This section presents a selection of fieldwork projects which are being conducted by the Public Memory Archive. Each of the following five chosen research topics consist of a mix of excerpts from oral history recordings, accompanied by visuals – mainly photos and sample ephemera – which are deposited in their respective collections.
These sample research projects should provide a clear view of the methodology employed in all our projects and the way we try to understand the interlacing, or cross-over, of personal memories with socially-shared and public memories. They should also make clear the research strategy adopted by the Public Memory Archive which privileges those usually hidden from history, whose voices and life experiences have been neglected, forgotten or repressed: the labouring poor, working class women, the fisher folk, the ill and hospitalised, and those whose numbers are declining rapidly – such as the village folk healers and neighbourhood story tellers. Excerpts have been translated in English (usually from Maltese) with a wider audience in mind, although translation does not come without a loss of the subtle meanings which usually impregnates the native language.
