Tell me your story?

In response to Sujatha Fernandes’ talk on The Uses of Narrative in Organizing for Social Justice on October 4th, current OHMA student Nairy AbdElShafy reflects on how individuals choose to curate their own stories, when given the space and agency to do so and how this serves as a representation of their own culture and history.

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Oral history invites us in

Audrey Augenbraum is the communications and outreach coordinator for OHMA, CCOHR, and INCITE. A native of New York City, she is constantly surprised by the important and oft-neglected facets of her community that OHMA students illuminate. In this post, she reflects on witnessing preparations for OHMA's April 29 year-end eventThen, Now, Next: Oral History and Social Change.

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Breaking the Silence, Giving Voice

It’s a sunny day in Hebron. We walk down Shuhada Street, the once-bustling main drag running through the Casbah. The street is deserted, the shops welded shut. Amid the broken windows, olive trees, and piles of debris, soldiers stand in pillboxes on the corners and run group patrols through the streets. Arab children wave down to us from their windows, unable to walk on the restricted streets below.

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[Workshop reflection] Breaking the Silence: From the Outside Looking In

It is rare to witness dissenting voices from within an active military.  The public in the United States is encouraged to honor our soldiers but seldom to question them.  It is equally as rare to hear American soldiers publicly questioning their military superiors regarding an ongoing operation.  In the October 7th Oral History Workshop at Butler Library Avner Gvaryahu, a member of Breaking the Silence (BTS), presented a book of collected oral histories from soldiers doing just that; questioning the ongoing military strategy of the Israeli Defense Force (IDF) as it continues to occupy the contested zones that tie Israel and Palestine together.

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