“Creating a Dark Space”: Listening to and Prioritizing Intuition

December 13, 2019 Admin

A screenshot from the 2001 Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone movie scene in which Hermione says getting expelled would be worse than getting killed. Harry, a kid with black hair and round glasses, and Ron, a red-head, are looking off-camera as H… — A screenshot from the 2001 Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone movie scene in which Hermione says getting expelled would be worse than getting killed. Harry, a kid with black hair and round glasses, and Ron, a red-head, are looking off-camera as Hermione storms away. Ron’s words are captioned: “She needs to sort out her priorities.” Photo credit: Warner Bros.

What do a 4 am wake-up time, the base of a pyramid, and the origin of a mathematical graph have in common? In Liu Chen’s post on the workshop led by Dr. Alexis Pauline Gumbs, they reflect on priorities in oral history practices, intuition, and the value of darkness.

Jeremy Bentham’s Tape Recorder: Being As Useful As Possible In Oral History

December 5, 2019 Admin

A modified painting by Henry William Pickergill depicting Jeremy Bentham, a large, distinguished-looking white man with long hair sitting down in front of a black background. To the left of him is a photoshopped image of a small tape recorder, with … — A modified painting by Henry William Pickergill depicting Jeremy Bentham, a large, distinguished-looking white man with long hair sitting down in front of a black background. To the left of him is a photoshopped image of a small tape recorder, with some books placed behind.

Hi, I’m Zack Daniel Schiavetta, of the 2020 OHMA cohort, and for this blog post I’m writing about applying utilitarian ethics, which seeks to provide the maximum good for the greatest number of people, to oral history to make the field accessible to as many people as possible.

Oral History as Ceremony and Ceremony as Oral History

December 5, 2019 Admin

On October 24, Dr. Kahente Horn-Miller, of the Mohawk Nation, gave a powerful sharing about her ancestors, culture, and connection to the earth through monologue, song, and dance during the presentation of Standing with Sky Woman: A conversation on cultural fluency. In this post, current OHMA student, Francine D. Spang-Willis, considers the method of transferring Indigenous knowledge to both Indigenous and non-Indigenous peoples through storytelling as an oral history method. She also explores oral history as ceremony and ceremony as oral history.

Decolonizing to Re-indigenize

November 14, 2019 Admin

Photo credit: Anahí NaranjoAn old home in a maize plantation outside of Guaranda, Ecuador. This is the home my mother grew up in. — Photo credit: Anahí Naranjo
An old home in a maize plantation outside of Guaranda, Ecuador. This is the home my mother grew up in.

Intro: Dr. Nēpia Mahuika’s September 26th workshop titled “Oral History and Indigenous Peoples: Rethinking Oral History, Methods, Politics and Theories” highlighted the intricate histories and traditions of indigenous communities that the academic field of oral history has begun to recognize. Dr., Mahuika is the author of soon to be published book Rethinking Oral History and Tradition from the Oxford University Press.

“Keeping Oral History Alive” —— Diversity in the Application of Oral History

May 16, 2019 Admin

In this post, based on Lorina Barker’s presentation, current Oral History MA student Lizzie Li discusses the diversity of oral history in real practice.

Indigenous scholar’s work informs new Columbia University + Wikipedia Initiatives

May 16, 2019 Admin

In this reflection on Dr. Lorina Barker’s recent lecture at OHMA, Wikipedia Fellow and Wikimedian-In-Residence Darold Cuba explores how scholars and academics can decolonize and indigenize public spaces through scholarship, exemplified by new wiki initiatives incubated at the Columbia University Libraries, WikiHMCi & WikiHBCU/DIO.

Following Your Gut

March 11, 2019 Admin

Sean Dorsey, the first acclaimed transgender contemporary dance choreographer in the US, created a trilogy of full-length dance-theater works based on the oral history interviews he conducted. Then, how did Sean turn narratives into dances? What’s his creative process? The answer is in this blog post.

Embodied Storytelling is Not New

March 7, 2019 Admin

For thousands of years Indigenous Pacific cultures have integrated oral traditions and dance. Kim-Hee Wong shares her experiences of practicing hula, Hawaiian dance, in response to a presentation by Sean Dorsey in the 2018-2019 OHMA workshop series, Oral History and the Future: Archives and Embodied Memory.

Talking Knots: Decolonizing Oral History through Alternative Methods of Memory Transmission

December 19, 2018 Admin

In this blog post, OHMA student Caroline Cunfer reflects on colonized ideas of history and record-keeping, and how as oral historians we can reconsider and expand our processes of memory transmission to engage in ways that are natural and meaningful to the communities we are working with.

Decolonizing Cultural Spaces To Tell Refugee Stories

June 24, 2017 Incite Institute at Columbia University

In this article, Fanny García (2016) reflects on her process as she worked to create an oral history exhibit for Inside Voices: An Oral History Exhibition in April 2017. She writes that she believes strongly in the decolonization of cultural spaces and in the creation of exhibits and installations that mobilize people to action.