Oral Historians at Risk is an initiative of the Oral History Association (OHA) Advocacy Committee. The committee’s goal is to increase OHA’s capacity to support researchers and narrators who find themselves working in politically and legally dangerous situations, such as state repression, violence, surveillance, and censorship. This program is open to anyone involved in oral history work, whether or not you are affiliated with an academic institution, whether you are a researcher, student or project participant/narrator. Our work will include collecting and disseminating relevant best practices, fundraising, networking with organizations and people who engage this work globally, and referrals for financial and legal assistance, as needed.
If you are an oral historian at risk and would like support, you can connect with us by directly writing the Advocacy Committee contact listed below. Please provide your contact information, and explain your circumstances and needs. Where possible, we are happy to connect you with relevant resources and networks that can help. You can also provide us your contact details on Signal, if preferred.
If you are someone who can provide assistance to oral historians at risk – be it legal, financial, informational, a temporary abode, or other forms of aid- please feel free to write to the committee contacts below.
This initiative is currently in development. Please continually check back for links to relevant resources, financial assistance programs, and guides for oral historians working in perilous circumstances.
Crowdsourcing
We understand funding is currently affecting all of us in higher education. However, we can pivot and continue to do our work by partnering with others to help your current projects in ways can that be mutually beneficial to project directors and those who would like to use collections as primary sources and tools for students. This can also be particularly beneficial for classes that want to work on oral history projects.
If interested, contribute to this oral history project crowdsourcing document by adding your project and the following information:
- Name of project
- Brief description of needs (transcriptions, recordings, metadata, etc)
- Contact info
For those who would like to collaborate on a specific project, please add your name and contact information to the sheet.
Resources
Privacy/Security:
https://www.cyberghostvpn.com/en_US/privacyhub/an-activists-guide-to-online-privacy-and-safety/
Funding:
https://www.memorystudiesassociation.org/msa-fellowship-memory-scholars-at-risk-last-call/
International Scholars at Risk:
Scholar Rescue Fund (also includes public intellectuals): https://www.scholarrescuefund.org/for-scholars/
Scholars at Risk support: https://applications.scholarsatrisk.org
Scholarly Mutual Aid for Lebanon: https://sites.google.com/view/scholarly-mutual-aid-lebanon
MESA Global Academy: https://mesaglobalacademy.org/grant-opportunities/
MESA Committee on Academic Freedom: https://mesana.org/advocacy/committee-on-academic-freedom/protocol
Protecting Your Collections:
https://www.safehavensforarchives.org
https://ncph.org/what-is-public-history/advocacy/
https://afterviolenceproject.org/community-archives-collaborative
Contact Details
Chair: Elena Foulis, Texas A&M University – San Antonio
efoulis@tamusa.edu
https://apps.tamusa.edu/course-information/my-profile/faculty-Profile.php?ID=625
Anna Sheftel, Concordia University
anna.sheftel@concordia.ca
https://www.concordia.ca/artsci/scpa/faculty.html?fpid=anna-sheftel
Liz Strong, Columbia University
elh2166@columbia.edu
https://incite.columbia.edu/liz-strong