Oral History Association of India

12/10/2024

Hope you've sent in your abstracts!
If not, no worries — you still have a week! Don't forget to submit before 20th October!
Click here to send your abstract: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSeEBhXxbwTJhaO2cXiuzTfjChanW7KUPMa3Q4-aOu1HRvtfig/viewform

📢 Call for papers 🌊

We are pleased to announce the Tenth Annual Conference of the Oral History Association of India

on the theme

"Coastal Histories: Stories of Resistance and Resilience",

organized in collaboration with the Kerala Museum.

🗓 24| 25| 26 January 2025
📍Kerala Museum, Kochi

For details regarding the Call for Papers, please visit: https://forms.gle/cRRumnjYWixYu2Gj8

28/09/2024

Happy to announce our next OHAI ADDA scheduled on 3rd October 2024 at 6 PM via Zoom

Building user interfaces and AI to make oral histories more accessible

The end-to-end process of oral history is a logistically burdensome and time-consuming process. Institutions often have to stitch together multiple applications for each separate part of the process from recording, to transcription, indexing, cataloguing, editing, preservation, and dissemination. By integrating these workflows into a single easy-to-use application and ethically leveraging key innovations around AI technologies such as speech-to-text (STT), Large Language Models (LLMs), named entity recognition (NER), and semantic search, it is possible to simplify and ease the process for any organisation to sustainably and affordably collect, preserve, and share its community stories.

Join this session to hear from TheirStory Founder & CEO, Zack Ellis, and Smithsonian Data Scientist, William Mattingly, about how they are teaming up to democratise the process of oral history.

For registration, click here: https://forms.gle/b53eFWHonLePSJra8

Registered participants will get the link for the Adda via email.

14/09/2024

📢 Call for papers 🌊

We are pleased to announce the Tenth Annual Conference of the Oral History Association of India

on the theme

"Coastal Histories: Stories of Resistance and Resilience",

organized in collaboration with the Kerala Museum.

🗓 24| 25| 26 January 2025
📍Kerala Museum, Kochi

For details regarding the Call for Papers, please visit: https://forms.gle/cRRumnjYWixYu2Gj8

13/08/2024

The editorial committee of VARTA - the official newsletter of the Oral History Association of India, invites submissions for the newsletter.
Contributions to the newsletters are invited from all OHAI members as well as non-members who are currently engaged with Oral History projects across the globe.

All submissions, in accordance with the categories mentioned here: https://ohai.info/call-for-submissions-ohai-varta-2025/, must be emailed to [email protected] with the subject line –
'Submission for OHAI Varta 2025', latest by September 30, 2024.

In case you have any queries, email us at: [email protected]

09/08/2024

We are planning an exciting workshop on "From Storytelling to Archive: Oral History, Oral Tradition and Indigenous Practices" in collaboration with Arunachal Institute of Tribal Studies, Rajiv Gandhi University, Doimukh, Arunachal Pradesh.
For more details, check here: https://ohai.info/events/from-storytelling-to-archive-oral-history-oral-tradition-and-indigenous-practices/
If you want to register, kindly apply here: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfTL-av6TRId2dVRV1LcW-EcYxYZU8GLK5rapKn6FC6TYYBWQ/viewform?usp=sf_link

27/06/2024

Join us for our next adda with Dr. C. Yamini Krishna on her captivating film "Ilm ka Shehar/ City of Knowledge" on 3rd July 2024 at 7 pm via Zoom.

Discover the transformation of 19th-century ideas of knowledge to today's byte-sized information economy, through the varied narratives shared by the city of Hyderabad, Deccan. The film also featured the works of modernist intellectual Dr. Syed Mohiuddin Qadri Zor.

Dr. Krishna, Assistant Professor at FLAME University, holds a Ph.D. from The English and Foreign Languages University, Hyderabad, and is renowned for her research on film city urbanism in Hyderabad. She has received prestigious grants and fellowships, including the India Foundation for the Arts Research Grant and the Charles Wallace India Trust Fellowship.

Don't miss this opportunity to delve into the intersection of film, urbanism, and oral narratives with a distinguished scholar and filmmaker. Register here: https://forms.gle/JpqFKdHXrKinDy1z7

See you there!

14/06/2024

During the recently held ADDA session on May 30th, Junisha Khongwir, the curator at Northeast India AV Archive, engaged in a comprehensive discussion regarding curation of the archive. She delved into the intricacies of the curation and exhibition process for this archive across various Northeastern states in India. Emphasizing the imperative to document and preserve memories and traditions, she presented an array of photographs and audio-visual materials meticulously curated to preserve the cultural legacies and histories of diverse communities in the region.
Junisha emphasized the significance of community involvement in historical preservation, characterizing it as a "people's archive." She elaborated on the unique experiences of each community, intricately woven with nature and landscapes, illustrating this with examples such as a photo exhibition held on the banks of the Siju river. This exhibition aimed to symbolize the interconnection between landscape and human lives while honoring the symbolic importance of the river as a signifier of the community's identity.
Furthermore, Junisha recounted the trajectory of the archival organization, acknowledging the support of patrons and the collaborative efforts with the Government of Meghalaya, particularly in facilitating the Museum on Wheels project for "Meghalaya at 50." This initiative, comprising a blend of family histories and state history, was conceptualized to offer a historical journey through the state's rich heritage and its people.
Highlighting the archive's intention to transcend mere collection and preservation of the community’s history for posterity towards opening up a space that allows for active participation in the historical narrative and retells their own histories. Junisha introduced initiatives like Legacy Threads, which aim to empower communities to reclaim and recount their own histories, thus enriching the historical discourse with diverse perspectives and voices.

20/05/2024

Happy to announce our next OHAI Adda to be held on Thursday, 30th May! D Junisha Khongwir will be talking about the practices of the Northeast India Audio-visual Archive.

When: Thursday, 30th May | 7 pm
Where: via Zoom

Event is Open for All.
Register here: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScbGfd09dGzErmOk78eP4sKt8uie_0A14Y9euhgFE8xN8fuOQ/viewform?usp=sharing
Registered participants will receive the Zoom link on the day of the event.

About the Speaker:
Donskobar Junisha Khongwir is a Khasi woman brought up in Laitlyngkot, Meghalaya. She is an educator and a visual artist. Junisha graduated from AJK Jamia Millia Islamia University. She’s an Assistant professor at the Department of Mass Media , St Anthony’scollege, Shillong. She is also the curator at the Northeast India AV Archive.

Hope to see you on the 30th May!

09/03/2024

Our schedule for the Ninth OHAI Annual Conference is out! Take a look. Looking forward to exciting three days of insightful discussions with scholars, oral historians, academicians on various facets of oral history to foster a more inclusive understanding of India's mountainous landscapes.