Troy Reeves, University of Wisconsin-Madison Oral History Program
Proposal Type
Roundtable
Seeking
- Seeking Additional Presenters
- Seeking Specific Expertise
- Seeking General Feedback and Interest
Related Topics
- Oral History
- Public Engagement
- Reflections on the Field
Abstract
This roundtable will allow the participants (& the audience) to discuss how the global pandemic has affected the field of oral history and our professional lives. We intend to focus on the following topics: interviewing remotely (and preserving those interviews); crowdsourcing extant oral histories; modifying, postponing, or cancelling ongoing projects; and maintaining or building community.
Description
COVID-19 has affected every aspect of public history; therefore, the field of oral history hasn’t been immune to this pandemic. The idea for this roundtable started during an April Zoom Meeting between Doug Boyd and Troy Reeves. Boyd and Reeves both run oral history programs at U.S. universities; while both have held leadership positions in the Oral History Association (OHA), they looked to the 2021 NCPH Annual Meeting as a location that could allow enough distance from the immediate aftermath (i.e. Spring 2020) of COVID-19 to allow oral historians to reflect and respond to how it has impacted our work and our lives. They then enlisted two other oral historians: Kate Scott at the (U.S.) Senate Historical Office and independent oral historian Allison Tracy-Taylor. (Note: In the Spring of 2021, Allison will serve as OHA Past President.)
At this point in the process, we are looking for 2-4 more people to join our roundtable. While we hope to achieve as much diversity (in all of its forms) as possible, we do hope the following types of people would consider joining us: A. Those who consider oral history as their primary profession; B. Those who lives in parts of the U.S. not reflected by current participants (i.e. NOT from Kentucky, Wisconsin, the DC area, or Northern California); C. Those who work independently or for small public or non-profit/private entities; and D. Those who document the lives of people who bore the brunt of the consequences of the pandemic–unemployment, food insecurity, economic uncertainty, mental or medical health challenges, etc.. To further assist those interested in joining us, we want to discuss, at least, the following topics: interviewing remotely; crowdsourcing extant oral histories; modifying, postponing, or cancelling ongoing projects; and maintaining or building community.
Finally, we intend for all participants to keep our initial remarks brief (6-10 minutes, depending on the final number of participants). We want this to allow ample time for the participants to query each other based on what they hear, as well as to leave time for the audience to query us.
If you have a direct offer of assistance, sensitive criticism, or wish to pass along someone’s contact information confidentially, please get in contact directly: Troy Reeves, University of Wisconsin-Madison, [email protected]
All feedback and offers of assistance should be submitted by July 6, 2020. If you have general ideas or feedback to share, please feel free to use the comments feature below.
Hi Troy,
This looks like a really great roundtable! You might want to reach out to Ramon Jackson, who I believe is working with the South Carolina African American Heritage Commission to do covid oral history, you can contact him at [email protected].
Thanks, Al, for the comment. I’ll reach out to Ramon next week.
Hi Troy! Two of my former classmates and I (Stephanie Walrath, Taylor Noakes, and Megan Crutcher) started a radical oral history initiative in Pittsburgh Pennsylvania this past fall that documents the experiences of African refugees in Pittsburgh and places ownership in narrators’ hands. Due to the pandemic our work was put on hold and we are currently looking for new avenues to pursue. We’d love to talk about the initiative and conducting COVID interviews with refugees, most of whom are essential workers and continue to work multiple jobs throughout the pandemic often in high contact environments such as stores, factories, and driving/delivery services. http://www.refugeesofpittsburgh.org
Thanks, Megan, for the comment. I’d love to “meet” up and talk more about your work and more about our proposed roundtable. So, can you send me an email and will go from there?
This sounds really interesting. I would love to hear from some of the narrators in oral history projects (such as the one Megan mentions). I am also interested in how COVID19, Black Lives Matter, and economic crises have affected (or not) the ethical frameworks used in oral histories.
Hi, Troy. I have two suggestions for co-panelists:
1) Margaret Jacobs has been leading a project out of the Center for Great Plains Studies to interview Yazidi meatpackers in Nebraska. She has a specific graduate student leading the project (whose name I cannot recall) and it would be a great opportunity for said individual (who most assuredly has a name) to diversify their CV.
2) Jason Kelly out of IUPUI has been leading the COVID-19 Oral History Project affiliated with the Journal of the Plague Year. His local work has been to look at the intersections of the pandemic and the Black Lives Matter movement in Indy.
I love the panel idea!