Bi-annually, the Columbia Center for Oral History Research sponsors a Summer Institute in New York City, which brings together oral historians, scholars, activists, and others for two weeks of advanced conversation in the theory and practice of oral history. Participants work with the Center’s world-class staff, network with oral historians from around the world and go to exhibits in New York City. Each year we focus on a different theme that reflects our work from throughout the past year.
Oral History and Social Change
June 19 - June 30, 2023 | Columbia University | New York City
The world has changed markedly since we last convened in 2019—and oral history has been a critical agent in the change-making process. Practitioners, activists, artists, and researchers in communities around the world are using oral history to not only document social change, but to influence, resist, and further it. Our 2023 Institute, Oral History and Social Change, invites participants to explore how the stories we tell invite social and political change.
During our two-week Institute, we will facilitate this exploration with opportunities for our participants to workshop their projects, attend panels, engage with cultural institutions in New York, and to learn from several of Columbia University’s groundbreaking oral history projects.
During the first week of the Institute, our primary focus will be the Obama Presidency Oral History Project, a collection of 1,100 hours of interviews that assess relationships between the Obama administration’s policymaking and everyday life—namely, how power flows from the top down and bottom up. This project’s interdisciplinary research design and focus on power has led to a diverse collection of voices, including those from the general public who shaped presidential decision-making as the result of the events and circumstances of their lives—a marked shift in the presidential history genre. Participants will have the opportunity to interface directly with the researchers, managers, and interviewers who brought this project to life, bringing a valuable ‘how to’ perspective on executing large-scale projects. Alongside workshops that invite pressing conversations around human rights work, fieldwork dynamics, and the self-advocacy of oral historians, we will also explore the roles of individual leaders who work across institutions, communities, and issues to create a more just world, including through our oral history work with the Obama Scholars Program.
During the second week, our Institute sessions will elaborate further on critical insights and topics pertaining to oral history practices and associated ethical frameworks, calling upon innovative projects including the NYC Covid-19 Oral History, Narrative, and Memory Project. Another notable inclusion will be a live interview dialogue with an Obama Scholar who will share his experiences around the Disability Rights Oral History project in Nigeria, which aims to amplify the voices of disability rights advocates in Nigeria, casting light on their achievements, struggles, and the ongoing endeavor toward inclusivity and equality.
Join us at free public workshops during the Institute
Past Institutes:
2019: Oral History from the Margins to the Center: Narrating the Politics of our Times
2015: Narrating Population Health: Oral History, Disparity, and Social Change
2014: Second Generation Memories and Stories
2013: Telling the World: Indigenous Memories, Rights, and Narratives
2012: What Is Remembered: Life Story Approaches in Human Rights Contexts
2011: Rethinking 9/11: Life Stories, Cultural Memory and the Politics of Representation
If you have additional questions about the Oral History Summer Institute, please reach out to Mary Marshall Clark (Institute Director) or Rebecca Feldherr (Institute Coordinator)
Looking for our graduate program in oral history? Check out Columbia’s Oral History Master of Arts Program.
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Tuition fees for the Summer Institute are $2,200 USD. This fee does not include accommodations.
To support our students, we will be providing 15 full and and 6 partial tuition scholarships.
To support participants’ stay in New York City, we will also make discounted housing at Columbia University available.
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The Summer Institute convenes in and around Columbia University’s Morningside Heights campus in New York City.
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We welcome all levels of experience—ranging from seasoned practitioners to those who are interested in learning how to incorporate oral history into their research, organizing, or art.
Regardless of experience level, participants will have an opportunity to expand their ability to conceptualize, build, manage, and conduct oral history work. Those with ongoing projects or project ideas will have opportunities to workshop their ideas with the cohort and faculty at Columbia.
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We select a diverse cohort of participants, including students, academics, organizers, and artists.
Often participants attend the Institute as an opportunity to break through an impasse in their work, expand their professional network, and sharpen their skills.
For this year’s theme, we are particularly interested in engaging folks who are using or wish to use oral history to advance social change.
