MasterClass with Alessandro Portelli | Retrieving the Past: Conversation with Sources

A world-renowned oral historian, Professor Alessandro Portelli discusses memory, oral history, nation building, and his own research during a Masterclass held on September 15, 2015 at the National Library in Pristina.

Public memory makes us feel good about ourselves, because it only talks about our heroes and how much we suffered at the hands of others, explains Portelli. But when we practice oral history to go back to the past, we uncover personal memory, or the individual stories that intersect the public narrative. We find the memory that hurts. It is the task of the oral historian to find where does it hurt and why.

Watch Portelli’s lecture and discussion here.