In this post, OHMA student Steve Fuchs (2016) explores the role oral history plays in helping sociologists better understand social movements. This article is the first in a three-part series exploring Terrell Frazier’s recent OHMA Workshop Series lecture, “Becoming an Organizer: Narrative, Identity and Social Action.”
Read MorePresenting History in Political Limitation: Disciplines and the Truth
In this post, current OHMA student Yutong Wang (2016) discusses her perspectives on being a historian and how politics influence historical revisionism. This article is the second in a two-part series exploring Dr. Leslie Robertson’s recent OHMA Workshop Series lecture, “Devalued Subjectivities: Disciplines, Voices and Publics.”
Read MoreThe Politics of (Mis)recognition
Robertson shows a slide of a photograph of anthropologist Franz Boaz in which she points out how Boaz was “literally holding up a blanket to cover a white picket fence behind him.” By covering the fence, Boaz tried to recreate the world he imaged, a wilderness perhaps, before European contact. By contextualizing her voice and the voices of the people involved in the representation of Cook, Robertson’s approach offered guidance as to how understanding forms of social knowledge within politically and culturally sensitive contexts is essential to how we see ourselves in relation to one another.
In this post, OHMA student Elyse Blennerhassett (2016) discusses how Dr. Leslie Robertson’s community-generated and collaborative methodologies inform her own practice in working with communities who are politically marginalized and stigmatized in the criminal justice system. This article is the first in a two-part series exploring Dr. Robertson’s recent OHMA Workshop Series lecture, “Devalued Subjectivities: Disciplines, Voices and Publics.”
Read MoreWhere Do We Go From Here? The Rise of Walmart and the Retail Experience in the United States
In this last post in our three-part series, OHMA student Sara Jacobs discusses Adam Reich’s recent OHMA Workshop Series lecture, “The Summer for Respect: Student Activists, Walmart Workers, and the Future of the American Labor Movement” and the echoes she heard in the stories told by her mother.
Read MoreSummer for Respect: How Does Difference Shape the Dialogue?
In this post, current OHMA student Xiaoyan Li (2016) reflects on how the difference between elite students and Walmart workers shapes the dialogue between them, and how the organizers observe this and put it into words. This article is the second in a three-part series exploring Adam Reich’s recent OHMA Workshop Series lecture, “The Summer for Respect: Student Activists, Walmart Workers, and the Future of the American Labor Movement.”
Read MoreJumping The Ropes: Tackling Walmart Through Oral History
In this post, OHMA student Eylem Delikanli (2015) explores the potential of oral history to provide labor organizers with powerful tools for mobilizing. This article is the first in a three-part series exploring Adam Reich’s recent OHMA Workshop Series lecture, “The Summer for Respect: Student Activists, Walmart Workers, and the Future of the American Labor Movement.”
Read MoreThinking Beyond Our Discipline: The Benefits Of Expanding Our Ideas.
In this post, Heather Michael shares insight from an OHMA Workshop Series presentation by Dr. Mindy Fullilove on her work on situation analysis. Heather explores how Dr. Fullilove’s work illustrates what it means to research through interdisciplinary approaches and raises questions for future researchers to consider.
Read MoreOHMA Alumni Updates: Spring 2017
We are excited to share a round of spring news updates from our Oral History MA program alumni community!
Read MoreSeeking Adjunct Instructor for Spring 2018 | Human Rights & Oral History: Testimony, Memory, and Trauma
OHMA is thrilled to announce that we are seeking an adjunct to teach a Spring 2018 seminar, "Human Rights & Oral History: Testimony, Memory, and Trauma," offered jointly with the Institute for the Study of Human Rights. This course will provide an introduction to the use of oral history methods in the context of human rights work, with a specific focus on ‘dealing with the past.’
Read MoreSeeking Adjunct Instructor for Fall 2017 | Oral History, Visual Storytelling, and Documentary Production
OHMA is excited to announce that we are seeking an adjunct to teach a Fall 2017 seminar class on Oral History, Visual Storytelling, and Documentary Production!
