The sounds of corporate culture
The fundamental importance of oral history in understanding industrial evolution
Watching and listening, observing and understanding: different ways, in addition to reading, that nonetheless, and often more effectively, lead to a deeper understanding of human affairs, including those related to factories and offices, and those pertaining to one’s working life. This is the great contribution that all oral sources bring to history, though they need to be well comprehended and put to good use. Reading “Il lavoro tra fonti orali, sonore e musicali: lo stato dell’arte in Italia” (“Work and oral, acoustic and musical sources: the current state of play in Italy”), a research paper by Elisa Salvalaggio, can provide some guidance on the path undertaken by those who wish to gain a better grasp of industrial history.
The study is based on an assumption: oral history, i.e. people’s stories, allows to explore historical phenomena through the eyes of those who lived through them, with a focus on the protagonists’ subjective viewpoints – it means listening to the voice of experience. This leads to uncover different perspectives on events and places, different impressions that, taken all together, build a picture that more faithfully represents what really happened (or is happening). Here, sounds are understood as words that can provide the missing pieces to even the most comprehensive account of what went on. True oral culture, conveyed through narratives that, though not committed to paper, is nonetheless significant and leaves its mark. Stories that, in relation to workplaces, capture an important production and corporate culture that might otherwise get lost.
Elisa Salvalaggio writes that the value of this research method in terms of corporate history – which is indeed what her paper is about – allows to shed some light on less known areas and better understand the internal dynamics of work and production sites: the relationship between working and getting organised, professionalism and its connection with knowledge and understanding, culture, identity, social and familiar dimensions, different generational and gender viewpoints.
An innovative, though not new, way to build historical narratives that, in terms of production culture, may hold great significance – especially in our era of social networks and new technical and cultural knowledge tools.
Il lavoro tra fonti orali, sonore e musicali: lo stato dell’arte in Italia (“Work and oral, acoustic and musical sources: the current state of play in Italy”)
Salvalaggio Elisa, in LabOral: storia orale, lavoro e public history, 2022 – editpress
The fundamental importance of oral history in understanding industrial evolution
Watching and listening, observing and understanding: different ways, in addition to reading, that nonetheless, and often more effectively, lead to a deeper understanding of human affairs, including those related to factories and offices, and those pertaining to one’s working life. This is the great contribution that all oral sources bring to history, though they need to be well comprehended and put to good use. Reading “Il lavoro tra fonti orali, sonore e musicali: lo stato dell’arte in Italia” (“Work and oral, acoustic and musical sources: the current state of play in Italy”), a research paper by Elisa Salvalaggio, can provide some guidance on the path undertaken by those who wish to gain a better grasp of industrial history.
The study is based on an assumption: oral history, i.e. people’s stories, allows to explore historical phenomena through the eyes of those who lived through them, with a focus on the protagonists’ subjective viewpoints – it means listening to the voice of experience. This leads to uncover different perspectives on events and places, different impressions that, taken all together, build a picture that more faithfully represents what really happened (or is happening). Here, sounds are understood as words that can provide the missing pieces to even the most comprehensive account of what went on. True oral culture, conveyed through narratives that, though not committed to paper, is nonetheless significant and leaves its mark. Stories that, in relation to workplaces, capture an important production and corporate culture that might otherwise get lost.
Elisa Salvalaggio writes that the value of this research method in terms of corporate history – which is indeed what her paper is about – allows to shed some light on less known areas and better understand the internal dynamics of work and production sites: the relationship between working and getting organised, professionalism and its connection with knowledge and understanding, culture, identity, social and familiar dimensions, different generational and gender viewpoints.
An innovative, though not new, way to build historical narratives that, in terms of production culture, may hold great significance – especially in our era of social networks and new technical and cultural knowledge tools.
Il lavoro tra fonti orali, sonore e musicali: lo stato dell’arte in Italia (“Work and oral, acoustic and musical sources: the current state of play in Italy”)
Salvalaggio Elisa, in LabOral: storia orale, lavoro e public history, 2022 – editpress