The case for oral histories of neoliberal Africa

There has been a dearth of oral histories of work and earning a living in Africa, especially during the neoliberal period from the 1980s. Compared to scholarship published more than half a century ago, there seems to be a decline of the use of oral histories to explore the history of the living under capitalism, despite the acceptance of oral histories as an important source and methodology for reconstructing experiences of people. At the same time, the last few decades have seen unprecedented changes across the continent in the working lives of people across generations. Generating substantial bodies of oral historical accounts of working lives would offer invaluable and productive insights into these experiences of change. It would allow a critical analysis of neoliberalism at the incisive level of a person’s biography. This collection aims to address this gap. The introductory article serves three purposes. First, it provides the intellectual background to this collective intervention and discusses the usefulness of oral histories in the reconstruction of economic life under neoliberalism. Second, it provides a historiography of oral history covering debates and developments in anthropology and history. Third, it provides an overview of the seven articles – covering South Africa, Zimbabwe, Uganda, and South Sudan – that constitute this volume. Overall, our opening text is a call for the re-engagement with and use of oral histories to document, understand, and discuss work and life under capitalism.