Sample interview questions: What role does archival research play in your work as an ethnohistorian?
Sample answer:
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Provides Contextual Understanding: Archival research helps to provide a broader understanding of the historical context within which people’s lives and cultures unfolded, enabling a more accurate interpretation of their experiences.
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Reveals Diverse Perspectives: Archival sources often contain multiple perspectives on the same event or issue, allowing researchers to triangulate information and obtain a more comprehensive and nuanced understanding.
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Uncovers Hidden Narratives: Archival sources can uncover hidden narratives that have been marginalized or obscured in official accounts, offering insights into the experiences of marginalized groups and shedding light on historical processes that shaped them.
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Provides Historical Depth: Archival research allows researchers to examine events and issues over time, tracing their evolution and transformation, and providing a sense of historical continuity and change.
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Identifies Cultural Continuities and Discontinuities: Archival sources can help scholars identify cultural continuities and discontinuities, allowing them to understand how cultural practices, beliefs, and traditions change over time.
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Preservation and Conservatio… Read full answer