Review: Melanie Ilic and Dalia Leinarte (eds), The Soviet past in the post-Socialist present: methodology and ethics in Russian, Baltic and Central European oral history and memory studies, Routledge Approaches to History, Routledge, 2016. 257 pages. ISBN (hbk) 9781138933453.

Review: Melanie Ilic and Dalia Leinarte (eds), The Soviet past in the post-Socialist present: methodology and ethics in Russian, Baltic and Central European oral history and memory studies, Routledge Approaches to History, Routledge, 2016. 257 pages. ISBN (hbk) 9781138933453.

This edited collection is an important addition to thinking through oral history methodology in former communist states. In her introduction, Melanie Ilic sets out the standard ethnic guidelines for oral history practitioners, and notes that the book’s contributors had to move beyond, and sometimes even question, basic principles of good practice. In post-Soviet and post-socialist contexts, one of the key issues is the perceived gap between ‘insider’ and ‘outsider’ knowledge, with ‘insiders’ seen to speak the same language as their respondents. This can moreover be complicated by complaints of ‘insider’ bias, and set against superior ‘outsider’ historical research. These questions are inherent in many oral history projects, as are issues of consent, anonymity and disclosure. The case studies presented here are not only pertinent to respondents living in post-Soviet and post-socialist societies, but to any oral history practitioner grappling with ethical and methodological issues that arise during the research process.

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