Keren Piao (2020)

Keren Piao graduated from Zhejiang University (Class of 2019) with double degree of History and Japanese Language and literature. Her motivation in east Asian culture and history was originally triggered by her Korean Chinese background. Some of her research interests include ethnic Korean immigrant culture and history, East Asian Buddhism studies and ethnic minorities in China. 

Keren’s path to oral history budded during her undergraduate when she was engaged in an oral history project of a rural clan rooted in Zhejiang. The fieldwork comprises with local belief of Zhejiang Province and immigrant history of local clan. Through re-collecting local pedigree and chorography, she found how the moral value in text recordings was reflected in physical relics like shrines and inscriptions. During interviewing left-behind elderly folks, she was able to take a glimpse of the trace of immigrant history of local clan. 

Illuminated by how personal narratives echo the weight of individual as witness of history, Keren was thrilled to join 2020 cohort of OHMA. She is looking forward to diving deeper into historical conversation with ethnic Korean immigrants after the Korean War. 

Roberto Carrillo (2020)

My name is Roberto Carrillo but everyone calls me Robert. I live in the Brooklyn neighborhood of Sunset Park where people from countries such as Mexico, Guatemala and China have called it home. My exposure to the different cultures in Sunset Park sparked my interest in photography, capturing the everyday lives and scenery of the world around me has taken me to Japan a number of times during my time as an Undergraduate in Brooklyn College. Oral history has played a vital part through my life as I heard my parent's experience of immigrating to the United States in search of a better future as well as similar anecdotes from neighbors, friends, and other members of my family.

At the time I didn't interpret their experiences as oral history because I was unaware of oral history as a concept but that changed when I took a Vietnam War class in Brooklyn College. Over the span of five years, I was able to strengthen my understanding of oral history by conducting projects of my own such as manuscripting an autobiography of a Vietnam War veteran, founding the Brooklyn College Listen project along with some professors, and being a research assistant for the Brooklyn College Haitian Studies Institute by using elements of oral history such as audio and visual recording, and transcribing. 

It is no secret the New York is made out of two distinct cities, the research I hope to partake involves recording the experiences of residents living in communities of color such as Sunset Park and distinguish any economic, social, and political factor that may put them at a disadvantage from someone living in a neighborhood such as Park Slope or Bay Ridge and the obstacles the residents overcome on a daily basis. This is the idea I have for my project but I still have to work on a couple of factors such as census data from the past decade. I feel excited as well as grateful for being able to partake in the Oral History Program. I look forward to hearing the ideas from my fellow cohorts and professors.

Ru-Jün Zhou (2020)

 Ru-Jün has over two decades of experience in non-profit and philanthropic sectors, playing roles where she could build platforms for untold stories in underserved communities. She has spearheaded projects in Asia and the US that empowered participants to explore and express their stories through photography, creative writing, movement, and film. In parallel, she has become a student of somatic contemplative traditions. She has learned through years of meditation and dyad practice that, in our modern world, we have largely forgotten how to be with one another—how to be present and listen simply, with an open and awakening heart. This recognition points to a primal truth that is being equally uncovered by modern cognitive science and psychology: to flourish as a human, one must feel heard and seen.

Through work and later the OHMA program, Ru-Jün sees how an interview setting could be a powerful modality for meeting this deep human need to be seen and heard. In a space that is open, attentive, and shorn of judgments, a natural, compassionate, and accurate response arises. In this "attended third space," where two embodied humans meet in openness, communication becomes clear and effortless. A story can be told, and the "life force" of that story can truly sing. 

She is known for her ability to think creatively, fostering innovative perspectives, and thrives in the synoptical integration process, integrating diverse ideas, theories, and practices to create a holistic approach. She often navigates this journey independently while now seeking to join forces with the like-minded for collaboration. For her, practicing oral history transcends the acts of recording and transcribing; it is a practice of generosity and humility, engaging in an embodied way of listening that is beyond orality. She views this practice as a way to metabolize experiences and interweave the strands of individual and collective wisdom that form the rich tapestry of our shared human experience.

Harpal Singh (2020)

Harpal Singh has worked as a journalist for over three decades in India and elsewhere. His latest twin-assignments were a regional satellite television news station, Day & Night News, Chandigarh, where he worked as the Editor, and its digital sibling, GoNews India, where he was Head of Operations.

He has had a long innings at India Today magazine where he started as a Trainee Journalist in 1989 and became its News Editor in 1997. He has been the Head of Forward Planning for NDTV, Systems Editor for ABNi (now CNBC), Night Editor for The Indian Express, Associate Executive Producer for Aaj Tak & Headlines Today (now India Today Television), Senior Executive Producer for NewsX and Program Editor for Al Jazeera English at Doha.

He completed his Honours in English from Delhi University's Rajdhani College in 1987 and a post-graduate programme in journalism from the Centre for Mass Media of the New Delhi YMCA the following year before entering the media.

He is a World Press Institute (WPI)-trained trainer on transparency reporting (Minnesota, 2005) and has regularly taught a variety of media subjects since 1996. He is widely travelled & considers news-gathering and creative writing his core competencies.

