IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/crpeac/v19y2008i8p1346-1369.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Whose voice is it anyway? Rethinking the oral history method in accounting research on race, ethnicity and gender

Author

Listed:
  • Kim, Soon Nam

Abstract

Drawing on contemporary feminist and postcolonial writings, this paper endeavors to provide a critique of some underlying assumptions of the oral history method. The very methodology of the oral history method re-enforces hegemonic Western ideologies about race/ethnicity, gender and class perpetuated through the connection between the cultural identity of the speaker and the notion of authenticity as a ground for academic authority. Without recognizing the inherent subjectivities of the research methods we use, we may unwittingly perpetuate these hegemonic ideologies, despite our good intention. If other histories are to be heard, this bias and viewpoint needs to be challenged, not in a threatening way but in an enlightening way, so that the “Other” voices can tell their stories in a more, if not fully, liberated way.

Suggested Citation

  • Kim, Soon Nam, 2008. "Whose voice is it anyway? Rethinking the oral history method in accounting research on race, ethnicity and gender," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 19(8), pages 1346-1369.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:crpeac:v:19:y:2008:i:8:p:1346-1369
    DOI: 10.1016/j.cpa.2007.03.009
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1045235407000482
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.cpa.2007.03.009?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Dean Neu, 2001. "Banal Accounts: Subaltern Voices," Accounting Forum, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 25(4), pages 319-333, December.
    2. Jonsson, Sten & Macintosh, Norman B., 1997. "CATS, RATS, AND EARS: Making the case for ethnographic accounting research," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 22(3-4), pages 367-386.
    3. Derek Matthews, 2000. "Oral history, accounting history and an interview with Sir John Grenside," Accounting History Review, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 10(1), pages 57-83.
    4. Davis Hammond, Theresa, 1997. "From complete exclusion to minimal inclusion: African Americans and the public accounting industry, 1965-1988," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 22(1), pages 29-53, January.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Haynes, Kathryn, 2010. "Other lives in accounting: Critical reflections on oral history methodology in action," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 21(3), pages 221-231.
    2. Upton, David R. & Arrington, C. Edward, 2012. "Implicit racial prejudice against African-Americans in balanced scorecard performance evaluations," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 23(4), pages 281-297.
    3. Dambrin, Claire & Lambert, Caroline, 2012. "Who is she and who are we? A reflexive journey in research into the rarity of women in the highest ranks of accountancy," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 23(1), pages 1-16.
    4. Garry D. Carnegie & Christopher J. Napier, 2012. "Accounting's past, present and future: the unifying power of history," Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 25(2), pages 328-369, February.
    5. James, Kieran & Otsuka, Setsuo, 2009. "Racial biases in recruitment by accounting firms: The case of international Chinese applicants in Australia," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 20(4), pages 469-491.
    6. Xue, Qingmei & Zan, Luca, 2023. "The Chinese accounting profession in the People’s Republic: A preliminary understanding from an oral history perspective," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 94(C).
    7. Dillard, Jesse & Vinnari, Eija, 2017. "A case study of critique: Critical perspectives on critical accounting," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 43(C), pages 88-109.
    8. Vassili Joannides, 2011. "Apport de l’ethnicité à la culture en sciences de gestion," Revue Finance Contrôle Stratégie, revues.org, vol. 14(1), pages 33-68., March.
    9. Annisette, Marcia & Prasad, Ajnesh, 2017. "Critical accounting research in hyper-racial times," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 43(C), pages 5-19.
    10. Vassili Joannides, 2011. "Apports De L'Ethnicite A La Culture En Sciences De Gestion," Grenoble Ecole de Management (Post-Print) hal-00676555, HAL.
    11. James, Kieran, 2010. "“Who am I? Where are we? Where do we go from here?” Marxism, voice, representation, and synthesis," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 21(8), pages 696-710.
    12. Vassili Joannides, 2011. "Apports De L'Ethnicite A La Culture En Sciences De Gestion," Post-Print hal-00676555, HAL.
    13. Komori, Naoko, 2015. "Beneath the globalization paradox: Towards the sustainability of cultural diversity in accounting research," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 26(C), pages 141-156.
    14. Xue, Qingmei & Zan, Luca, 2022. "The Chinese accounting profession in the People’s Republic: A preliminary understanding from an oral history perspective," MPRA Paper 114407, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    15. Edgley, Carla & Sharma, Nina & Anderson-Gough, Fiona, 2016. "Diversity and professionalism in the Big Four firms: Expectation, celebration and weapon in the battle for talent," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 35(C), pages 13-34.
