[Commlist] cfp: Oral History and the Media Conference

Oral History Society Annual Conference 2020

Oral History and the Media

Friday 3rd and Saturday 4th July 2020

Bournemouth University

Oral history and the media have an important but complex relationship. 
The media has long been a significant producer of, and outlet for, oral 
history.  Classic radio and television productions like The Radio 
Ballads (1958-1964), Yesterday’s Witness (1969-1981), and The World at 
War (1973-4) pioneered the use of oral history in the media, giving 
voice to those who would otherwise have been excluded from both the 
media and the historical record. Since the 1980s, there has been growing 
use of oral history in TV and radio documentaries and storytelling, with 
oral histories now forming an important and popular dimension of history 
and factual programming and broadcasting. However, the methodological, 
aesthetic, narrative, and ethical decisions behind these productions – 
such as who to interview, what questions to ask, and what parts of the 
interviews end up on the “cutting room floor” - often remain hidden.

The relationship between oral history and the media can also be seen in 
how oral history has been used to explore the histories and experiences 
of the media itself, with oral history projects charting the development 
of media companies and organisation. This has coincided with an upsurge 
of interest in memory and nostalgia related to the experiences of media, 
such as memories of cinema, books and music.

Elsewhere, the advent of new media and social media has fuelled the 
growth of digital storytelling, interactive documentaries, as well as 
serialised audio podcasts which draw heavily on oral history testimony. 
Whilst these new technologies, formats and channels offer new ways of 
creating, disseminating and consuming oral history, they also raise 
vital questions about ethics, participation, expertise, audiences, and 
formats in oral history practice.

This conference aims to consider the relationship between oral history 
and the media, both historically and today, by exploring similarities, 
differences, opportunities and challenges between media practices and 
oral history practices, from interviewing to editing, audiences to 
ethics, covering topics such as:

        • The Use and Misuse of Oral History in the Media

        • Memories of (the) Media: Film, Books, TV, Radio, Theatre, Music.

        • The Influence of the Media on Memory: Mediated Memory and
        Prosthetic Memory

        • Oral History, Media and Editing: Soundbites, Vox-Pops and the
        ‘Cutting-Room Floor’

        • Oral History, Media and Interviewing: Intersubjectivity,
        Questions, and Emotion

        • Journalism, Crisis Oral History and Historical Distance

        • Oral Histories of the Media (professions, organisations and
        companies)

        • New Media, Social Media and Oral History

        • Changing Media and Formats and its implications for Oral History

        • Archiving, Preservation and Re-use of Oral Histories in the Media

*PROPOSALS*

The deadline for submission of proposals is 20th December 2019. Each 
proposal should include: a title, an abstract of between 250-300 words, 
your name (and the names of any co-presenters, panellists, etc), your 
institution or organisation, your email address, and a note of any 
particular requirements. Most importantly your abstract should 
demonstrate the use of oral history or personal testimony and be 
directly related to the conference theme. Proposals that include audio 
playback are strongly encouraged. Proposals should be emailed to the 
ORAL HISTORY AND THE MEDIA Conference Manager, Polly Owen, at 
(polly.owen /at/ ohs.org.uk) . They will be assessed anonymously by the 
conference organisers, and presenters will be contacted in 
January/February 2020

www.ohs.org.uk/conferences/conference-2020/ 
<http://www.ohs.org.uk/conferences/conference-2020/>


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