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Oral History Project The subject that I have chosen to write the oral history essay on is my dad, Mr Mohamed Ali. This essay will analyse the oral history interview transcript and will also discuss the strengths and weaknesses of oral history when compared with other forms of historical material. This essay is based on the oral history interview which I undertook on the 11/04/03 with Mr M Ali at his home. The interview was conducted in Arabic, so therefore the translated transcript is not an absolute word for word translation, but the most completed that I was able to produce. “a life story or biographical approach is best in which an interviewee is encouraged to relate their life chronologically beginning with family background, childhood, religion, working life and later family life” (Perks 1992, p14) I think to begin to have a clearer understanding and to place the whole interview in context it is always advisable to begin the interview with the subject’s background. The Branston and Stafford (1999, p233) suggestion is that personal identity and the background interpretation of the ordinary individual could raise new and important information in an oral interview.