A collaborative multilingual workshop at the intersections of language justice, research, and oral history.
About this event
Part of the 2023-24 OHMA Public Workshop Series:
an introduction to multilingual oral history projects: a Circular workshop
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
Workshop Lead:
Fernanda Espinosa (she/her) is an oral historian and cultural practitioner. Since 2014 she has been generating, listening to, and interpreting oral histories in English and Spanish to inform creative activations that aspire to act as platforms for resistance and dialogue. Fernanda holds an MA degree in Oral History from Columbia University where her thesis was awarded the 2018 Jeffrey H. Brodsky Oral History Award for her work with the Ecuadorian diaspora in New York. In addition to her work with Circular, she works as an independent oral historian, including projects at Columbia University and the Smithsonian Institution (Archives of American Art and the National Museum of American History). Currently, Fernanda is working on her project titled In Colors, in collaboration with the Smithsonian Archives of American Art through the Oral History Association — National Endowment for the Humanities Fellowship.
Allison Corbett (she/her) is a Spanish-English interpreter, language justice practitioner, and oral historian from Virginia who has been based in NYC since 2013. She has over 15 years of experience interpreting in settings ranging from hospitals as a Certified Healthcare Interpreter, to grassroots community meetings and workshops. In 2016, she created The Language of Justice, an oral history project to document the experiences of language workers. In addition to the cultural work she does with Circular, Allison’s work focuses on capacity-building to support institutions in serving and being led by multilingual communities and amplifying the wisdom of fellow language justice workers. In NYC she has worked with the Mayor’s Office of Immigrant Affairs, the Department of Housing Preservation & Development, GrowNYC, North Star Fund and Columbia University, among others, and has consulted with the City of Los Angeles on Language Access implementation. She is currently the co-director of Colibrí Academy for HIV & Language Justice.
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.
All events will be hosted either in person or online via Zoom. They are open to the public with pre-registration required. After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the meeting.