AMICAL Keeps Current – Oral histories and decolonial practice
AMICAL Keeps Current is an event series for discussing a recent publication (such as articles, book chapters, presentation recordings, webinars, etc.), selected by a different committee or interest group each month. Members may also suggest publications for discussion.
The next AMICAL Keeps Current event will be led by Kate Roy (Coordinator of Digital Pedagogy Initiatives and the Writing and Learning Center and Adjunct Professor in Languages, Literatures and Cultures at Franklin University Switzerland). We will discuss the article “Decolonising Oral History: A Conversation” by Hilary Francis, Inge Boudewijn, Antonia Carcelén-Estrada, Juana Francis Bone, Katy Jenkins and Sofia Zaragocin. The article is available to read online or to download as a PDF.
Are current Oral History practices, as we conduct them now, as ethical as we think? Or are they still, wherever we conduct them geographically, power-coded by a Global North framework and by their ultimate institutionalization, emanating from and being archived in our institutional sites and spaces? What does this mean for questions of equitable, shared representation? The article asks us to question our intentions and biases, and be critical of how we gather and (re)present Oral Histories, calling for a transparency of process and a sharing in (re)presentation decision-making with the communities from which the histories emanate.
Here are some suggested points of discussion (you may put forward and discuss further points during the meeting):
- What are the problems inherent in the traditional approach to “gathering stories”? How can we reflect on and reshape modes of control of Oral History narratives?
- How might the frameworks of our projects and our intentions in approaching participants “shift the focus” away from the narrators themselves? How can we redress the balance?
- How can interviewed communities be fully involved in and maintain ownership of the (re)presentation of their stories?
- How can we decolonize notions and practices of institutional archiving of Oral Histories?
Who should attend? Faculty, librarians and technologists engaged (or planning to engage) with oral history and/or interested in questions of community accessibility and project archiving.
The event will be held on Zoom (see our online event guidelines) and recorded. If you register for the event, you will be emailed a link to the recording.
Organized by: AMICAL’s Digital Liberal Arts Committee