“I Didn’t Do Anything Important”: A Pragmatist Analysis of the Oral History Interview

In the course of gathering oral histories from women who served in the Navy and Coast Guard during World War II, an unusual conversational pattern has emerged. The women almost invariably diminish the importance of their wartime contributions; a common refrain is “I didn’t do anything important.” Their individual experiences, as revealed during the interviews, belie that assertion. In this paper, I will use the women’s words to parse what is meant by this rhetorical move. Do the women really believe they did not do anything important? If so, why do they find it necessary to participate in the very public process of oral history, placing their names and life stories within the historical record? Considering both the content and the context of the women’s words from a feminist pragmatist philosophical base will help explain this seemingly incongruent act. This article demonstrates that the women do not really mean to belittle their life experiences (and military service), but instead are using the phrase as a way to acknowledge society’s expectations. The oral history interview, meanwhile, is used by the women to not only place their experience into the historical record but also to affirm the importance of their wartime work.