Learning to Listen: Exercises to Become a More Empathic Interviewer (Palgrave Studies in Oral History)

If the heart of oral history is the interview and the heart of the interview is listening, then how can we learn to listen, and how can we teach interviewers to listen with empathy? This book reframes listening from a natural talent to a teachable skill and presents a series of listening exercises the author created to teach students and other interviewers how to become better listeners. The exercises are suitable for people at various levels and can be used by anyone interested in improving their listening skills or teaching those skills in courses or workshops. The book also includes passages from students’ listening journals where they write about what they learned about listening from that exercise. In addition to offering insights into listening the journals serve as examples of how people can write their own listening journals. Other books describe ways to improve listening, but this one offers people a series of specific exercises designed to improve their listening skills.

Martha Norkunas is an Oral and Public Historian based in Austin, Texas. She was previously Professor of Oral and Public History at Middle Tennessee State University, and before this she directed ‘The Project in Interpreting the Texas Past' at the University of Texas at Austin, working with graduate students to create interpretive projects and oral histories about a broad range of people’s experiences. Norkunas has been the recipient of fellowships and grants from the American Council of Learned Societies, the National Endowment for the Humanities, the National Endowment for the Arts, the Houston Endowment, and other foundations. She received a national teaching award from the Oral History Association in 2018 and a university award for outstanding leadership and excellence in the field of experiential learning in 2023. She served on the board of the National Council on Public History, as co-chair of the Oral History Association’s International Committee from 2019-2026 and on the board of the International Oral History Association from 2016-2025. She is the author of books and articles about memory, landscape, monuments and the power of stories.