The second in a new series of posts, in which we share some people who have inspired us, and whose work we appreciate. They may be of the now, of the past, of video, audio, photography or words. But they all have one thing in common: their work has moved us, taught us, and inspired our work. And for that we thank them.
All content below is © Tony Parker or relevant publishers.
It’s not often I start a post with a U2 song.
It was that song, and this guy below, Studs Terkel (who we’ll hear more about in a future post):
Those two combining helped me find Tony Parker.
I was wondering who a British equivalent of Studs was - an oral historian who reported the realities of everyday people - and stumbled on Tony Parker. And specifically this book:
Because when I saw that Tony Parker had written a book called Red Hill: A Mining Community, it reminded me of that U2 song above. And of course, on looking into it, I found out the U2 song was inspired by the book.
And what a book it is…
Red Hill: A Mining Community is a selection of interviews with participants in and around an anonymised mining town a couple of years after the Miners’ Strike of 1984/5.
It’s a strike that holds a big interest for me for multiple reasons.
The book is incredibly rich and reads as part historical text (which it is) and part ‘ensemble movie’ (if that’s the best term) - with each participant getting an equal billing alongside the next.
He chats to miners who were part of the strike, scabs, wives and families of miners, and other associated people in one town in the North East of England.
He had all sorts of methods to make the recorded conversation as smooth and pleasant and comfortable as possible. He would try to sit at a vantage point in which the other person was higher than him. He would act as a luddite, feigning how to work a tape recorder (which was placed conspicuously) and asking the other person to hit a button that would make the device record. And at any time, he told them they could press this other button—the “pause”—to stop recording. During these sessions, Parker would remain still and listen intently, only ever so slightly nudging the other person with a well-phrased question.
(From here)
I’m typically a bit militant when it comes to reporting reality. As I’ve mentioned before, we don’t edit, direct or crop photography (unless when there’s a very specific need) and we apply minimal editing to our transcripts or audio.We have a responsibility to the participant to reflect their realities as authentically and as truthfully as possible, and we take that responsibility seriously.
And when you get a raw transcript, there are errors, repetition of speech and all the “uhms” and “ahs” you’d expect. It doesn’t flow gracefully, or read easily.
… but Tony Parker’s books do.
They are beautiful in the way they represent the truths of the participants. It’s clear editing has taken place, but only to improve the reading experience and never to alter the reality that is being reported.
The way Red Hill is written is incredible.
Each interview has a title that frames the subsequent pages:
And then there’s a description of the environment where the interview takes place:
I find this incredibly rich.
A lot of ethnographic output is photography or video - mediums that provoke many questions, but also deliver many answers. You can see reality playing out in front of you.
But Tony’s descriptions above mean you have to use your imagination more than moving image. You picture the scene. You piece together the fashion of the time, the interior decorations, the sounds, the smells of the time. And the accents too.
Your experience of reading that description above, then reading a few sentences from the participant will be different to mine. Yet they’re both the reality Tony is expressing.
Of course Tony isn’t the speaker, he’s the reporter. He’s not saying the words, he’s enabling and encouraging the participant to share their words. His job is in the lubrication of the conversation, the reordering and editing of the spoken word. His job carries the same responsibility we have to deliver an authentic representation of what was said, whilst also making it engaging and interesting.
Look at that paragraph above. There’s so much going on in there. It poses so many questions and observations. The language that’s used. The accent it was spoken in. The link to her mam and dad via physical places. How her and her sister are “totally different in every way” - and what that means for their relationship.
The written word is painting a picture in our minds, and posing questions and provocations.
Tony’s descriptions are incredibly evocative:
And it’s amazingly personal, emotive, moving paragraphs like the ones above that I’ll remember. Words on a page that express someone’s soul so well it’s moving.
In the U2 song “Red Hill Mining Town” there are some lyrics:
Love, slowly stripped away,
Love, has seen its better day
When you read the personal accounts of people who have lived through the strike, those words carry extra meaning… they hit harder.
Simply beautiful.
This book has inspired me no end. Inspired me to read more of his oral histories, and inspired me to experiment with methodologies too.
This is next up:
So, to Tony, we say thank you.