The Oral History Review’s Section on Pedagogy

Across the country and throughout the world, grade to graduate school teachers, professors, and program coordinators are integrating oral history into their pedagogical practice.  In order to capture the transformative power of oral history as an educational methodology, the Oral History Review, the journal of the Oral History Association, dedicated its Winter/Spring 2011 issue to “Pedagogy.”

In order to continue to be the leading disseminator of projects, programs, and instructional practices that emerge from the use of oral history as an educational methodology, the Oral History Review will launch a yearly pedagogy section as a permanent feature of the Review in 2012.

Glenn Whitman, author of Dialogue with the Past: Engaging Students and Meeting Standards through Oral History, will serve as editor of this section.  The Review is seeking article submissions from the both the national and international perspective that reflect the experience of educators and the work of students on all levels, from grade school through graduate education.

If you are interested in writing on pedagogy, or have a suggestion or interest in a specific type of article, potential author or innovative project that should be highlighted, please submit your ideas to gwhitman@saes.org. 

This is an excellent opportunity to celebrate transformative teaching and learning and the important contributions students can make to the historical record, as well as other uses and applications of oral history, when empowered with the opportunity to be and think like oral historians.

“Sing It Out, Shout It Out, Say It Out Loud: Giving Voice through Oral History” is the theme for this year’s meeting of the Oral History Association at the Cleveland Downtown Marriott.  The 2012 OHA meeting will focus not only on the many ways that people express themselves within oral histories, but also the ways in which people craft existing oral histories into other means of expression.

Papers, performances, exhibits, and roundtables will encompass broad and diverse interpretations of the conference theme, in both traditional presentations and nontraditional ones with interactive, dialogic formats and creative use of digital media.

Special guests will include, among others, Neenah Ellis, national NPR journalist and oral historian, and Harold B. Williams, former executive secretary of the NAACP in Cleveland. Several special events are also planned to tap the rich history and culture of the Cleveland area and showcase the creativity of local musicians, performers, and artists, as well as the work of regional activists striving to preserve the recent history of struggles for civil rights, labor justice, and social welfare.

Plan now to attend this vibrant and engaging conference. Online registration will be available through this Web site beginning in June, 2012.

Earlier in 2011, the federal government has requested comment on proposed changes to the Common Rule, which regulates research on what are termed “human subjects.”  Comments were due by October 26, but it will be important for oral historians to keep abreast of the situation as it unfolds (although there have been no developments posted since the deadline).  The proposed changes seem to be a very mixed bag for oral history and history—offering both an opportunity to address past concerns about the effect federal regulations, and hence IRB review, have on oral history and potentially new problems for history under the rubric of “information risk.”  For more info…

OHA is establishing a new Development Committee charged with designing entrepreneurial plans for OHA’s financial growth and actively fundraising for the Association, both externally and internally.  The Committee will meet for the first time in Denver, on Thursday, October 13, 12-1:15pm in Ballroom A.  If you are interested please contact the OHA President, Rina Benmayor, or come to the meeting.

Stetson Kennedy died at 9:25 a.m., August 27, 2011.  He was   94.  A friend to labor, folkore and to the oral history  movement, Stetson will truly be missed.  His memory lives on in the Stetson Kennedy Vox Populi Annual Award dedicated to promoting social justice work among oral historians. More…

Exciting Changes for the Oral History Review!

On January 1, 2012, the editorship of the Oral History Review will change hands, and—in a departure for the OHA—an editorial team is coming on board.  Kathy Nasstrom, of the University of San Francisco, will become the editor and Troy Reeves, of the University of Wisconsin-Madison, will step into a new position of managing editor.  Kathy will be responsible for the overall management and development of the journal, and Troy will handle its production.  Kathy and Troy have identified their top priorities as: 1- strengthening the OHR as the journal of record for the field of oral history in the U.S.; 2- developing a more thoroughly international, interdisciplinary, and multimedia journal; 3- crafting a journal that meets the needs of the Association’s diverse constituencies.  John Wolford will continue as book review editor; Jennifer Abraham Cramer as media review editor; and—in another departure—a new position is being created to develop the multimedia capacity of the OHR.  Doug Boyd, Louie B. Nunn Center for Oral History at the University of Kentucky Libraries, will assume this position.  Stay tuned for more on all of these developments!