Exploring New Uses of Recorded Interviews: Call for Contributions from Early-Career Researchers Utilizing Audio or Audiovisual Sources in Their Work

Sonorités of AFAS, the French association for sound, oral and audiovisual documents, is launching a new call for papers exploring the new uses of recorded surveys, aimed at young researchers who use sound or audiovisual sources in their research. The issue is edited by Rémy Besson (Université de Montréal), Florence Descamps (EPHE – Université PSL), Véronique Ginouvès (UAR 3125 – Maison méditerranéenne des sciences de l’homme).

Call text in French / Texte de l’appel en langue française

Since Philippe Joutard’s 1979 call, “Historians, to your microphones!”¹, oral and audiovisual sources have become a fixture in the academic landscape alongside films, still images, and web archives used in research. While these sources have been somewhat integrated into scholarly work, their scientific contribution remains underappreciated in academic publications, where it is often difficult to gauge the impact these sources have had on research. Frequently relegated to the status of supplementary material or illustrations, how is their contribution to knowledge recognized? Do orality and sound play a substantive role in the knowledge-construction process?

Much like the “historian-ogre” image evoked by Marc Bloch², many contemporary historical narratives emphasize testimonies, experiences, and the individual. In this context, the next issue of Sonorités is directed at early-career researchers and PhD candidates, across all disciplines, who have chosen to use oral or audiovisual sources in their work, both in France and internationally. The goal is to share the richness of this method and explore how these sources have enhanced their arguments throughout the writing of their thesis. In a few words: What role do sound or audiovisual recordings play in research? The Sonorités editorial team invites you to answer this question by concretely presenting the various facets and uses of oral sources in your scientific approach.

To this end, we propose to explore four main areas:

• Why did you choose to use oral or audiovisual sources?
• What methods were implemented?
• What are the challenges associated with automatic transcription and annotation tools?
• How have these sources contributed to the construction of your knowledge and the enrichment of your thesis work?

Submission Guidelines

The contribution proposal should be sent as an abstract of no more than 500 words, in either French or English, in a Word document; in Times New Roman, font size 12, single line spacing. It should include the title and five keywords. Additionally, it should include the author(s)’ full names, affiliations, and email addresses. Bibliography guidelines and writing protocol are outlined here : https://journals.openedition.org/afas 2451

Selection Criteria:

• Significance of empirical materials and fieldwork.
• Explanation of the specific contributions of oral sources to understanding the subject.

Calendar:

Abstracts are to be sent no later than December 20, 2024, to the following address: contactafas@gmail.com

Expected publication in 2025

 

Credits : Janet Cardiff, Fourty part Motet, 2001, 40 track audio installation, 14min 7s, Inhotim, 2023, photogr. Véronique Ginouvès, CC-BY-NC.

1. Joutard Philippe, « Historiens, à vos micros. Le document oral, une nouvelle source pour l’histoire », L’Histoire, 12, 1979, p. 106‑113, p. 106‑113. [↩]
2. Bloch Marc, Apologie pour l’histoire ou Métier d’historien, Paris, Armand Colin, 1997. [↩]

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