International Oral History Association
(Published each 4 months)
Number 4, August 1999
Affiliated Membership:
an outline for discussion with national oral history associations
All the members of
the IOHA and all the people interested are inivited to participate in this
exchange by sending their suggestions to the IOHA.
At the International
Oral History Association (IOHA) Council and General Meetings held in Rio
de Janeiro on 18 June 1998, it was agreed that a proposal for a constitutional
amendment to allow institutional 'affiliated membership' would be
brought to IOHA General Meeting at the next international oral history
conference in Istanbul in 2000. If such a proposal was passed by a majority
of members present at the General Meeting, it would allow national oral
history associations to affiliate to the IOHA so that their members would
automatically be IOHA members with affiliated membership rights. This proposal
would not affect individual membership of the IOHA, which would be available
to individuals in countries which do not have a national oral history association,
or where an individual prefers not to belong to the national oral history
association in their own country, but would like to belong to the IOHA.
It was agreed at the
Rio de Janeiro meeting that over the next two years appropriate members
of the IOHA Council would discuss the proposal with the representatives
of the various national oral history assocations, to discover whether or
not they would support such a proposal in principle, and to agree the details
of affiliated membership for a two-year trial period from July 2000.
At the moment we are promoting this suggestions. One argument in favour of affiliated membership is that in the countries in which there are national oral history associations - and well-established and democratically organised oral history movements - only a small proportion of the members of the national associations are also members of the international association, perhaps because the cost of membership of two organisations is too great. On the other hand, members of national oral history associations could benefit from the link with an international movement, and the international oral history movement would be enhanced by stronger connections with the national associations. The opportunity of affiliated membership of the IOHA might also be an incentive for the formation of national oral history associations in countries where no such association exists.
The costs and benefits of affiliated membership of the IOHA will need to be established. One possible system would be as follows. A national oral history association which affiliates to the IOHA would pay a two year lump sum affiliation fee at an agreed rate per member (a minimum fee for each member of the national association - the affiliation fee would need to be set at a rate which is affordable for the national associations, and which compensates the IOHA for the loss of individual member fees from members of affiliated national associations). In return:
1. The affiliated national association would receive Words and Silences, the annual bulletin of the IOHA, on disc or as camera ready copy for insertion and circulation in their own national publication;
2. Members of affiliated national oral history associations will be able to access and correspond with the IOHA website, which will include an electronic version of the IOHA News (edited every four months between the publication of the annual issue of Words and Silences), with details of international conferences, events, etc.
3. Members of affiliated national oral history associations will be entitled to the concessionary registration fee for IOHA members at the biennial International Oral History Conference. Moreover, will have voting and election rights if present at IOHA General Meetings (there is no provision for postal votes). However, national oral history associations which affiliate to the IOHA will not themselves be deemed to be members of the IOHA, and will not have voting rights in IOHA General Meetings. They might, however, recommend candidates for IOHA elections.
There are other possibilities. For instance, affiliated associations to the IOHA might also sponsor one or more of their members to attend the International Oral History Conference, or they might sponsor attendance from other less well resourced countries.
From Mouth to Page
With axes, wedges and hammer-blows: Recollections of the settlers of Río Grande in Tierra del Fuego
Maria Luisa Boy and Elida Repetto, two historians from Buenos Aires, have been working, since 1987, on the recovery of recollections regarding various parts of Argentina. This book, in which Emilia Susic De Bonifetti, Sarita Sutherland, Anibal Allen and Dominga Stanic also participate, gathers together pictorial and verbal records - the stories of people living South of the Straits of Magellan, on the largest island of the Tierra del Fuego Archipelago. The book's protagonists live in Río Grande, in the North of the Argentinean province of Tierra del Fuego –a place whose history seems to have begun abruptly, just over a century ago. The Northern part of the island had been inhabited by Selknam hunters until 1880, when the white man suddenly appeared in search of gold, or of land, or with missionary purposes. Thus began a complex, dramatic process, in the form of a wild adventure, whose unravelling was dictated both by man and by nature. Men and women of different ehtnic origin tell their own stories in a moving process of recollection, where both what is remembered and what is forgotten give a picture of what they experienced and strove for in the struggle to build a place for themselves. The publication of this work was possible thanks to funding from the Bank of Tierra del Fuego, the Provincial Betting- Regulation Institute and the Tierra del Fuego Ministry of Education and Culture, among other organizations.
