The force of democracy as well as the resistance it has met have prompted oral history projects around the world. Interviews with advocates of change have supplemented and supplanted archives of discredited regimes. Oral histories have documented social and political upheavals, reform movements and reactions. Oral history have revealed the effects of power relationships that exist between citizens and their governments, workers and employers, students and teachers, and the layers within institutions, communities and families. As a democratic tool, oral history records and preserves the memories, perceptions, and voices of individuals and groups at all levels and in all endeavors, but that raises questions about what to do with these interviews and how to share them with the people and communities they reflect. “Power and democracy” will be the theme of the IOHA’s meeting in Barcelona, with the sub-themes:
For each international conference the IOHA is able to provide small grants for a limited number of participants. The IOHA Conference/Master Class Scholarship Fund aims to bring together international oral history scholars from inside and outside the academic realm, to continue building a unique global platform for professional exchange and comparative oral history inquiry.
Scholarship application form (deadline – 15th December): iohanet.org