Oral Histories, Public Engagement, and the Making of Positive in Prison

How might creative practices surrounding oral history contribute to public engagement and to historical research itself? These questions are considered here through a reflective account of the making of the audio drama Positive in Prison: HIV Stories from a Dublin Jail. Positive in Prison is based on oral histories of HIV/AIDS in the Republic of Ireland, gathered in 2016–17 as part of the Wellcome Trust-funded project ‘Prisons, Medical Care and Entitlement to Health in England and Ireland, 1850–2000’. This piece reviews the processes and practical considerations behind the making of the audio drama and its associated launch events, alongside a summary of the history of HIV/AIDS and of prisons that was being produced and shared. It also offers reflections on the advantages and disadvantages of this particular project in relation to public engagement, the uses of oral histories, and creative history-telling.