Let women speak for themselves: Tracing Cultural Roots

Author: Li Xiaojiang, Editor-in-Chief
Publisher:
Publication Date: 2003-01-01
Features: Women's history and oral history have a natural alliance. Oral history methods are not unique to women's studies, and the use of oral history did not begin with women's history, but it has been particularly favored by female scholars and widely used by feminist historians. This is because oral history complements and corrects traditional historiography, uncovering the silenced groups (such as women, ethnic minorities, and the lower classes) and their unheard voices (about private emotions, life experiences, etc.), making it possible for history to record a more complete "human" and ordinary history. Women were once "unrecorded in history," and the historical "silence of women" in academia made women's history research start with "breaking the silence" and "letting women speak." Almost simultaneously (in the mid-20th century), the two movements advanced side by side, becoming comrades-in-arms in the modern historiographical reform movement. "Letting women speak for themselves" is the basic principle of constructing women's history; giving voice to "women's voices" carries both political and academic missions in today's society. Recovering and reconstructing women's history is not only a need for historiography but also a necessary cornerstone for women to reclaim themselves, establish autonomy, and build confident lives. In this regard, overseas feminist scholars have already produced a wealth of research. These studies advocate starting from women's perspectives and analyzing materials with a female lens, "placing women at the center of history to study them, reconstructing the voices and perspectives of women who have long been ignored, and challenging the traditional, male-dominated historiography." Conducting women's oral history on the land of mainland China is because our society and our historiography face similar issues. For a long time, women have been perceived as a social minority, their discourse rights and abilities have been ignored, and their voices have rarely been attended to by academia, especially by historians. Therefore, in our context, uncovering and recording women's historical experiences and their voices have become an important part of constructing women's history. However, it must be noted: this "series" is not strictly "women's history" in the conventional sense; it merely expresses women's historical memories and feelings through "women's voices," offering "women's interpretations" of familiar historical events and cultural phenomena, and attempting to prove women's existence through female narratives, providing historiography with a new perspective and multiple avenues for reflection. This series records women's experiences but is not entirely "feminist historiography." It has no intention of uncovering women's special contributions or excessively promoting women's rights; instead, it seeks to extract women's experiences from the "grand narrative of history" and examine how women responded to issues such as nationality, class, politics, economy, and culture during significant historical changes. It cannot be denied that feminist historiography has posed a powerful challenge to the traditionally male-centered historiography, clearing the path for the construction of women's history and the reconstruction of historiography—but feminist historiography alone is not enough; it is insufficient as the entire foundation for constructing "history," let alone the sole cornerstone for women's history. Recognizing this clearly is of great importance to our "women's oral history" project. Participants in the "20th Century (China) Women's Oral History" project largely share the consensus that the academic concerns of female scholars should not only be for women but also for history. For women who were once "unrecorded in history," reclaiming women's history is both a responsibility and an obligation, but women have never existed in isolation. Women's suffering and women's liberation are merely parts of the "big history," and women's voices are echoes of the "history"—they cannot transcend their time and stand out on their own. Particularly for Chinese women, over the past century on this land, in addition to their suffering, there have been heavy national and familial hardships; above "women's rights," there have been pressing issues of class oppression for national survival; and within "gender equality," there are indeed critical issues of political democracy and economic poverty for the entire society. In this regard, Chinese women have made their own historical responses: they are grand and expansive, far beyond feminist perspectives, regardless of how you inspire or guide them. They are more "national" and "social" than purely "female"—if we confine them within the framework of feminist understanding, we may also or misinterpret their voices.