In this inauguration season post, OHMA alum Jonathon Fairhead (2015) writes about applying skills he learned as an oral historian to listen deeply to a friend whose political perspectives he does not align with and as a path to understanding a country divided.
Read MoreWhy Are These Stories Worth Telling?: Reflections on ‘Below the Grid’ (Part III)
Oral historian Ron Grele (Director Emeritus, Oral History Research Office) engaging in discussion at Jack Tchen's recent OHMA Workshop Series lecture.
In this post, current OMHA student Yutong Wang (2016) explores how oral histories can be both meaningful and impactful to public audiences.
This article is the final piece in a three-part series exploring Jack Kuo Wei Tchen’s recent OHMA Workshop Series lecture, “Below the Grid.”
Read MoreCreating Dynamic Dialogue with Our Past and Present: Reflections on ‘Below the Grid’ (Part II)
In this post, current OHMA student Xiaoyan Li (2016) reflects on how the dynamic dialogic process enlightens the shadows of our past and present.
This article is the second in a three-part series exploring Jack Kuo Wei Tchen’s recent OHMA Workshop Series lecture, “Below the Grid.”
Read MoreThe Dialogic Space & Feeling the Human Story: Reflections on 'Below the Grid' (Part I)
Image courtesy of pixabay.com
In this post, Chinonye Alma Otuonye explores the dialogic space as a mechanism towards a human understanding of the self and history. She reflects on the ways John Kuo Wei Tchen—NYU professor, historian, and curator—decolonizes both space and history within and through his work.
This article is the first in a three-part series exploring Tchen’s recent OHMA Workshop Series lecture, “Below the Grid.”
Read MoreListen to Understand, Brooklyn Then & Now: Exploring 'Voices of Crown Heights' (Part III)
Image courtesy of Shutterstock.
This article is the third and final in a three-part series examining the Brooklyn Historical Society’s ongoing oral history project “Voices of Crown Heights.” In this post, current OHMA student Meave Sheehan (2016) looks at what it means to “live” a public policy and how oral history can be used to uncover both noticeable and more subtle changes over time.
Read MoreOHMA Year-End Student & Alumni News Updates 2016
OHMA alums Erica Fugger and Cameron Vanderscoff with Centre for Public History staff and director Indira Chowdhury in Bangaluru, India.
To close out the year, OHMA is excited to share these recent news updates about our students and alumni. We hope that you will be able to join us for our Spring Open House on January 26 and One-Day Oral History Training Workshops on January 28, 2017 to meet a number of our program affiliates—including Nicki Pombier Berger (2010) and Fernanda Espinosa (2015)—and learn more about their innovative work!
Read MoreOHA 2016: Generations in Conversation
In Context Journal asks 2016 Oral History Association Annual Meeting attendees what they would like to see in future issues.
In this post, OHMA alumna Cindy Choung (2009), recipient of our first OHMA Alumni Conference Travel Grant, writes on dialogue and difference among oral history practitioners at the 2016 Oral History Association Meeting. She offers thoughts on creating space for connection and reflection between oral historians across generations.
Read MoreAnnouncing the 2016-2017 OHMA Research Grant Award Recipients
We are proud to announce that our 2016-2017 OHMA Research Grants have been awarded to current students Robin Miniter (2016) and Fanny Julissa García (2016), who will be exploring the experiences of women who have navigated either American wilderness and patriarchy, or immigration detention and identity formation. Funding and support has been made possible through the GSAS Thesis Research Matching Award program.
Read MoreOral History in the 'Post-Fact' Era: Exploring ‘Voices of Crown Heights’ (Part II)
This article is the second in a three-part series examining the Brooklyn Historical Society’s ongoing oral history project “Voices of Crown Heights.” In this piece, current OHMA student Rachel Unkovic (2016) focuses on how oral history can illuminate (rather than obfuscate) historical narrative even in times of confusion and conflicting ideas.
Read MoreOral History as Excavation: Exploring ‘Voices of Crown Heights’ (Part I)
Source: 6sqft.com
This article is the first in a three-part series examining the Brooklyn Historical Society’s ongoing oral history project “Voices of Crown Heights.” In this post, current OHMA student Dina Asfaha (2016) writes that Zaheer Ali's project is a prime example of the need for oral history in understanding society. She proposes that Ali does an exemplary job of situating people's narratives in their respective historical contexts and putting those narratives in conversation with one another in order to deduce conclusions about how gentrification in Crown Heights can be understood today.
