New Digital Edition

Words and Silences Volume 7, Number 1,

July 2015

Dear reader,

After a period of restructuration, we are delighted to welcome you to the new digital edition of Words and Silences. Throughout this time we have gone through some troubles in the transition to the journal’s new digital edition, but we are convinced that what we have learned from this process of adaptation has not been in vain, and thus we will be able to offer new issues of this journal every six months.

In this edition we have included articles dealing with oral history’s theoretical and methodological matters. Laurent Douzou, while focusing on the French context, encourages us to reflect on an issue ever-present in our debates: the status of oral testimonies as a historical source and oral history’s position in relation to history as a discipline. Following this concern with theoretical reflection, Albert Lichtblau offers a suggestive text dedicated to the use of audiovisual resources and the new possibilities and perspectives they open to the making and interpretation of interviews. The next section holds two different works referring to the always-fascinating indigenous world of South America. The first one, written by David Carey, focuses on analyzing the problems that arise during the investigation through different existing languages and, above all, by the use and meaning that these acquire in local contexts. Dwelling further into this matter, Carlos Bení­tez text explores the identity tensions emerged from the Kichwa people, from the Ecuadorian Amazon, as a consequence of globalization’s cultural influence in the region. We have included a text written by Liz Dore to close up this edition, where she comments from an ethical and personal perspective concrete aspects of an investigation project of Cuba.

Before giving way to the new edition, which we hope you find compelling, we would like to thank the staff that has made this edition possible, as well as our most sincere gratitude to the new and diverse team of collaborators that have taken part in this edition, for their willingness and professionalism. Moreover, we would also want to thank Mexicos Instituto Mora, for the excellent and selfless work they put into the translations. Lastly, we urge our members to keep collaborating in the next issues by sending new articles in. We wish you a good summer and long to come back this winter with a new edition of Words and Silences.

Best wishes,
David Beorlegui.
Christina Landsman.