Orality, Affect, and Memory: Opportunities for Emergent Public Oral History in Asia

Abstract

The convergence of new and old media technologies invites a renewed focus on orality, and it also makes possible oral history goes public in Asia. In an embodied interview space, orality, affect, and memory interact. Public oral history in Asia is emergent and complex. This article explores that emergence, that complexity. With a selection of case analysis in Asian context, the study argues how public oral history has emerged as an affective engagement with the past, and how that engagement has actively shaped the public memories.