About this project and the prevalence of purple hair at Hollins...
Over past semester, I interviewed a member of the Hollins University staff who has worked at the University for over twenty years.
We met three times for interviews in the snack bar. Each interview lasted between 50 and 65 minutes. After each interview, I took some time to write down my thoughts about the experience. Then I transcribed all of the interviews which had been recorded on a tape player. Unfortunately during the first interview the tape player cut off after the first fifteen minutes of the hour long interview. I asked some of these questions again in the second interview.
After finishing the transcriptions, we talked about what she would like to have on the website and how she would like me to present her final self narrative. We decided that I would take out my questions, combine the interviews into somewhat chronological order, remove repetitions, and delete certain words like "umm" and "you know?" Parts of the different interviews that dealt with the same topic were combined so that the final narrative would be more coherent and easier to read. All of the names were changed and details about the interviewee's job at Hollins were omitted at her request.
During the process, I learned some about how anthropologists do life histories (ah, the point of the class!). I also learned about listening and the importance of asking people how they feel about their experiences. Most of all, I enjoyed learning about Dorie's life.
She has taught be many things about the history of Hollins, travel to interesting places, dating in the 1950's, race relations in southwest Virginia and purple hair at Hollins.