‘‘Memoirs and experiences shape the reality of an event.’’ Explain the strengths and weaknesses of the oral testimonies in writing history.
Strengths of the oral testimonies:
(i) Oral narratives, memoirs, diaries, family histories, first hand written accounts - all these help us to understand the trials and tribulations of ordinary people during the partition of the country.
(ii) It helps us to grasp experiences and memories in details.
(iii) It enables historians to write richly textured, vivid accounts of what happened to people during events such as partition.
(iv) Oral history also allows historians to broaden the boundaries of their discipline by rescuing from oblivion the lived experiences of the poor and the powerless.
Weaknesses:
(i) Oral data lacks concreteness and the chronology they yield may be imprecise.
(ii) The uniqueness of personal experience makes generalisation difficult
(iii) A large picture cannot be built from such micro-evidence as one witness is no witness.
(iv) Oral accounts are concerned with tangential issues and are irrelevant to the unfolding of larger processes of history.
