Historia de la revista

Oral History emerged as an organised field in the mid-twentieth century, especially with the project launched by Allan Nevins at Columbia University in 1948, initially aimed at preserving the testimonies of public figures. Very soon, however, it ceased to be merely a technique for collecting the memories of elites and became a central tool in the renewal of social history. Its main problems were identified from the outset: the subjectivity of memory, silences, the distortion of recollection, the influence of the present on narration, and the weight of the relationship between interviewer and interviewee. Yet these very limits also became part of its value. Oral history not only makes it possible to recover facts absent from other sources, but also to access experiences, emotions, languages, identities and ways of shaping the past that written documents rarely capture. Its first major developments were linked to labour history, women’s history, the history of minorities, exile, war and subaltern subjects.

In Spain, its introduction came later, but it proved fundamental for the study of the recent past. Among the pioneering works, Ronald Fraser stands out unquestionably, as his book Recuérdalo tú y recuérdalo a otros brought together hundreds of testimonies on the Spanish Civil War and opened a decisive path in the systematic use of interviews to study the lived experience of the conflict. This collection was later deposited in the Arxiu Històric de la Ciutat de Barcelona. Alongside Fraser, Mercedes Vilanova played a central role in consolidating Oral History in Spain. In this process, the founding of the journal Historia y Fuente Oral in 1989, later renamed Historia, Antropología y Fuentes Orales, was crucial. The trajectory of HAFO was decisive because it provided stability to a space for methodological and theoretical debate, connected Spanish Oral History with international discussions, and opened the field to a broader dialogue with anthropology, sociology and gender studies. It was not merely a specialised journal, but a platform of academic legitimation for a way of doing history that still had to defend its place against more documentary and positivist traditions. At the same time, pioneering projects for the collection and preservation of testimonies and memories began to emerge in different territories. In addition to the Ronald Fraser collection, the role of Mercedes Vilanova and Cristina Borderías in Barcelona should be highlighted, as well as the Archivo de la Memoria of the Experiencia Moderna group, focused on preserving life stories and recent memories. In Galicia, an important precedent was HISTORGA, promoted by Isaura Varela, Marc Wounter and Xurxo Pantaleón at the Universidade de Santiago de Compostela, one of the first systematic Oral History efforts on recent Galician history. This was joined by other pioneering or very early projects, such as the Arxiu de la Paraula of the Museu de la Paraula and various university, trade union, local and memorial collections that expanded the use of testimonies in the study of the Civil War, Francoism, exile, the transition, and workers’ and neighbourhood memories. Although they were not always developed strictly under the label of “Oral History”, all of them helped to broaden the archive of experience and to legitimise testimony as a source of historical knowledge.

Despite this, and despite the growing use of oral sources by history, sociology, anthropology, social psychology and political science, Oral History in the Iberian sphere has not yet achieved the degree of institutional and disciplinary consolidation that it has reached elsewhere. In Latin America, for example, its development has been closely linked to the study of the margins of history, the memories of violence, decolonial approaches and the recovery of historically subalternised subjects. In the Anglo-Saxon world, meanwhile, it has achieved much stronger institutional consolidation, with associations, journals, archives and stable programmes for decades. Particularly important in this development has been the International Oral History Association, founded in 1996, whose aim has been to promote research, preservation and international exchange around Oral History, strengthening its transnational and interdisciplinary dimension.

It is precisely in this context, and in the face of the wide use of testimonies in Iberian historiography without the existence of a sufficiently solid and stable space to articulate this field, that this journal is born. Its purpose clearly connects with what Historia, Antropología y Fuentes Orales represented, but it also seeks to respond to the current challenges of research. The journal was established in 2026 through the Institute of Contemporary Studies, Politics and Governance, directed by Álvaro Ribagorda, and the Julio Caro Baroja Institute of Historiography, directed by Laura Branciforte, both at Universidad Carlos III de Madrid. Its creation is also linked to the impetus of the Iberian Oral History Network, a project initiated by Miren Llona in 2023. This network has been playing a central role in revitalising Oral History in the Iberian sphere, and its synergy with the initiative led by Francisco Leira, supported by both institutes, made the launch of the journal possible.

RIHO – Revista Interdisciplinar de Historia Oral thus emerges as a meeting place between disciplines and with a clear commitment to historiographical renewal. Its aim is to provide a space in which to learn about and discuss the main Oral History archive projects, teaching innovation initiatives working with interviews, memory and testimony, and the most relevant studies using oral sources in history, sociology, anthropology, social psychology or political science. In short, it seeks to strengthen a field that already exists in research practice, but which still requires greater institutional, methodological and editorial articulation in the Iberian sphere.