Oral history-the theme of Secuencia
Mexico by the Instituto de Investigaciones Dr. José María Luis Mora, is given over to oral history, and includes the following articles: Susan Steet, "Oral history and subjectivity: forming a culture of democracy based on the Chiapas teachers' movement"; Asunción Álvarez, "Pre-death experience"; Cristina Gutiérrez Zuñiga, "The goys and the jews: the production of narration"; Sara Makowski Muchnik, "Out of silence: stories of women in prison"; Ma. Gracia Castillo Ramírez, "Recollection in life histories"; Graciela de Garay, "Portrait of an arquitect: Mario Pani in the collective memory"; André Gattaz, "The search for identity in life histories"; Patricia Fortuny Loret de Mola, "Dramatization in the narrative of the convert"; Patricia Safa, "From invaders to citizens: the recasting of identities in Los Pedregales de Coyoacán"; Maria Eugenia Suárez de Garay, "Like a cock on the line. Communication, gender and culture"; Jorge E.Aceves Lozano, "Convoked memory. On the interview in oral history"; Rossana Reguillo, "Recollection debated. The discussion group and urban myths"; Lourdes Roca, "Imagined recollection. The encounter between oral and visual testimony". For further information: secuencia@institutomora.edu.mx.
Issue number 2 of the Journal of the Brazilian Oral History Association.
Gathered together under the heading "Violence and politics", this includes various articles by both Brazilian and foreign contributors. Also, by unanimous decision of the journal's editors, both this issue and the coming one will include a selection of the texts presented at the Xth International Oral History Congress, which was held in Río de Janeiro in 1998. The articles have been chosen in accordance with a twofold criterion: they are texts which are significant both by virtue of the topic which they cover, and due to their bringing up of theoretical-methodological issues. Moreover, it is worth pointing out that preference was given to texts published in the annals in a language other than Portuguese, in which latter language they are now published, in order to make them accessible to another population of readers. Thus, the contents comprise texts by: Eugenia Meyer and Pablo Yankelevich, "Recollection and identity of South American exiles in Mexico"; Dora Schwarzstein, "The perception of dictatorship: exiles from the Spanish Republic, caught between Franco and Perón"; Denise Rollemberg, "Exile: rebuilding identities"; Miren Alcedo Moneo, "Silence and popular reaction: reflections on the birth and development of E.T.A."; Marcelo Bittencourt, "Recollections of the guerrillas: the dispute for a valuable capital"; Edgar de Decca, "Essay on anarquist recollection: history as collective fiction"; Mónica Lacarrieu, "The social dilemmas of patrimony: uses; the inflation or hyperinflation of history?; Carlos Eduardo Barbosa Sarmenta, "Science, industry and national sovereignty. Brazilian technological politics in the seventies"; Maria Celina D'Araujo, "How oral history reached Brazil: an interview with Aspásia Camargo".
Face to Face
As of the end of deadline for submission of paper proposals, over 280 participants have contacted the Turkish Conference Planning Committee. All abstracts have been sent to each member of the International Committee. The committee members are currently studying the proposals and will soon inform the Turkish Committee the results of their academic evaluations.
2. Gunhan Danisman of the Department of History of the Bogazici University has replaced Arzu Ozturkmen on the Conference Committee as the member from Turkey (e-mail address:danisman@boun.edu.tr , tel: 0090-212-2631500 - ext. 1607, fax: 0090-212-2575117). Please route all enquiries through him. Within the next few days a web-site address shall be announced containg the latest information on Istanbul Conference, including travel and hotel references and other relevant data.
3. The opening and closing plenary sessions of the Conference shall be held at the Albert Long Conference Center of the Bogazici University, which is located at one of the most attractive piece of water landscapes in this part of the World, and the work-shop sessions and the panels will be held at the Imperial Mint within the grounds of Topkapi Palace Museum, the legendary home of the Ottoman Sultans.
4. As our initial plans stand at the moment, we are contemplating 6 parallel sessions during 48 time-slots, excluding the various plenary sessions. This should make it possible to include almost all of the proposals into the Conference program. The Turkish Committee is thinking of setting a mid-November deadline for the submission of the papers in order to publish the Conference Proceedings by January 2000, and a Conference fee of 100 US Dollars will probably be required at the same date in order to qualify to attend the conference, as well as a 25 per cent down payment for hotel reservations. The Conference fee will include cocktails and dinner receptions at the opening and closing ceremonies, three free lunches, transportation between Conference venues, and free copies of the publisher Proceedings. An optional additional 35 US Dollars will provide reservation for a Bosphorus cruise on Sunday, 18 June,2000, including dinner on board.
