Oral History as a Social Tool for National Transformation

Abstract

Oral history, as documentary heritage, is a general trio umbrella term to refer to a collection of cultural heritage (content), genres (form), and practices of people (oral traditions). Such heritage includes collections in memory institutions (museums, libraries, archives) in such formats as books and manuscripts and oral history selected based on time, place, people, subject and theme, form, and style. As a collective property, oral history tells people’s history and helps the present generation to understand their place in history as a way of promoting societal integration and a driver of socioeconomic growth and transformation. One strategy to aid society transformation is using oral history as a social tool for understanding individual experiences, within a specific historical, cultural and social and individual testimony experience to transform the society. Using a systematic review, the article’s literature on oral history addresses the classical, colonial, and contemporary reminiscences. Echoing on the global opportunities on documentary heritage, the article illuminates the African agenda on oral history with specific examples from Uganda. Using the foundational principle of the seven spheres of influences of transformation of society, the article exposes the place of oral history as a social tool for national transformation.