Silence is (not) an option

Silence occurs in every oral history interview and comes in many forms. For the narrator, its meanings are myriad. Historians also use it in many ways, however they often struggle themselves to navigate narrators’ silences. The wish to record complete stories might lead them to view what remains unspoken as a missed opportunity. This symposium will readdress these complexities of silence — a topic that has received new impetus in the wake of the MeToo movement, which has shown that breaking the silence has many meanings, much like silence itself.