Oral History for Social Change
Groundswell is a dynamic network of oral historians, activists, cultural workers, community organizers, and documentary artists.
Last month, Groundswell's Practitioner Support Network Working Group teamed up with colleagues Patrick O'Shea and Shiu-Ming Cheer from the National Immigration Law Center (NILC) to offer a special PSN chat: Immigration Law for Oral Historians. Check out some key takeaways and listen to the full audio!
Read MoreThe PSN centered around reflecting on lessons learned during the project “Summer for Respect: Organizing and Oral History” which was inspired by the anniversary of the Freedom Summer of 1964. Terrell was working with Columbia sociologist Adam Reich when Reich was approached by the UFCWabout working together on a project with student organizers and Walmart workers. Students were to conduct oral histories as part of their work as organizers in the field. Terrell led the oral history component and the union did the fieldwork training and organizing. Terrell started the PSN with a description of the project.
Read MoreAs the Core Working Group for Groundswell: Oral History for Social Change, the recent events in Charlottesville are at the forefront of our minds and hearts. We mourn the deaths in Charlottesville as well as the structural and state violence that perpetuate racism and white supremacy. Though we know that racism, white supremacy, and hate groups have always existed in the United States, we recognize that this is a particular moment in which white supremacists feel emboldened to act...
Read MoreIndigenous-led movements like that to protect the water at Standing Rock highlight the power of ancestral wisdom in transformative change. As movement-oriented oral historians and practitioners, how can the process and practice of oral history help us root ourselves in the wisdom of our own traditions and ancestors?
Read MoreWhat does it take to move from oral history to actual change? As practitioners seeking to engage oral history as a method for not only documenting, but actively contributing to social change, we often talk a lot about our struggles. But we also need to celebrate and learn from our victories! In this special PSN video chat, we invite three practitioners to share how they’ve successfully engaged oral history in service of social justice.
Read MoreIn this Practitioner Support Network video chat, we will discuss the potential and special challenges of interviewing about the body, and will develop strategies for interviews focused on embodied experience such as breastfeeding, living with a disability, being transgender, or dancing as well as strategies for keeping the body in focus in all of our work.
Read More
This reportback shares our thoughts on what it might look like to bring a language justice perspective to oral history practice. The notion of “language justice” recognizes that language is power. Language can be both a tool of domination and oppression as well as a powerful means for facilitating inclusive democracy and cross-community movement building and learning. Interviewing and sharing oral histories across languages presents unique opportunities and challenges. In this chat, we explored participants’ experiences, questions and strategies around navigating the technical and ethical issues that arise in doing oral history in bilingual and multilingual environments.
Read MoreLos Otros Dreamers, The Book started with a preoccupation that is familiar to all of us: How do I get these powerful stories off my laptop and out into the world? How can I bring the transformative process of telling and hearing these stories aloud to the communities that are most affected by the traumas and challenges of our region’s inhumane immigration policies?
Read More