Social History Interview Project

Is it useful to ask the question, “Who am I?”

Is it useful to ask the question, “Who are we?”

Social History is an often-overlooked aspect to studying the human experience as a whole. Teachers, textbooks, school curricula, and even historians fall victim to the “Great Man Theory”, which makes the false assumption that all of history can largely be explained by the impact of great men or heroes. The problem with this kind of thinking is that it leaves out the even greater impact of social conditions and the normal, everyday people who helped to establish those.

Like the great sociologist and anthropologist of the nineteenth century, Herbert Spencer, your job will be to rectify this false assumption.

Interview three members of the community. These cannot be family members and they must be at least four years older than you. In choosing your three community members, try to diversify your selection (age, ethnicity, etc.) in order to get a broader understanding of our community.

In order to engage members of the community, ask questions that target their own personal history and identity. The following is a list of questions that would be important to ask in order to better understand your community member.

Questions:

1. What is your full name?2. On what date were you born?3. Place of birth (list of all the places you have lived)4. …ethnic background5. …your education6. …your job 7. …your family8. …your physical characteristics9. …your skills/abilities10. Have them write down a list of 10 things that identify them and put them in order of importance. 11. Do you see yourself differently than other people see you?12. If you could do it all again, what would you do differently, if anything?13. What is a dream of yours that you plan on making a reality?

This is by no means a complete list. If there are other questions that you deem important, by all means ask them! These questions are essentially a start to a mini-biography that you will write for all three of your community members. Each mini-biography should be 2 pages, double-spaced. For each interview, ask whether or not you can include a picture of them in their mini-biography.

After having written your three 2-page mini-biographies, you will write a one-page conclusion in which you connect all three members through any similarities or differences that they have. These can be life events, personality traits, shared passions, etc. Explain why your three community members should be learned about in history classes. As devil’s advocate, you will have to work hard to persuade me!