The Mellon Interdisciplinary Fellows Program and the Interdisciplinary Center for Innovative Theory and Empirics at Columbia University are hosting a free two-day short course on oral history interviewing, taught by OHMA Associate Director Amy Starecheski.

DEADLINE HAS PASSED

Applicants will be notified of acceptance prior to the weekend of February 6.

Short course is free and open to all; however, we give priority to Columbia affiliates. 

WHEN: Monday, February 9 & Monday, February 16, 2015

TIME: 9:00 am - 1:00 pm (with a short break), both days

WHERE: International Affairs Building, Conference Room 270b [Campus map]

COURSE DESCRIPTION:

As a uniquely co-created primary source document or as an intersubjective and temporally dynamic method of qualitative research, oral history is a powerful research tool. This two-part workshop will introduce participants to the practice of oral history as a research method in the humanities and social sciences. Participants will get hands-on experiences in oral history interviewing and digital audio recording and will be supported to apply oral history methods to their own research questions. We will demonstrate software tools for transcribing, audio editing, and digital curation. 

INSTRUCTOR:

Amy Starecheski is the Associate Director of the Oral History MA Program at Columbia University. She consults and lectures widely on oral history education and methods, and is co-author of the Telling Lives Oral History Curriculum Guide. She was a lead interviewer on Columbia’s September 11, 2001 Narrative and Memory Project, for which she interviewed Afghans, Muslims, Sikhs, activists, low-income people, and the unemployed.  Starecheski is a member of the Core Working Group for Groundswell: Oral History for Social Change, where she facilitates the Practitioner Support Network. She holds a BA in anthropology from Columbia College, an MA from Columbia Teachers College, and a PhD in cultural anthropology from the CUNY Graduate Center. Her current research is with former squatters on New York’s Lower East Side, studying the roles of history and property in their lives.