Post by Leslie McCartney, International Committee Web Liaison
This year, the International Oral History Association’s 18th Conference will be held in Barcelona Spain on July 9-12, 2014. The conference theme is ‘Power and Democracy: the many voices of Oral History’.
From the IOHA website:
The force of democracy as well as the resistance it has met has 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. As noted above, ‘Power and democracy’ will be the theme of the IOHA’s meeting in Barcelona, with the sub-themes:
- Archives, Oral Sources and Remembrance
- Power in Human Relations
- Democracy as a Political Tool
- Oral Sources and Cultural Heritage
- New Ways to Share Our Dialogue with the Public
The IOHA website also notes that ‘over 400 submissions were received … which pointes to a high level of scientific excellence.’
Further information about the conference can be found at:
