Call For Papers
Dancing with memory: oral history and its audiences
Papers are invited from around the world for contributions to the XIVth International Oral History Conference hosted by the International Oral History Association in collaboration with the Oral History Association of Australia, State Library of New South Wales, University of Technology Sydney, and University of New England.
Proposals may be for a conference paper, a thematic panel or a workshop session. Offers to convene a Special Interest Group Session are also sought. (See details below*)
Proposals will be evaluated according to their oral history focus, relevance to the conference theme and sub-themes, methodological and theoretical significance, and sound scholarship.
Conference Theme:
'Dancing with memory: oral history and its audiences'.
Much of the research and reflective work in this field over the years has focused on those who carry out oral histories and the process of interviewing itself. But what has been the effect of telling stories largely through the sound medium over the last 40 years? As we move to a new age of digital storytelling which strengthens the visual elements, it seems timely to ask: who listens and how? Oral history is one of the ways in which people share memories and how people hear and respond to them is partly shaped by the contexts of their telling and listening.
The conference theme invites presentations which investigate that 'dance with memory' which occurs between the speaker and the listener, and between the performer or product and their audiences. We therefore encourage people who have worked with oral history in a wide range of environments such as museums, heritage agencies, academic institutions, law courts, radio and television, performing arts, community projects all of which express a relationship to the past through a particular cultural medium.
The conference theme also invites reflective analysis of the ways in which, through past and current projects, 'dancing with memory' involves both pleasure and pain – for the subject, the interviewer and the audience – and the ways in which awareness of particular audiences shapes the focus and conceptual framework of individual projects.
We encourage proposals which explore indigenous lives, and we envisage that some sessions will focus specifically on comparative indigenous perspectives and experiences.
Conference sub-themes offer an opportunity to tease out some of these issues as well as to extend discussion to include ongoing concerns within oral history scholarship and practice.
Sub-Themes:
| archiving memory –methodological sessions which focus on interviews as evidence of the past for future researchers; reuse of interviews; electronic media and access; publishing oral history in written texts | |
| fire and water – environmental issues, natural heritage, disasters | |
| healing memories – oral history in health work, aged care, disability. | |
| island stories - island nations and nations of islands; their stories and connections; sea passages
and borders. | |
| memory and community - where oral history has been central to the recreation of community in particular locations or used to document disappeared or lost communities. | |
| memory and trauma – in cases involving human rights, justice or restitution where oral history has been utilized as testimony, surviving war, surviving terrorism | |
| places and buildings – lost places, localities, heritage issues and debates | |
| pleasures of memory– where the focus is on oral history as a sensuous engagement with the voice; relationship to seeing (still and moving image), touch (material culture and museums), performance (theatre and music) ; emotion and experience. | |
| political pasts – government agencies and corporate memory, politics, politicians | |
| remembering the land – particularly where oral history has been central to land claims or ownership of particular sites, and where oral history is used to map spatial histories | |
| sharing/passing on beliefs - religious traditions, oral traditions. | |
| stories in translation - diasporas, cross-cultural dialogue | |
| talking to ourselves – history of oral history, oral history as an international movement, 10th anniversary of IOHA | |
| teaching and learning - where the audience is cross generational and oral history makes an intervention in passing on cultural heritage either through formal schooling or informal family or community traditions |
If you are interested, please send us a single page proposal including an outline of your paper and the following details:
- name (with your family name in CAPITAL letters)
- affiliation
- postal address
- email address
- phone and fax numbers
- relevant sub-theme
- whether an individual paper, a thematic panel, or a workshop proposal*
- suggestions for Special Interest Groups*
Proposals (and subsequent papers) must be written in English or Spanish. Presenters will be required to send their final paper in English or Spanish, with a summary in the other language. We strongly recommend that translations are done by professional translators. If none are available please notify the Association at ioha@uts.edu.au
Papers should, as much as possible, allow the conference audiences to hear the voices of narrators.
*NOTE:
Individual papers - these will be grouped by the conference organizers into panels or workshops with papers which have a similar focus
Thematic panels - proposals for a thematic panel should contain no more than four presenters, preferably representing different countries
Workshops - workshop proposals should identify an issue or focus for a workshop, propose a structure and workshop leader/s.
Performances - segments (of no more than 30 minutes) from oral history based performances
Special Interest Groups - There will be network sessions for Special Interest Groups to meet, establish contacts, share resources and ideas. Convenors will be required to organize each Special Interest Group. Suggestions and offers are invited.
Master classes - There will also be some oral history master classes or workshops available before the conference and led by internationally recognized oral history scholars and practitioners.
DEADLINE FOR PROPOSALS: 30 MAY 2005
Late proposals may be accepted until 31 July 2005Other deadlines:
| By 30 September 2005: | acceptance or rejection of proposals |
| By 28 February 2006: | receipt of papers for publication on conference CD-Rom |
SCHOLARSHIPS
The International Oral History Association has a Scholarships Fund to provide financial assistance to attend the conference, particularly for participants from developing countries. Guidelines are available on the IOHA website (http://www.ioha.fgv.br). To be eligible for a Scholarship you must, in the first instance, have a paper or other proposal accepted. Please consult the IOHA website for details.SEND PROPOSALS TO:
| Email: | IOHA@uts.edu.au |
| Mail: | Paula Hamilton Faculty of Humanities University of Technology Sydney PO Box 123 Broadway NSW 2007 Australia. |
ENQUIRIES TO:
| Africa: | Sean Field - sean@humanities.uct.ac.za |
| Asia: | Gunhan Danisman - danisman@boun.edu.tr |
| Europe: | Pilar Dominguez - pdprats@dch.ulpgc.es (Spanish) Parita Mukta - p.mukta@warwick.ac.uk (English) |
| Latin America: | Antonio Montenegro - antoniomontenegr@hotmail.com |
| North America: | Funso Afolayan - fsa@christa.unh.edu |
| Oceania: | Paula Hamilton - IOHA@uts.edu.au |