In this post, OHMA student Robin Weinberg (2016) reflects on her experience creating Four Chairs for the recent Inside Voices exhibition.
Read MoreThe Politics of (Mis)recognition
Robertson shows a slide of a photograph of anthropologist Franz Boaz in which she points out how Boaz was “literally holding up a blanket to cover a white picket fence behind him.” By covering the fence, Boaz tried to recreate the world he imaged, a wilderness perhaps, before European contact. By contextualizing her voice and the voices of the people involved in the representation of Cook, Robertson’s approach offered guidance as to how understanding forms of social knowledge within politically and culturally sensitive contexts is essential to how we see ourselves in relation to one another.
In this post, OHMA student Elyse Blennerhassett (2016) discusses how Dr. Leslie Robertson’s community-generated and collaborative methodologies inform her own practice in working with communities who are politically marginalized and stigmatized in the criminal justice system. This article is the first in a two-part series exploring Dr. Robertson’s recent OHMA Workshop Series lecture, “Devalued Subjectivities: Disciplines, Voices and Publics.”
Read MoreSeeking Collaboration & Building Community: An Origin of the Columbia Oral History Alumni Association
Two years after the formation of the Columbia Oral History Alumni Association (COHAA) Founding President and OHMA Project Coordinator Erica Fugger (2012) reminiscences on the group's origin story—spanning Columbia Center for Oral History Research's move to INCITE to the organic spaces for inter-cohort dialogue that arose amidst our historic interview archives in Butler Library.
Erica discusses the Alumni Association's early organizing efforts, participation in campus demonstrations, and commitment to building networks of support for emerging oral historians.
Beyond Bonding to Collaboration
Bill Smith reflects on Brian Purnell's workshop, which explored questions about when and where oral historians should enter products of oral history. This talk took place on Thursday, November 6, 2014.
Read MoreChanging Stories and Stories for Change: Audrey Petty’s High Rise Stories
For nearly two decades, cities across the United States, like Atlanta, New Orleans, and Chicago, have undergone urban renewal projects, removing high rise public housing to clear the way for new, multimillion dollar developments. The story of public housing in Chicago is one of the most well-known in the nation.
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