In this blog post, Amanda Faye Lacson shares her thoughts after attending both Nyssa Chow's and Gerry Albarelli's classes on Oral History for writers during the January 20 One-Day Oral History Workshops at Columbia University.
Read MoreTranslating Silences, Embodying Language: A Reflection on Intergenerational Oral Storytelling
Kristin Chang is a second-year undergraduate student at Sarah Lawrence College, currently studying literature and Ethnic Studies. She is a Resist/Regenerate/Recycle fellow with the W.o.W. Project in Chinatown. Her debut poetry chapbook, "Past Lives, Future Bodies," is forthcoming from Black Lawrence Press in Oct. 2018.
Read MoreA Pot of Soup
In this post, OHMA student Holly Werner-Thomas (2017) considers the similarities and differences between the oral history biography and the traditional authored biography, and how Robert Rauschenberg's own spirit of collaboration is reflected in the Robert Rauschenberg Oral History Project.
Read MoreAlessandro Portelli and Barbara Dane: Records of resistance
In this post part-time OHMA student Bud Kliment examines the relationship of folk music to oral history through the intersecting careers of Alessandro Portelli and Barbara Dane, occasioned by the release of Dane’s retrospective Hot Jazz, Cool Blues and Hard-Hitting Songs on Smithsonian Folkways.
Read MoreDon’t Say It! (Wisdoms): A Conversation with Nyssa Chow
Current OHMA student Carlin Zia shares gems from a warm-up conversation with Nyssa Chow ahead of her public presentation, “Writing and Listening for the Intersubjective Encounter,” the second event in our spring Oral History & the Arts lineup.
Read MoreComing Home: Finding One's Self in Oral History
Nyssa Chow, alum and OHMA teaching fellow, presents on her latest work, Still.Life., an oral history project documenting the lives of the women in her family. She spoke on her experience in the U.S. as an immigrant of color and the different perceptions of skin tone here and in Trinidad.
Read MoreHow can collective memory documented with oral history be the raw material for artistic production?
In this post, OHMA student Yameng Xia (2017) considers Jennifer Egan’s work Manhattan Beach and the interviews Egan conducted for the book. Jennifer Egan is a Pulitzer Prize-winning fiction writer and she came to Columbia University to give a public interview on how she used an oral history approach to get raw material for her new novel, Manhattan Beach.
Read MoreThe Sound of Frogs & The Smell of Nutmeg: A Journey into Memory
OHMA student Tomoko Kubota reflects on Nyssa Chow’s contribution to the Spring Workshop Series, "Writing and Listening for the Intersubjective Encounter."
Read MoreFrom James Michener to Jennifer Egan: The Evolving Use of Oral History in Writing Fiction
In this post, OHMA student Filip Mazurczak compares the methods of research used by Jennifer Egan and James Michener in writing historical fiction.
Read MoreMahalia and Studs, Mr. Jones and Dr. King
In this post, part-time OHMA student Bud Kliment reviews Glorious Mahalia by Stacy Harrop and Peace Be Till, by multimedia composer Zachary James Watkins as performed by the Kronos Quartet in honor of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
Read MoreAnnouncing the winners of this year's thesis research grant awards
We're excited to announce the two recipients of this year's student thesis research grant awards!
Read MoreMusic, Oral History, and the Self: A Look into Julia Wolfe’s Anthracite Fields
Current OHMA student Kyna Patel (2017 cohort) reflects on the historical and political themes in composer Julia Wolfe’s Anthracite Fields, as well as her personal connection with her work.
Read MoreThe Story is in the Strings
Julia Wolfe came to Columbia University to speak on December 7, 2017, and was interviewed live by Bud Kliment as part of the Workshop Series: Oral History and the Arts. Among other things, she spoke about her 2009 musical composition Steel Hammer that was based on the tale of John Henry and her 2014 musical composition Anthracite Fields that was a tribute to the Pennsylvania anthracite coal miners and their families.
Read MoreMichael Roberson and Ballroom Culture
OHMA student Desmond Austin-Miller reflects on Michael Roberson’s contribution to the Fall Workshop Series, A History of Echoes, Pt. 2: Sound of Trans Freedom and the influence Roberson left on him as a Black academic.
Read MoreMusic lesson: notes on doing a public interview
Bud Kliment, a part-time OHMA student, reflects on his recent conversation with composer Julia Wolfe, and some of the challenges (and benefits) of conducting a public interview.
Read MoreFrom an act of listening to embodiment - a further step in the path of compassion
In this post, OHMA student Yiyi Zhang (2017) reflects on E. Patrick Johnson’s performative approach to story-telling and its relation to understanding and compassion between people.
Read MoreRepresentation Matters
OHMA student Samantha Lombard (2018) reflects on E. Patrick Johnson’s theatrical representation of his narrators from oral history interviews he conducted as part of research for his book, Sweet Tea: Black Gay Men of the South – An Oral History.
Read MoreAn Oral History Toolbox: a methodology for immersive ethnography
In this post, Oral History Masters Student Alissa Funderburk discusses the methodology of self-interrogation mentioned by E. Patrick Johnson, oral historian and Carlos Montezuma Professor of Performance Studies at Northwestern University, in his recent talk for the OHMA Oral History and the Arts Workshop series.
Read MoreThe Sincerity of Sound
In this post, OHMA student Elyse Blennerhassett (2017) reflects on Robert Sember’s approach to sound. Born under apartheid South Africa, Sember moved to the United States in the 80s to become a prominent activist in social movements relating to health, sexual, gender, racial, and class inequalities.
Read MoreBorn in Struggle: Ultra-red’s Activist Oral History Approach
In this post, OHMA student Holly Werner-Thomas (2017) considers the theme of struggle in the life and work of Robert Sember, who is an Assistant Professor of Interdisciplinary Arts at The New School’s Eugene Lang College, and a member of the international sound-art collective, Ultra-red.
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