Harpal has taken up oral history to fulfil an abiding life goal: to create a credible and comprehensive digital repository on the Sikh Genocide of 1984 in which 2,733 persons were killed over three days in Delhi alone after the assassination of the then Indian Prime Minister, Mrs. Indira Gandhi, by her Sikh bodyguards. He is a victim and survivor of that pogrom. 

His interests, however, extend beyond his community and what it has endured. His touchstone for shining an illuminating light on a subject is the violation of human rights, impinging of personal liberties, discrimination, and peddling of hate anywhere in the world, from Kashmir in India to Kabul in Afghanistan to Aleppo in Syria to Rakhine in Myanmar to Caracas in Venezuela.

“I’m attempting to move away from writing the ‘first rough draft of history’ to learning to write the first rough draft of oral history,” he says. “It is a leap of faith, similar to my leap into journalism over three decades ago.”

Harpal is a radio buff, but ironically, he has never worked in that space because radio news is still a State monopoly in India.

Amalia Schwarzschild (2020)

Amalia Schwarzschild (she/they) is a Brooklyn native and recent Hampshire College alum (2020). Her academic focuses include and are not limited to Latin American Studies, Afro-Latin American studies and African American studies. 

While in her undergraduate studies, she completed a senior thesis devised of an ethnographic research project, fueled by questions and her interest in Afro-Mexican identity. For this thesis, Amalia traveled to Oaxaca, Mexico, and conducted an oral history in Spanish with an elder in the community. She is also a recipient of the 5 College Certificate in Latin American, Caribbean, and Latino Studies. 

Overall, her interests include traveling, learning languages (like Spanish), engaging in conversations, black activism, black queer activism, and continuously pushing herself to learn more about how to challenge the colonial structures around her. 

Amalia is extremely excited to join the 2020 cohort, and can’t wait to see what is produced from the great minds coming together this year. 

Casey Dooley (2020)

Casey is an oral historian, writer, and inveterate inquirer whose work is motivated by the extraordinary lives of everyday humans as well as the spaces with which they interact. Merging academic curiosity with two decades as an advertising copywriter and chatbot conversation designer, she’s as interested in the history as she is in the ways it might be shared.

Casey’s work focuses on architecture, class, community, and individual experience. In listening to people share their memories of how they’ve lived and where they’ve been, she finds connection, meaning, and new ways to understand the world at large.

Some of her research interests include:

• Oral history as a conflict-resolution tool that encourages dynamic conversations across cultures and through generations. 

• Alternative interpretations of events, individuals, and experiences that are often condemned or considered contentious. (Or, why jury duty can be a blessing.)

• Those who feel called to serve, from members of the clergy to politicians, firefighters, activists, and beyond. 

• Bridges between social stratification, among them community gardens, mixed-income housing, and spectator sports. 

• Birth and death doulas who serve as stewards at the start of life and shepherds at the end. 

• Architectural palimpsests as works of visual art that provide maps to the memories of people and places in transition.

 Casey holds a BA in Journalism from the college that gave her the scholarship that made it possible, as well as an MA in Oral History from Columbia University. When she’s not talking to strangers, Casey enjoys mudlarking, romanticizing Victorian life, delighting in sleight-of-hand magic, scouring microhistories, and being the unofficial hypewoman of the American Midwest.

Kae Bara Kratcha (2020)

Kae Bara Kratcha (they/them/theirs) is a librarian and an oral historian. They are a member of the 2020 OHMA cohort and graduated from OHMA in February 2023. Kae's work as an oral historian centers on queer and trans experience, speculative oral history, and queer networks in person and online, organizing, and mutual aid in their neighborhood of Astoria, Queens. Find their thesis project, A Cute and Nice Oral History of Dave's Lesbian Bar, on Oral History Works, and listen to or read their speculative oral history project “bodyhome maker” at https://bodyhomemaker.ohmaexhibits.org/. 

Margie Cook (2020)

Born and raised in Northern California, Margie Cook moved to New York City in January of 2009. Woefully unprepared for her first winter in the City, she eventually found her groove (and a proper winter wardrobe). She holds a Bachelor of Arts in Literary Studies from The New School.

Her Peruvian ancestry inspired her love for language and history. Her maternal grandfather’s mother tongue was Quechua; her mother’s Spanish; and her's, English. She was inspired to apply to Columbia's OHMA program after an internship at the Peruvian magazine Etiequeta Negra. While working on an issue about climate change, she dove deeper into the histories of indigenous communities leading the charge against polluting corporations. She contributed an article that included an exploration of her own family’s involvement in an environmental protest that sparked a small movement among neighboring towns. She wants to tell the story of endangered languages to ultimately revitalize and preserve them while shedding light on the social and environmental injustices faced by minority and endangered language speakers that she uncovered through her research.

Margie currently works for the Arts and Culture arm of the Brooklyn Public Library where she has led and supported programs aimed at promoting cultural inclusivity through the free exchange of knowledge. The most recent project she's organized, University Open Air, invites immigrant academics back into the classroom to lecture on a range of topics. She is grateful to find herself in this privileged role of helping redefine and expand on the democratic ideals in one of New York City’s most democratic institutions.