Oral History and Public History on a Neighbourhood Scale Reflections on Some Research and Training Experiences in Rome

The article proposes some reflections on the contribution that oral history and public history can make to the production, dissemination and sharing of knowledge in the field of contemporary city studies. The chosen point of observation is Rome, and the recent experience of the schools of oral history and public history in the metropolitan landscape promoted by the Italian Association of Oral History (AISO) between 2022 and 2024 will be discussed. Applied at the neighbourhood scale, oral history and public history can perform at least two important functions: they create, collect and organise sources available for research and the public; they enable the construction of participatory paths aimed at deepening collective historical knowledge.

KEYWORDS:
Oral history; public history; suburbs