Redemptive Memory - by Fran Leeper Buss (Hardcover)

About the Book

This book, the culmination of the life's work of noted oral historian Fran Leeper Buss, combines interviews, memoir, theory, and analysis to explore the ways in which some women are able to redeem memories of traumatic experiences by going on to become social justice activists.

Book Synopsis

This powerful last work by pioneering oral historian Fran Leeper Buss examines how painful memories of traumatic experiences can be transformed into positive action for social good. In her more than 40 years gathering the life stories of working-class women, Buss found commonalities in the ways in which her subjects faced structural inequalities of race, class, and gender, as well as sufferings caused by poverty, child abuse, gun violence and war. Some of these women subsequently went on to become participants and leaders in a variety of movements for social change. In this wide-ranging book, Buss shows how her subjects employed storytelling, art, spirituality and other methods to create sense and meaning from traumatic memories and then make positive contributions to movements for labor rights, sanctuary for Central American refugees, gun violence prevention, peace, and other causes. Buss also relates her own story of medical malpractice and disability and discusses the work of historical and contemporary thinkers on the concepts underlying her ideas. She provides unique and original insights into how women who have endured great trauma are able to redeem their memories through communal action for a better world.

Review Quotes

"Renowned oral historian Fran Leeper Buss's posthumous work, ably edited by her longtime friend Miriam Davidson, demonstrates the healing power of recounting trauma via oral history testimony for both teller and listener .. Leeper Buss affirms the power of oral testimony to create human connection and reminds readers that the voices of the silenced must be heard. Essential [for] all readers." --CHOICE

About the Author

Fran Leeper Buss, Ph.D. (1942-2022), was an oral historian, educator, and author of Memory, Meaning and Resistance: Reflecting on Oral History and Women at the Margins.
Miriam Davidson is a journalist, author and editor whose works include Convictions of the Heart: Jim Corbett and the Sanctuary Movement (1988), Lives on the Line: Dispatches from the U.S.-Mexico Border (2000), and The Beloved Border: Humanity and Hope in a Contested Land (2021).