Spring 2017 | Oral History and the Social Sciences
Oral history is a practice with deep roots in the archive and in the discipline of history, where oral history is a unique and valuable genre of primary source. But what happens when we treat oral histories as data for sociological, anthropological or geographic research? Or use the tools of the social sciences to study oral history as a social practice? Is it possible, or desirable, to generalize from the particular and complex narratives of the oral history interview? In this series we will explore the tensions and possibilities at the interdisciplinary seams of oral history and the social sciences.
Thursday Evening Event Series
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Thursday Evening Event Series 〰️
Find more about speakers, individual events, and student reflections through the Learn More buttons.
Spring 2017
January 19, 2017, 6:00 – 8:00 PM
History-Making, Peoplehood, and the Right to the City
IN-PERSON with Amy Starecheski
Using the experiences of Lower East Side squatters navigating the legalization of their buildings as a case study, this talk asks: What can anthropologists learn by studying oral history as a social practice?
February 9, 2017, 6:00 – 8:00 PM
The Summer for Respect: Student Activists, Walmart Workers, and the Future of the American Labor Movement
IN-PERSON with Adam Reich
Adam will discuss the limitations and strengths of oral history as a method and as a political practice, and will argue that it is at its most powerful--methodologically and politically--when in interaction with other methods and practices.
February 23, 2017, 6:00 – 8:00 PM
How the Community Research Group Discovered Situation Analysis and What We Did About It
IN-PERSON with Mindy Fullilove
The Community Research Group of Mailman School of Public Health and NYS Psychiatric Institute, carried out research on epidemics affecting poor communities. We used a variety of methods, but "situation analysis" emerged as a preferred tactic for understanding new patterns of disease and social pathology.
March 9, 2017, 6:00 – 8:00 PM
(CANCELLED) Indigenous Oral Histories, Blurring Boundaries in Academia
IN-PERSON with Winona Wheeler
The transdisciplinary nature of Indigenous Studies (Native American Studies) creates a space in the academy for Indigenous research methodologies and Indigenous knowledge. This workshop will examine the unique qualities of Indigenous oral histories and review some of the best practices on how to treat them with integrity within their own contexts.
March 23, 2017, 6:00 – 8:00 PM
Devalued Subjectivities: Disciplines, Voices and Publics
IN-PERSON with Leslie Robertson
How do disciplinary politics promote the reproduction and valorization of particular voices while (implicitly) devaluing others? In the spirit of “listening for different stories” (Cruikshank 2005), I seek a conversation about whose stories come to matter within disciplines; about ways that scholars invested in projects perceived to be on the “right side of history” often unwittingly silence other narratives.
April 6, 2017, 6:00 – 8:00 PM
Becoming an Organizer: Narrative, Identity and Social Action
IN-PERSON with Terrell Frazier
Drawing from a multi-method longitudinal study of community-based organizers working across a range of movement communities in New York City, this talk asks: What are the processes that link a social movement actor’s identity or identities to issue orientations and action?
Find more Events with OHMA
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Find more Events with OHMA 〰️