5. The new web-site address will be announced in the next IOHA News.
Gunhan Danisman, on behalf of the Planning Committee for the XIth International Oral History Conference Istanbul, Turkey.
2000 Oral History Association Annual Meeting
The Oral History Association invites proposals for papers and presentations for its 2000 anual meeting, to be held October 11-15, in Durham, North Carolina. The theme of the meeting is "At the Crossroads: Transforming Community Locally and Globally." As we turn to a new century, this is an opportunity to examine the many ways in which oral history can explore how globalization affects communities and cultures. What impacts do the social, economic, political, and cultural processes of globalization have on local and regional communities? What kinds of narratives are emerging at the local, regional, national, and international levels about the changing nature of community? The meeting also seeks to encourage a re-examination of the ways in which oral historians work within communities. What is the role of oral history in documenting and understanding the transformation of community? How does the practice of oral history change community or community members, including oral history practitioners? Have recent concerns over shared authority altered the ways in which oral historians are shaping history and interacting with communities?
Proposals on all aspects of the practice and interpretation of oral history are also welcome. The Program Committee especially encourages sessions that experiment with forms of documentation in addition to customary panels. Presentations may include film, video, radio, exhibits, drama and electronic media. Proposals are expected from academic and public historians; folklorists; graduate students; library, archives, museum, and media professionals; community workers; and educators of all level of students. Applicants must submit five copies of proposals. In all cases, please include the full name, mailing address, institutional affiliation, phone number, and e-mail address for each session participant.
For full sessions, submit a one-two page abstract of the session and one–page vitae of all participants. For individual proposals, submit a one–page abstract and one–page vitae of the presenter. For queries, contact either program co–chair. Send proposals to Mary Murphy by December 15, 1999. Alicia Rouverol, Southern Oral History Program, Department of History, CB#3195, 406 Hamilton Hall, The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC 27599-3195, ajrouver@email.unc.edu. Mary Murphy, Dept. of History, P.O. Box 172320, Montana State University, Bozeman, MT 59717-2320, uhixmm@montana.edu.
Annual conference of the Society for Historians of American Foreign Relations
The Society for Historians of American Foreign Relations (SHAFR) invites submissions for its Twenty-Sixth Annual Conference, to be held at Ryerson Polytechnic University, Toronto, 22-25 June 2000. We welcome proposals from historians and scholars working in related disciplines dealing with the broadest possible range of topics in international history and foreign policy. Given the year and the venue, we particularly invite proposals on the Korean War or on Canada-US relations. Preference will be given to complete panels and roundtables. Please send proposals --including a one-page abstract for each paper, a current one-page c.v. for each participant, and current mailing and e-mail addresses for each participant-- to the address listed below by 20 November 1999: Professor Geoffrey S. Smith, 2000 SHAFR Program Committee, Department of History, 99 University Avenue, Watson Hall Room 212
Queen's University, Kingston, Ontario, Canada K7L 3N6, Telephone: (613)533-2150, Fax: (613)533-6298, E-mail:smithgs@post.queensu.ca. For information on local conference arrangements, contact: Professor Margaret MacMillan, Department of History, Ryerson Polytechnic University, 350 Victoria Street , Toronto, Ontario, Canada M5B 2K3, Telephone: (416) 979-5000 ex 7728, E-mail:mmacmill@acs.ryerson.ca
Meeting of the European History Section of the Southern Historical Association
The European History Section of the Southern Historical Association invites proposals for complete panels and single papers for presentation at the annual meeting in Louisville, Kentucky, November 8-11, 2000. Panels should consist of two or three papers, a commentator, and a chair. Papers on any aspect of European history are welcome, and presenters may include graduate students as well as faculty members. It is not recommended that a panel consist exclusively of graduate students. Proposals are due by October 1, 1999. Send a one-page description of each paper and a short c.v. for each panelist to David Hendon, Chair 2000 European History Section Program Committee, Department of History, P.O. Box 97306, Baylor University, Waco, TX 76798-7306. Fax: 254-710-2551. E-mail: David_Hendon@baylor.edu.
Edited by: Eugenia
Meyer and Eva Salgado, Faculty of Philosophy and Letters, National Autonomous
University of Mexico (UNAM). Translation: Fred Rogers. In charge of printing
and distribution: Mercedes Vilanova, Montserrat Condomines and Lluis Ubeda.
Printed by: HAFO, Barcelona, Spain. Print run: 150 copies. (Contributions
and suggestions:
hel@servidor.unam.mx
y ahcbhafo@trivium.gh.ub.es)