Oral History and the Media Conference proposals
Here’s a conference for people interested in oral history in relation to media. We’re posting it now because the deadline for proposals is 20 December. The call for papers is available from the OHS website.
Oral History and the Media
Friday 3rd and Saturday 4th July 2020
Bournemouth University
Oral history and the media have an important but complex relationship. The media has long been a significant producer of, and outlet for, oral history. Classic radio and television productions like The Radio Ballads (1958-1964), Yesterday’s Witness (1969-1981), and The World at War (1973-4) pioneered the use of oral history in the media, giving voice to those who would otherwise have been excluded from both the media and the historical record. Since the 1980s, there has been growing use of oral history in TV and radio documentaries and storytelling, with oral histories now forming an important and popular dimension of history and factual programming and broadcasting. However, the methodological, aesthetic, narrative, and ethical decisions behind these productions – such as who to interview, what questions to ask, and what parts of the interviews end up on the “cutting room floor” – often remain hidden.
The relationship between oral history and the media can also be seen in how oral history has been used to explore the histories and experiences of the media itself, with oral history projects charting the development of media companies and organisation. This has coincided with an upsurge of interest in memory and nostalgia related to the experiences of media, such as memories of cinema, books and music.
Elsewhere, the advent of new media and social media has fuelled the growth of digital storytelling, interactive documentaries, as well as serialised audio podcasts which draw heavily on oral history testimony. Whilst these new technologies, formats and channels offer new ways of creating, disseminating and consuming oral history, they also raise vital questions about ethics, participation, expertise, audiences, and formats in oral history practice.
This conference aims to consider the relationship between oral history and the media, both historically and today, by exploring similarities, differences, opportunities and challenges between media practices and oral history practices, from interviewing to editing, audiences to ethics, covering topics such as:
The Use and Misuse of Oral History in the Media
Memories of (the) Media: Film, Books, TV, Radio, Theatre, Music.
The Influence of the Media on Memory: Mediated Memory and Prosthetic Memory
Oral History, Media and Editing: Soundbites, Vox-Pops and the ‘Cutting-Room Floor’
Oral History, Media and Interviewing: Intersubjectivity, Questions, and Emotion
Journalism, Crisis Oral History and Historical Distance
Oral Histories of the Media (professions, organisations and companies)
New Media, Social Media and Oral History
Changing Media and Formats and its implications for Oral History
Archiving, Preservation and Re-use of Oral Histories in the Media
Proposals
The deadline for submission of proposals is 20th December 2019. Each proposal should include: a title, an abstract of between 250-300 words, your name (and the names of any co-presenters, panellists, etc), your institution or organisation, your email address, and a note of any particular requirements. Most importantly your abstract should demonstrate the use of oral history or personal testimony and be directly related to the conference theme. Proposals that include audio playback are strongly encouraged. Proposals should be emailed to the ORAL HISTORY AND THE MEDIA Conference Manager, Polly Owen, at polly.owen@ohs.org.uk . They will be assessed anonymously by the conference organisers, and presenters will be contacted in January/February 2020.