Read MoreZoetrope City: Moment, Motion, and Memory
Earlier this fall, OHMA students Emma Courtland (2016) and Robin Miniter (2016) met in a third story apartment in Hamilton Heights to “narrate their photos.” Using a modification of the methods used by artist and urbanist Gabrielle Bendiner-Viani to put walking tours, photography, and memory in conversation about the experience of gentrification in Prospect Heights, Courtland and Miniter planned to use photography and oral history to explore their changing relationships to the city. They then visited the places depicted in their photos. This is the story of one of those photos.
Read MoreFor The Community by the Community: The NYPL Community Oral History Project
Image courtesy of the Bronx Times.
In this post, current OHMA student Steve Fuchs (2016) explores the New York Public Library’s Community Oral History Project—directed by Alex Kelly—and the Library’s expanding role in the community.
Read MoreNovember Book Publication—‘Ours to Lose: When Squatters Became Homeowners in New York City,’ By OHMA Co-Director Amy Starecheski
OHMA is excited to announce that Amy Starecheski’s book, Ours to Lose: When Squatters Became Homeowners in New York City (University of Chicago Press, 2016), has officially been published! It is for sale online and is starting to appear in bookstores, from Red Emma's in Baltimore to Book Culture on Broadway in New York City. Congratulations, Amy! We look forward to hosting you for an OHMA Workshop lecture on Thursday, January 19, 2017.
Read MoreField Notes: The Narrative Outside of Oral History
Image by Emma Courtland
Earlier this fall, DW Gibson, author of Not Working and The Edge Becomes the Center: An Oral History of Gentrification in the Twenty-First Century, gave an OHMA Workshop Series lecture in on how he used oral history to reflect the changes in peoples’ lives through gentrification. This article—written by current OHMA student Liu Ting (2016)—focuses on how Gibson presents oral histories in his book and how his own narrative interplays with the interviews.
Read MoreJun. 19-30: Memory, Visuality, and Mobility Oral History Summer Seminar in Florence
Applications are now open for a new two-week long intensive seminar exploring oral history, memory, visuality, and the body. The course is co-sponsored by the European Research Council Project Bodies Across Borders: Oral and Visual Memory in Europe and Beyond (BABE) and the Columbia University Oral History Master of Arts Program (OHMA), and hosted by the Department of History and Civilization at the European University Institute, Florence.
Ode to the Transcriber, Unsung Hero of Oral History
In this post, current OHMA BA/MA student Rozanne Gooding Silverwood (2015) reflects on the art of transcription and offers her perspective on how the NYPL Community Oral History Project might increase the enlistment of volunteer transcribers by educating prospective participants about the literary history and aesthetic value of rendering the spoken word to text.
Read MoreWhat is Oral History Anyway? Field Notes from a Workshop with DW Gibson
Not my actual train. But it could be.
In this post, Robin Weinberg (2016) shares her thoughts about oral history after a presentation by DW Gibson, author of The Edge Becomes the Center: An Oral History of Gentrification in the Twenty-First Century, in OHMA’s 2016-2017 Oral History Workshop Series.
Read MoreField Notes: How Much Can We Trust The Dialogic Exchange Between Historian and Narrator?
Recently, author DW Gibson stopped by OHMA to discuss his book, The Edge Becomes The Center: An Oral History of Gentrification in the Twenty-First Century, in which he documents the lives and stories of Brooklynites and others who have an opinion on the increased development in Brooklyn, New York. In this post, Fanny Garcia (2016) reflects on his presentation.
Read MoreTension & Strength, Politics & Art: Christopher Allen’s Story of Documentary in Southside, Williamsburg
Christopher Allen speaking at the OHMA Workshop Series in September 2016. Photo credits: Emma Courtland (2016).
In this post, Heather Michael, shares insight from a presentation by Christopher Allen on the intersection between his beliefs about art and politics vis-à-vis the creation of Living Los Sures, a multifaceted, six-year documentary project about the community of Southside, Williamsburg.
Read MoreOn Citizenship, Voice, and Motherhood
In this article, Fanny Garcia (2016) reflects on her path to oral history through her family’s path to naturalization, her transformation of xenophobia through activism, and the recent Central American refugee crisis that spurred her mother to share her story.
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