    16. Pianezzi, Daniela & Ashraf, Muhammad Junaid, 2022. "Accounting for ignorance: An investigation into corruption, immigration and the state," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 86(C).
    17. Rashedur Chowdhury, 2023. "Misrepresentation of Marginalized Groups: A Critique of Epistemic Neocolonialism," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 186(3), pages 553-570, September.
    18. Mohamad-Yusof, Nor Zalina & Wickramasinghe, Danture & Zaman, Mahbub, 2018. "Corporate governance, critical junctures and ethnic politics: Ownership and boards in Malaysia," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 55(C), pages 33-52.
    19. Hammond, Theresa & Streeter, Denise W. & Musundwa, Sedzani, 2022. "Using qualitative research to effect change: African/American accountants in Black and White," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 89(C).
    20. Walaa Wahid ElKelish*, 2023. "Accounting for Corporate Human Rights: Literature Review and Future Insights," Australian Accounting Review, CPA Australia, vol. 33(2), pages 203-226, June.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Hammond, Theresa & Clayton, Bruce M. & Arnold, Patricia J., 2012. "An “unofficial” history of race relations in the South African accounting industry, 1968–2000: Perspectives of South Africa's first black chartered accountants," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 23(4), pages 332-350.
    2. Haynes, Kathryn, 2010. "Other lives in accounting: Critical reflections on oral history methodology in action," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 21(3), pages 221-231.
    3. Sian, S., 2006. "Inclusion, exclusion and control: The case of the Kenyan accounting professionalisation project," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 31(3), pages 295-322, April.
    4. Mohammad Hudaib & Roszaini Haniffa, 2009. "Exploring auditor independence: an interpretive approach," Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 22(2), pages 221-246, January.
    5. Dambrin, Claire & Lambert, Caroline, 2012. "Who is she and who are we? A reflexive journey in research into the rarity of women in the highest ranks of accountancy," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 23(1), pages 1-16.
    6. Lehman, Glen, 2013. "Critical reflections on Laughlin's middle range research approach: Language not mysterious?," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 24(3), pages 211-224.
    7. Hall, Matthew, 2010. "Accounting information and managerial work," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 28539, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    8. Peter Ö. hman & Bo Söderberg & Stig Westerdahl, 2012. "Property investor behaviour: qualitative analysis of a very large transaction," ERES eres2012_376, European Real Estate Society (ERES).
    9. Annisette, Marcia, 2003. "The colour of accountancy: examining the salience of race in a professionalisation project," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 28(7-8), pages 639-674.
    10. Jeff Everett & Constance Friesen & Dean Neu & Abu Shiraz Rahaman, 2018. "We Have Never Been Secular: Religious Identities, Duties, and Ethics in Audit Practice," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 153(4), pages 1121-1142, December.
    11. Colin Dey, 2007. "Social accounting at Traidcraft plc," Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 20(3), pages 423-445, June.
    12. Stone, Dan N., 2001. "Accountant's tales," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 26(4-5), pages 461-470.
    13. Kelum Jayasinghe & Teerooven Soobaroyen, 2009. "Religious “spirit” and peoples' perceptions of accountability in Hindu and Buddhist religious organizations," Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 22(7), pages 997-1028, September.
    14. Vassili Joannides & Stéphane Jaumier, 2011. "Accounterability ou l'accountability par la bande," Grenoble Ecole de Management (Post-Print) hal-00645359, HAL.
    15. Jørgensen, Brian & Messner, Martin, 2010. "Accounting and strategising: A case study from new product development," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 35(2), pages 184-204, February.
    16. Vassili Joannides, 2012. "Accounterability and the problematics of accountability," Post-Print hal-00676561, HAL.
    17. Bryer, Alice Rose, 2014. "Participation in budgeting: A critical anthropological approach," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 39(7), pages 511-530.
    18. Ahrens, Thomas & Mollona, Massimiliano, 2007. "Organisational control as cultural practice--A shop floor ethnography of a Sheffield steel mill," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 32(4-5), pages 305-331.
    19. Dimnik, Tony & Felton, Sandra, 2006. "Accountant stereotypes in movies distributed in North America in the twentieth century," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 31(2), pages 129-155, February.
    20. Derek Matthews, 2002. "The use of the postal questionnaire in accounting history research," Accounting History Review, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 12(1), pages 113-129.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:crpeac:v:19:y:2008:i:8:p:1346-1369. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.journals.elsevier.com/critical-perspectives-on-accounting/ .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.