastern and Islamic Studies at the University of Bergen, Norway. His research focuses on different forms of anti-war activism in Lebanon in the period 1975-90. During the fall term 2015, Dølerud is visiting researcher at the Department of Social Sciences, LAU.

The lecture is an oral history interview ­essentially a narrative exercise ­consisting of several different narrative levels, which interact with each other to form a compound narrative. The three narrative levels of History as the commonly accepted narrative of events; movement narrative as the stories movement participants tell to mobilize and legitimate action; and life stories as the narratives individuals construct about themselves, are here taken as examples. By attempting to disentangle the narrative levels in interviews, it is possible to reach a richer understanding of the perceptions and motivations of historical actors. Such distinguishing of narrative levels may also enhance the general documentary value of oral testimonies and increase awareness of ideological, social and identity effects on the oral testimony.

All are welcome to attend.