Read MoreWith Blood, Sweat, and Tears: The Making of Peoplehood and Home
In this post, current OHMA students Robin Miniter (2016) and Shira Hudson (2016) reflect on the history of urban squatters on the Lower East Side after Amy Starecheski’s recent OHMA Workshop Series lecture. Through interviews with members of the current OHMA cohort, they explore what it takes to make a space feel like home.
Read MoreOHMA Co-Director Mary Marshall Clark Wins 2017 Forrest C. Pogue Award!
Mary Marshall Clark teaching prospective OHMA students and emerging oral historians at the recent One-Day Oral History Training Workshops at Columbia University. Photo credit: Emma Courtland.
Congratulations to OHMA Co-Director and Columbia Center for Oral History Research Director, MARY MARSHALL CLARK, on being awarded the 2017 Forrest C. Pogue Award from Oral History in the Mid-Atlantic Region! Mary Marshall has served on the OHMAR Board and is a lifetime member of the organization.
Read MoreThank You For Making Our One-Day Oral History Training Workshops a Success!
On behalf of the Oral History Master of Arts Program at Columbia University, thank you to the emerging and established oral historians who made our One-Day Oral History Training Workshops on Saturday, January 28 such a huge success.
Read MoreThe Liberation of Oral History: A Little History and A Lot of Work
In this post, Mary Marshall Clark—Director of the Columbia Center for Oral History Research, Co-Director of OHMA, and Senior Member of the Columbia University Institutional Review Board—reflects on the recent update to the Federal Policy for the Protection of Human Subjects, which has clarified the exclusion of oral history from its research review mandates.
Read MoreMy Deplorable Friend
In this inauguration season post, OHMA alum Jonathon Fairhead (2015) writes about applying skills he learned as an oral historian to listen deeply to a friend whose political perspectives he does not align with and as a path to understanding a country divided.
Read MoreWhy Are These Stories Worth Telling?: Reflections on ‘Below the Grid’ (Part III)
Oral historian Ron Grele (Director Emeritus, Oral History Research Office) engaging in discussion at Jack Tchen's recent OHMA Workshop Series lecture.
In this post, current OMHA student Yutong Wang (2016) explores how oral histories can be both meaningful and impactful to public audiences.
This article is the final piece in a three-part series exploring Jack Kuo Wei Tchen’s recent OHMA Workshop Series lecture, “Below the Grid.”
Read MoreCreating Dynamic Dialogue with Our Past and Present: Reflections on ‘Below the Grid’ (Part II)
In this post, current OHMA student Xiaoyan Li (2016) reflects on how the dynamic dialogic process enlightens the shadows of our past and present.
This article is the second in a three-part series exploring Jack Kuo Wei Tchen’s recent OHMA Workshop Series lecture, “Below the Grid.”
Read MoreThe Dialogic Space & Feeling the Human Story: Reflections on 'Below the Grid' (Part I)
Image courtesy of pixabay.com
In this post, Chinonye Alma Otuonye explores the dialogic space as a mechanism towards a human understanding of the self and history. She reflects on the ways John Kuo Wei Tchen—NYU professor, historian, and curator—decolonizes both space and history within and through his work.
This article is the first in a three-part series exploring Tchen’s recent OHMA Workshop Series lecture, “Below the Grid.”
Read MoreListen to Understand, Brooklyn Then & Now: Exploring 'Voices of Crown Heights' (Part III)
Image courtesy of Shutterstock.
This article is the third and final in a three-part series examining the Brooklyn Historical Society’s ongoing oral history project “Voices of Crown Heights.” In this post, current OHMA student Meave Sheehan (2016) looks at what it means to “live” a public policy and how oral history can be used to uncover both noticeable and more subtle changes over time.
Read MoreOHMA Year-End Student & Alumni News Updates 2016
OHMA alums Erica Fugger and Cameron Vanderscoff with Centre for Public History staff and director Indira Chowdhury in Bangaluru, India.
To close out the year, OHMA is excited to share these recent news updates about our students and alumni. We hope that you will be able to join us for our Spring Open House on January 26 and One-Day Oral History Training Workshops on January 28, 2017 to meet a number of our program affiliates—including Nicki Pombier Berger (2010) and Fernanda Espinosa (2015)—and learn more about their innovative work!
Read More