Please join us for an Oral History M.A. program open house on Thursday, November 14, 2019, 6:30-8:30, Knox Hall, 606 West 122nd St, Room 509. Refreshments will be served.
OHMA OPEN HOUSE
Information session
Learn about our Future Voices Fellowship
Meet OHMA students and alums
Presentation by current OHMA student Christina Barba
Mini-interviewing workshop
OHMA is the first program of its kind: a one-year interdisciplinary Master of Arts degree training students in oral history method and theory. Our graduates work in museums, historical societies, advocacy organizations, media, the arts, education, human rights, and development. OHMA is also excellent preparation for doctoral work in fields like anthropology, history, journalism, and American studies or professional degrees in law, education, or social work.
Jointly run by the Columbia Center for Oral History Research, one of the preeminent oral history centers in the world, and INCITE, a lively hub for interdisciplinary research in the humanities and social sciences, OHMA connects students with the intellectual resources of a major research university, and with the intimate society of a small cohort of talented students.
During a year at OHMA, students learn the skills of digital audio and video production and editing, digital archiving, oral history project design and interviewing, and both historical and social science analysis. Working with an OHMA faculty member, each student is guided through the process of creating a thesis or capstone project. Past projects have taken the form of academic and creative essays, film and audio documentaries, performances, exhibits, and multimedia websites. OHMA students also have access to elective courses taught anywhere within the University and exclusive oral history internship opportunities.
Prospective students are also welcome to meet with the OHMA director or sit in on our classes leading up to the open house. Please send us an email (ohma@columbia.edu) to connect and plan your visit!
Please review our admissions page for further information.
Presentation by current OHMA student Christina Barba:
Christina will present a video that she made for "Inter/views," OHMA's exhibit this past spring. In the video, titled "Living in the Shadow of the Armenian Genocide," Christina's mother, Susan Vartanian Barba, is featured speaking about her father (Christina's grandfather) and the catastrophic acts of violence he experienced during the Armenian Genocide. Thereafter in the video, we see footage taped thirty-five years earlier, when Christina was just a child, of Susan listening to her father, Andranik Vartanian, tell her about the Genocide. Over the course of the five-minute video, we bear witness to the transmission of memory, inherited trauma and the convergence of personal and transgenerational memory.
Christina Barba is a part-time OHMA student at Columbia and an attorney. She spent the majority of her career as an Assistant District Attorney prosecuting public corruption at the Bronx DA’s Office and is currently a Hearing Officer for the Office of Administrative Trials and Hearings where she adjudicates administrative law matters as an impartial judge and issues written decisions post-hearing.