It gets me upset talking about the Royal Albert: collaborative analysis of the ethics of an oral history project

An ongoing oral history project at the University of Cumbria seeks to uncover the lived experiences of people with learning difficulties who lived at the Royal Albert Hospital. A recently made video exposed the apparent distress this caused one of the participants. Ethical discussions about the project reached a point of being ‘stuck’. The ethical dilemma was presented at the Collaborative Action Research Network conference in 2009, and the ensuing discussion with conference participants produced a rich, collaborative unpicking of the issues. Problems of power, multiple discourse, historical relationships and ethical fluidity emerged. Analysis of the praxis of the project – that is, ways of thinking, doing and saying – suggests different ways of progressing.