Oral history, like all academic disciplines, exists in a constant state of evolution and self-examination. The field as it stands today, a trans-disciplinary mélange of ideas from gender studies, anthropology, history, psychology, sociology, and many more, is drastically different than prior decades.
Read More[Workshop Reflection] Influences & Ideas: An Interviewing Autobiography with Sady Sullivan
To ask questions in oral history is not just to ask about someone’s life as a whole, but their plural lives across personal and public globes. The field is based on going beyond the surface of the present, and exploring the biographical basis for individual motion and motivation.
Read More[Workshop Reflection] Oral History and Video: Exploring what’s possible
Oral history is evolving and continues to be a platform to study and propose change and activism. What we’ve come to understand as oral history has been turned upside down.
Catherine Charlebois, Curator with the Centre D’histoire De Montreal, adds another sentence to the developing definition of oral history.
Read More[Workshop Reflection] Beyond the Archives: Oral History and Community Dialogue in Brooklyn
As an oral historian, I am committed to using my work to engage communities in the present. In keeping with this commitment, I would probably steer clear of institutions with names like “Brooklyn Historical Society.” However, the name Brooklyn Historical Society (BHS) belies the innovation and deep level of community engagement that this institution and its projects embody.
Read More[Workshop Reflection] Who’s listening?
Once upon a time, oral histories were recorded solely by researchers who tucked them away neatly into archives deemed for academic research; many were never heard from again. However, with the variety of technology available today, many former methods have been called into question so that valuable records may be fully utilized by historians as well as non-historians.
Read More[Workshop Reflection] Embracing Divine Purpose
My curriculum vitae has become as significant to my success as the actual
professional and academic experiences that fill the two page long document. Many
of these experiences I cherished; however, there were quite a few that I simply
endured. Right after college I agreed to be a researcher for a start-up company that
never quite started and never actually paid me for the days I spent in the office
alone while my boss made up and broke up with her boyfriend.
Congratulations to Nicki Pombier Berger!
This summer Nicki Pombier Berger [OHMA 2013] launched an innovative oral history project in partnership with Toward Independent Living and Learning, Inc (TILL), a Massachusetts-based agency serving individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities and their families.
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[Workshop Reflection] Lessons in Sacrifice from the Poor Clare Colettine Nuns
After reading from Abbie Reese’s book Dedicated to God, I was struck with some vague notion that being an oral historian is not all that different from being a nun. It seems absurd. What insights can a life devoted to God shine on the practice of oral history? Well, I noticed some patterns, mainly revolving around this word: sacrifice. I read about the sacrifices the nuns are required to make, including vows of poverty, chastity, obedience and enclosure. A nun makes her vows, including removing herself from the world, in order to pray for humankind, or to put it simply, to help people reach heaven.
Read More[Workshop Reflection] At school with Sewon
Perhaps, dear reader, you are a prospective OHMA student, researching the field or oral history, considering that next great leap of faith called graduate school. Or perhaps you have taken that leap, you are an OHMA student, buried in reading, writing, and research with only a vague sense that one day you will be dumped out onto the cold, hard streets of New York with nothing but a shake of the hand and a stroll across the stage.
Read More[Workshop Reflection] Jeff Friedman: The Eros of Oral History
Jeff Friedman ran to Knox Hall on Thursday, November 21st, 2013 after a delay from New Jersey Transit almost made him late for our OHMA workshop. It was clear from this determined start that Jeff is an ardent supporter of the Oral History Master of Arts students, faculty, and larger community.
Read MoreOne Take on Oral History and (International Human Rights) Litigation
I recently published an article—available here —in which I argued that the International Criminal Court (ICC) should create a public interviewing guide. The ICC should do so because it has a well-recognized statutory duty to protect those who put themselves at risk on account of the ICC’s work, and ICC interviewers put themselves at risk.
Read MoreGetting to OHMA
I have been interviewing veterans for four and a half years now. I have interviewed members of my family, veterans that are over seventy years older than I, veterans that could have been in my graduating class in undergrad, veterans that have fought in the Middle East, in Europe, and in Southeast Asia.
Read More‘Stories Matter’: Audrey Petty and Insider/Outsider Dynamics in Oral History Interviews
It’s difficult to write anything unbiased about Audrey because, well, I adore her. She’s a generous and intelligent person, a fierce thinker, and even though I’ve never been in her class, Audrey breathes learning effortlessly into all that she does.
Read MoreChanging Stories and Stories for Change: Audrey Petty’s High Rise Stories
For nearly two decades, cities across the United States, like Atlanta, New Orleans, and Chicago, have undergone urban renewal projects, removing high rise public housing to clear the way for new, multimillion dollar developments. The story of public housing in Chicago is one of the most well-known in the nation.
Read MoreBreaking 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.
Read More[Workshop reflection] From Storytelling to Storyweaving: Muriel Miguel, A Retrospective
On October 24, 2013, Muriel Miguel presented a talk with a slide/video accompaniment on her life work. I felt quite honored to meet, sit and listen to Muriel speak.
Muriel Miguel has spent her life working in the performance arts. She is an actress, dancer, choreographer, educator, playwright and director.
Read More[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.
Read MoreCongratulations to Sarah Dziedzic!
Sarah Dziedzic (OHMA 2011), who has been a grant-funded Project Coordinator for CCOH’s Carnegie Corporation Oral History Project since 2011, recently transitioned to a new permanent Project Coordinator position at CCOH. Starting this fall, Sarah will be working on the two most recent CCOH projects.
Read MoreArticle on OHMA in August Cross Ties
Job announcements: Congratulations OHMA alumna Erica Fugger!
OHMA is excited to share the successes of its graduates and we will be posting announcements about all of the exciting things our alums are up to in the coming days and weeks!
Erica Fugger [OHMA 2014] was recently hired for the full-time position of Administrative Assistant at the Columbia Center for Oral History (CCOH). As a work-study editorial assistant at CCOH during the 2012-2013 academic year, Erica gained experience in the archives by aiding researchers utilizing the collections, audit editing transcripts, and serving as a staff member of the 2013 Oral History Summer Institute. In her new role, Erica directs the work of the graduate assistants, offers consultations to individuals and organizations on implementing oral history projects, and develops projects to expand access to the archive. Erica is currently completing her thesis project, which will include an audio documentary based on narratives of practitioners in the tradition of Vietnamese Zen Master Thích Nhất Hạnh and a guide to oral history interviewing through Buddhist practice.