Each year, Fondazzjoni Nanniet Malta, a foundation set up to give a voice and recognition to grandparents for their sterling contribution to Maltese society, attends its annual ‘Grandparents’ Parliament’ in the chamber of the House of Representatives.
In addition to drawing attention to the important role played by grandparents, especially where child-care was concerned, it also was an opportunity to lament the inexplicable way some grandparents were abandoned by relatives and not allowed to see their grandchildren when they could no longer offer such support.
But the highlight of the discussion with parliamentarians was a proposal made by Ray Mangion, the head of the Legal History and Methodology Department at the University of Malta, that a new law should be introduced under which the memories of elderly people could be documented to produce an oral history.
He said that parts of Malta’s history risked remaining undiscovered because there was at present no legal structure to cater for the collection of memories and documents from elderly people. He called for the introduction of a Collective Memory Act that would provide a legal framework to collect these memories, recounting how some years ago he had been carrying out research in an old people’s home when he talked to an elderly man who gave him a vivid account of the introduction of electricity to Malta.
Oral history is first-hand evidence that offers a substantial record of the past. The role of oral history is to fill gaps in evidence and secure history that may be at risk. It brings new perspectives and challenges our views of the past, giving voice to those people who may have been excluded from traditional records. It documents traditions and stories passed down from generation to generation, recording the changing and enduring culture of a place or community.
Primitive societies, like the Aborigines in Australia or the Innuit in Canada, have long relied on oral tradition to preserve a record of the past in the absence of written histories. In western society, the use of oral material goes back to the early Greek historians.
Oral histories have been described as “the first kind of history”, gathering the study of historical information about individuals, families, important events or everyday life using audiotapes, videotapes or transcriptions of planned interviews. These interviews are conducted with people who participated in or observed past events and whose memories and perceptions of them are to be preserved as an aural record for future generations. For example, following the Holocaust, there has emerged a rich tradition of oral history, particularly of Jewish survivors.
As Malta’s rapid rate of change and transformation accelerates, the concept of introducing oral history archives in Malta is one well worth pursuing. It is technically relatively easy, and not expensive, to introduce.
Where should responsibility for running it reside? There are strong arguments for academe to lead on this project and that would point to the University of Malta to take responsibility and leadership of it. Alternatively, there may be a good case to link the project to one of the museums or, more aptly, the National Archives. Unless a specific organisation takes ownership and is given the relatively modest manpower and other resources to run it, this excellent idea will not get off the ground.