Readers who rely on oral histories for their research or hope to take them in the future may be interested to learn that the Columbia Center for Oral History has announced its 2012 Summer Institute, titled “What is Remembered: Life Story Approaches in Human Rights Contexts.” The dates are June 4-15, 2012 at Columbia University in New York City.
Sessions will explore the methodological and theoretical implications of doing life story research with individuals who have suffered human rights abuses and other forms of discrimination. The institute will focus on the role of oral history in documenting such histories, but also interpreting the strategies of resistance and survival of creative individuals and communities that have lived through difficult times.
General themes of the institute will include: the challenges of doing fieldwork in post-conflict societies, including remembrance of personal violence; the uses of oral sources in expressing emotion and facilitating constructive actions; and the uses of informal and official forms of life histories in addressing the tensions between individual and collective remembering. The Institute will also include practical workshops in digital storytelling, interviewing and editing.For more information and to apply, follow the link.