The articles in this special issue of the South African Historical Journal are organized into two clusters. Following the introduction by Sean Field, the first three articles challenge key aspects of the methodologies of oral history research, dissemination and audiovisual archiving. Sean Field outlines the conception of oral history being constructed by ‘dialogues about memory’. Pascale Neuschfer looks at the similarities and divergence between audiovisual and artistic ways of disseminating oral histories. Renate Meyer explores constructions of collective memory in archival collections. The second cluster of articles explores different aspects of identity formation, with reference to different communities or groups that have experienced forced displacement from their homes. Meritt Buyer recorded 17 interviews with Somali refugees in Cape Town. Ammaarah Kamish deals with coloured and black identities of residents forcibly removed from the Blouvlei community, Cape Town, c. 1958. Gerard Ralphs approaches Langa, the oldest African township in Cape Town, locates oral history work in the context of the ‘post colony’ and sketches the emergence of postapartheid museums. [ASC Leiden abstract]
