CFP: Collective Memory and Oral Tradition: Explorations and Interpretations

Organizers of a new hybrid international conference by the Netherlands-based Global Institute for Research, Education and Scholarship (GIRES) that seeks to promote the importance of oral history as a valuable and unique source of information are seeking submissions. Proposals are due by July 12, 2022.

For decades, oral history was considered less than scholarly, leading to its exclusion from several history books; thus valuable first-hand experiences and information that could alter historical truth were neglected and ultimately lost to oblivion. The conference organizers wish to challenge the pervading view that oral testimony can lead to false representation of historical events; and underline the significant support they can provide to historical research, especially in lieu of written documentation. 

Scholars from different fields including history, philosophy, religion, sociology, international relations, literature, art, space studies, peace studies, cultural studies, minority studies, war and/or genocide studies, journalism, immigration studies, psychology and psychiatry, political and social studies, and those working in archives, museums and NGOs are invited to submit.