The American Indian Oral History Manual: Making Many Voices Heard by Charles E. Trimble, Barbara W. Sommer, and Mary Kay Quinlan (review)

If oral history has a rich legacy of ethical considerations to conduct respectful research with narrators, certainly that attention to contextual knowledge, cultural sensitivity, protocol, and a relational approach are of utmost importance when conducting oral history projects with Indigenous peoples. These ethical principles start with the project preparation and continue beyond the completed project. The American Indian Oral History Manual: Making Many Voices Heard, therefore, equips oral history practitioners of projects mostly led by and for tribal communities with guidelines specific to the latter's interests. Situated in a context of colonial legacy where Indigenous peoples reappropriate representations, as Linda Smith brightly demonstrated within the research realm (Decolonizing Methodologies: Research and Indigenous peoples [London, UK: Zed Books, 2012]), this guide aims to "help make many voices heard," especially the voices that speak the words of an "immemorial line of oral historians" (7, 13).

As the collaborative effort underlying this manual embodies, eminent community developer Charles Trimble (Oglala Sioux), also founder of the American Indian Press Association, and oral historians Barbara Sommer and Mary Kay Quinlan, both actively involved in the Oral History Association (OHA), joined to provide a requested expanded version of their successful Native American Veterans Oral History Manual (Lincoln, NE: Nebraska Foundation for the Preservation of Oral History, 2005). Tested in workshops through the University of South Dakota's Institute of American Indian Studies, the guide initially equipped tribal organizations and colleges to conduct projects honoring their veterans in the context of the US Congress's Veterans History Project. The resulting volume timely fills the void of other methods texts that often obliviate the specialized needs of Indigenous oral history and thus perpetuate colonial dynamics in the interview process.

In line with an Indigenous paradigm, Trimble, Sommer, and Quinlan first contextualize oral history and its additional layers of meaning for peoples of oral tradition handed down through generations and who bear respect for the oral somewhat differently from word-driven cultures. Debunking popular beliefs along the way, the authors expose the main influential factors of the process that they coin archival oral history, namely the use of memory pertaining to collective ownership; the cultural rather than timely importance of myths and legends; who is allowed to tell, to hear, and to share sacred stories; sensitivity to diverse cultural needs and protocols (eg: the Ojibwe never tell a "winter story out of season"); space for traditional storytelling's structure and tense that may differ from standard interview format; a relational understanding of recordings and recorders, especially relevant given the urgency of cultural preservation; and sine qua non documentation of the interview context and preservation of intended meanings (18).

The manual's step-by-step guidelines unfold according to these principles and provide practical tips and tools including sample forms ready to use (legal release form, letter of agreement, et cetera). Insightful recorded material and methodological examples stemming from oral history projects with Indigenous elders and communities in Turtle Island (North America) are pertinent to any oral history practitioner and learner. Also included are selected sources like the First Archivists Circle and the American Indian Law Center portal and an appendix of OHA's "Evaluation Guidelines"—which might be updated with the "Principles and Best Practices for Oral History" in a future edition—as well as an extensive index.

The narrative tone encourages patience and dedication to pursue the project's objective despite the (probable) limitation of resources that may arise at some point, all delivered with an appropriate mix of humor. The chapter covering ethical and legal issues indeed begins with "How many people are in a Hopi family? Answer: a father, a mother, two children, and an...