My supervisor warned me that ethics clearance to do interviews can take a while, and I should get it done
sooner than later. That was May. I wanted to get going on interviews around July/August, so I thought if I did it in June I'd be in fine shape.
I just got a email saying I am cleared. Three months later. You gotta love university administrations. Lesson learned.
So, now begins the process of interviews. I've been thinking about the process of gathering oral histories; how the interaction between me and the narrator/interviewee is so crucial to building a level of trust that will put everyone at ease and willing to talk and the questions I'll be asking which hopefully elicit some interesting and thoughtful responses.
Charles T. Morrissey wrote an article in 1971 titled On Oral History Interviewing, as a guide to neophyte oral historians. He begins his article by saying that there is no set method to doing interviews: that techniques and other aspects of oral history vary according to the person being interviewed. There are the variables of the interviewer, his experience and chemistry with the interviewee; where the interview is conducted; when the interviewee is questioned (late in the day? Is the person tired?); if you have a fixed amount of time, or can one let the interview go on until it ends of its own accord. According to Morrissey reducing an interview to a fixed set of techniques is akin to “reducing courtship to a formula”: while being versed in a range of techniques is important, experience and intuition should guide you as to what tools to use in order to engage your interviewee. As a beginner, Morrissey stresses that preparation and familiarity with the topic and the community that the interviewee is from can help overcome inexperience.
So, with all that in mind, I have prepared a list of questions I'd like some feed back on. I expect that I won't ask all of them to everyone, and probably will use them more as a framework to work from, ad-libbing when something someone is saying is interesting, or trying to direct the conversation in a certain direction. When a person does that, it usually indicates that they have something they really want to discuss, or thinks is more important than what you are asking; a good historian (Not that I am one, but I'm trying) follows their narrator, because often the prioritizing of subjects means that the subject a person wants to talk about first this is what the narrator remembers best, and also indicates what mattered most to people in thier daily lives.
Thanks and have a good evening.
Grant
SAMPLE LIST OF QUESTIONS:
-Name, age, gender, sexual orientation, occupation, relationship status.
- Where are you from?
-How long have you lived in Ottawa? What brought you to the city?
-When did you come out? Why then?
-If not, why are you still closeted?
-Generally speaking, how would you sum up Ottawa as a place to live? Do you like it?
-What do you think are the factors that contribute to your point of view?
-How would you describe it as a place for a GLBT person to live?
-How would you describe Ottawa’s GLBT community, if you were/are a part of it?
-Why were you not a part of it?
-What activities did you partake in (ex: political, social)?
-What and where was your first encounter with GLBT life in Ottawa?
-When you came out, how did straights and Ottawa as a whole relate to/treat queers? How has it changed?
-How were the police?
-What places did you frequent the most? Why? What was/is your favorite place? What was your least favorite?
-Where did you not go? Why?
- Do you think there were a lot of divisions in the community? Do you think they were expressed in terms of who went where?
Who used what spaces? When? Why?
-As you can best remember, what neighborhoods were considered ‘queer’ in Ottawa, and when?
- Could you talk to me about Hull, and how the spots in Hull related to Ottawa’s GLBT community?
- How did you experience Ottawa’s reaction to the GLBT community? Were you ever a victim of violence? Where and when? By whom?
-Did your professional life affect where you went or whom you associated with?
-In your opinion, how did bigger cities like Montreal and Toronto affect the gay community? How did you see/used the communities and spaces in other cities?
-how free did you feel to be open about your sexuality in these places?
-How did you find out about new GLBT spots/clubs ?
-What do you think of the current number of spaces in Ottawa, compared to the past?
-Is it better or worse? Why?
-In your opinion, what caused the decline in spaces?
-How did the activist community create/use spaces? Did those spaces play a role in your life?
-Can you discuss the phenomena of house parties in Ottawa? Did you go to them, why were they seemingly so popular?
-Did you life as a queer person result in any interaction with queers of the opposite gender or transsexual/transgendered people?
-What in your opinion, do you consider the 5 or ten most important events for the queer community that has happened locally?
-How about nationally?
-Do you think different classes (working class, poor, middle class) us space differently? Why? How? Did different classes interact together?
-How did couples/married people use spaces?
-How did bi folks use spaces?
-Was there a very sharp divide between French and English Queers? How was that expressed?
-Did you ever go cruising? Where? When? Did spots you use come and go?
-Ever use a tearoom or a bath house? Which one(s)? Any outside of Ottawa
-What do you think of the village initiative?
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