Jensen Joan M
History Dept., New Mexico State Univ.
Agric Hist. 2009 Fall;83(4):437-45. doi: 10.3098/ah.2009.83.4.437.
This article addresses the reticence of some farm women to share their experiences with historians and how that desire to keep secrets collides with the desire by scholars to tell the stories of these women. It argues that scholars must continue to struggle with the issue of which stories to tell publicly and which to keep private. The author discusses her own experience telling stories about rural women in the 1970s and the need to give voice to the heritage of rural women, especially of groups that have feared revealing their experiences. She offers examples of historians of rural women who have successfully worked with formerly silenced populations and urges historians to continue to tell stories about these lives, to reevaluate what has been already learned, to ask new questions, and to discuss which secrets need to be shared.
本文探讨了一些农场女性不愿与历史学家分享自身经历的问题，以及这种保守秘密的意愿与学者讲述这些女性故事的愿望之间的冲突。文章认为，学者们必须继续在公开讲述哪些故事以及哪些故事应保密的问题上努力。作者讲述了自己在20世纪70年代讲述农村女性故事的经历，以及让农村女性的遗产发声的必要性，特别是那些曾害怕透露自身经历的群体。她列举了一些成功与曾经保持沉默的群体合作的农村女性历史学家的例子，并敦促历史学家继续讲述这些人的生活故事，重新评估已有的研究成果，提出新问题，以及讨论哪些秘密需要公开。
