Final published version, 151 KB, PDF document
Available under license: CC BY-NC-ND: Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License
Final published version
Licence: CC BY-NC-ND: Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License
Research output: Contribution to Journal/Magazine › Journal article › peer-review
Research output: Contribution to Journal/Magazine › Journal article › peer-review
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TY - JOUR
T1 - Recording and remembering migration and mobility
T2 - how and why do recollections gained from oral history differ from entries in personal diaries
AU - Pooley, Colin
PY - 2022/8/4
Y1 - 2022/8/4
N2 - This paper uses diaries and oral history to assess the ways in which memory may alter accounts of migration and mobility. The diarist was born in Londonderry, Northern Ireland, and in 1938, at the age of 18, she migrated to London (England) to work as a typist for the Inland Revenue. Her detailed diaries provide a vivid account of her migration and her subsequent life and mobility in London. Some 60 years after she came to London the diarist was interviewed in her own home, and was asked about her recollections of migration and of her new life in London. The paper focuses on three themes: the initial migration from Londonderry to London, building a life and travel in London, and her continued links to Ireland. For the most part the diary entries and the oral history account are very similar. The main differences relate to the ways in which some aspects, especially those linked to fear and uncertainty, have changed over time, with some worries fading but others becoming more pronounced, and through the impact of later acquired knowledge changing the diarist’s interpretation of events. It is concluded that both diaries and oral history can provide reasonably reliable and consistent accounts of past migration and mobility.
AB - This paper uses diaries and oral history to assess the ways in which memory may alter accounts of migration and mobility. The diarist was born in Londonderry, Northern Ireland, and in 1938, at the age of 18, she migrated to London (England) to work as a typist for the Inland Revenue. Her detailed diaries provide a vivid account of her migration and her subsequent life and mobility in London. Some 60 years after she came to London the diarist was interviewed in her own home, and was asked about her recollections of migration and of her new life in London. The paper focuses on three themes: the initial migration from Londonderry to London, building a life and travel in London, and her continued links to Ireland. For the most part the diary entries and the oral history account are very similar. The main differences relate to the ways in which some aspects, especially those linked to fear and uncertainty, have changed over time, with some worries fading but others becoming more pronounced, and through the impact of later acquired knowledge changing the diarist’s interpretation of events. It is concluded that both diaries and oral history can provide reasonably reliable and consistent accounts of past migration and mobility.
KW - Diaries
KW - Oral History
KW - Migration
KW - Mobility
KW - Memory
KW - Ireland
KW - London
U2 - 10.23090/MH.2022.07.1.2.060
DO - 10.23090/MH.2022.07.1.2.060
M3 - Journal article
VL - 1
SP - 60
EP - 75
JO - Mobility Humanities
JF - Mobility Humanities
SN - 2799-8509
IS - 2
ER -