This series features a range of introductory online oral history workshops, each exploring a different approach to the practice of oral history. They assume no specific prior knowledge, but welcome all of the varied experience attendees may bring.

Workshops will be 2 or 3 hours long and will feature interactive elements. Registration will be on a sliding scale, with registration free for participants based outside of the United States, and starting at $5 otherwise.

These events are open to all. You can use this quick survey to let us know how we could make these events more accessible for you. Note that we are able to provide ASL interpretation for any event, but need two weeks' notice. Please contact Rebecca McGilveray at rlm2203@columbia.edu with specific access requests or questions.

SERIES AT A GLANCE

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1# Thursday, October 12, 4:30pm – 7:30pm

Mentorship, Networking, and Relationship Building for Oral Historians
Ellen Brooks

This workshop will serve the dual purposes of a) teaching and discussing the methods and benefits of professional relationship building within the OH field (and the wider cultural and information professions) and b) creating a real time space where participants can network and make connections for the future.

The teaching and discussion portion of the workshop will address:

• Why building meaningful and sustainable professional relationships is valuable;

• An exploration of opportunities for mentoring and networking in a variety of forms;

• Tips & tricks for successful networking and professional relationship building

The interactive portion of the workshop will include:

• Multiple opportunities for break-out groups in which participants will be matched with other participants (based on areas of interest/study, geographical location, and/or at random) and given prompts for discussion to foster connection

• A talk-back component for all participants in order to reflect on what’s been learned in the workshop and to share other thoughts and opportunities related to networking and relationship building

This workshop is for anyone in the oral history field or in oral history-adjacent professions.

2# Saturday, Nov 11, 12-3pm ET

Listening for Embodied Knowledge: An Approach to the Oral History Interview
Nyssa Chow

What does it mean to have BIPOC voices at the center of our practice—what are we inviting them to speak on, or claim authority over? We know that oral history has the ability to document the experiences of BIPOC life, but can our approach to the interview go beyond the chronicling of what has happened to them? Can we also prioritize and harness oral history’s potential to record, elevate, and assert ‘ways of being’ and ‘ways of knowing’ our shared world that have been historically delegitimized and overlooked? Our embodied experiences are also our particular expertise on the world. The reality of BIPOC life becomes a particular education, one that shapes unique strategies of surviving and thriving; of sense-making; ways of seeing, interpreting, and “reading” the moments, politics, and interactions of daily life—it is embodied knowledge, embodied authority.

How can our practice better ‘hear’ and legitimize embodied knowledge(s)? In this workshop we will consider the oral history interview as an ‘act of translation’, an approach that permissions the narrator to be both the ‘teller’ of their story, and also the first interpreter of their lived experience. We will discuss forms of un-hearing that can interrupt this process; reflect on the making and un-making of agency and authority in the interview by introducing both the language and concept of permission; and consider the oral history encounter as a ‘space of remembering’ and translation.

3# Sat, Feb 4, 12-3pm EST

Informal Archives: Capturing Family Memories
Nairy Abdelshafy

This workshop aims at collectively exploring different shapes and forms of informal family archives and oral histories' role in keeping family memories alive. Informal family archives could include (but are not limited to): letters, photographs, clothes, audio recordings, videos, etc.

Participants are encouraged to bring along and share one item from a family collection and share memories and stories associated with it. We will be discussing: tangible and intangible memories, what is an archive? And what we practically need to create one.

*the workshop will be recorded and the recording will be shared with registered attendees

4# Tue, Feb 20, 4-7pm EST

an introduction to multilingual oral history projects: a Circular workshop
Fernanda Espinosa and Allison Corbett

As oral historians, our source of inquiry and creativity is the embodied language through which the personal becomes historical. If language surrounds, contains, and articulates all of the work of oral history, why not design our projects with very intentional attention towards it and its use? In this 3-hour workshop we will cover essential oral history principles, ethics, and methods, with a focus on multilingual projects, including language justice principles and logistics to consider. We will also share practical advice on recording interviews and provide a list of resources that attendees can consult to support them in further project development. This workshop is directed to those wanting to start or already carrying out oral history projects with narrators speaking multiple languages.

Circular is a collaboration between Fernanda Espinosa and Allison Corbett dedicated to working at the intersections of language justice, research, and oral history. Circular creates spaces for the memories and experiences of people to exist, be told and circulate in many different shapes. Allison and Fernanda collaborate to provide consulting or create projects grounded in the belief that seeding change requires decentering cultural, linguistic, and racial dominance.

*the workshop will be recorded and the recording will be shared with registered attendees