Sept. 16, 2010

David Reichard and Rina Benmayor of the Division of Humanities and Communication, and former CSUMB faculty member Tomás Summers Sandoval are playing key roles in the upcoming Oral History Association's annual meeting.

The meeting will be held Oct. 27-31 in Atlanta.

As co-chairs of the program committee, Professors Reichard and Summer Sandoval have worked for the past year to design the theme and call for papers, create the program and organize the plenary sessions.

As president-elect of the association, Professor Benmayor has been responsible for conference fundraising, keynote speakers, event venues and overall organizational oversight. She will become the next president of the association.

The theme of this year's conference is "Times of Crisis, Times of Change: Human Stories on the Edge of Transformation." It has attracted more than 350 individual presenters, one of the largest in OHA history.

Atlanta is a perfect venue to explore how oral histories can lend inspiration, spark debate, and give perspective to the complex meanings of crisis, change, and transformation. It is an historic city defined by a vibrant and sometimes contested history of activism for civil and human rights. It is also a city that has been transformed by waves of rural-to-urban migration, immigration, urbanization and changes in the global economy, all of which have produced crisis, real or imagined, in local communities. The program has been designed to reflect upon the past and to connect these lessons toward a more equitable and humane future.

In keeping with the theme, the conference commemorates the 50th anniversary of the birth of the Atlanta Student Movement and the Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee (SNCC). A keynote panel will bring together SNCC founding members Constance Curry, Lonnie King, Bernard LaFayette, Jr., and Judy Richardson to reflect on ways in which the pivotal events of the black freedom struggle transformed their lives.

Award-winning journalist Maria Hinojosa, host of NPR's "Latino USA," former special correspondent on the PBS program "Now, with David Brancaccio," and currently the president of the Futuro Media Group, will offer a second keynote address on the methodological, emotional and moral dimensions of gathering and representing stories in times of crisis and change.

The presidential reception will be held at the Jimmy Carter Presidential Library and Museum.

The conference will also feature three plenary sessions:

• Overcoming Katrina: Race, Class and Hurricane Katrina, marking the fifth anniversary of the disaster;

• A Nation of Immigrants: Human Rights, Labor Right, and Migration Politics in the 21st Century, exploring the struggle for meaningful solutions to what is becoming a human tragedy;

• Reclaiming Our Stories: A Conversation with Organizers of LGBT Community-Based Oral History Projects, discussing the challenges and complexities of oral history work in LGBT communities.

A special event kicks off the conference: "Voices from the Great Depression," featuring film clips from Soul of a People, a new documentary on the Federal Writers' Project, a live performance of songs and images of the Depression and New Deal Era, and a panel discussion including legendary folklorist and social activist Stetson Kennedy.

The program also offers a variety of professional workshops, including the latest in hands-on practices in digital technologies, preservation, oral history pedagogy, community projects, and ethics and the law.

Book Spotlight panels will focus on oral history books published in 2010 by Oxford University Press and Palgrave's oral history series. Oral historians and community historians from the Atlanta area will offer a Community Showcase.

The conference has attracted notable funding and in-kind support from the Georgia Humanities Council, The National Center for Civil and Human Rights, the Jimmy Carter National Library and Museum, the Instituto de Mexico and the Mexican Consulate in Atlanta, Georgia State University, Emory University, Kennesaw State University, Georgia Institute of Technology, Oxford University Press, and Palgrave MacMillan.

For more information about the conference, see the Oral History Association website.

Learn about the oral history program at CSUMB here.