Oral History and Listening: OHS conference 2027
Listening underpins oral history practice, but we rarely bring it to the forefront of our discussions in the oral history community. This conference attempts to redress this by centering listening as its key theme. We use the term ‘listening’ in the broadest sense that includes visual and physical communication and language, such as sign language and lip reading.
We aim to explore the listening encounter in all aspects of oral history work: research, interviewing, analysis and project outputs, transcription, archiving, and re-use across time. How and why do we listen? What skills do we use and how has this changed with technological advances? And – in an increasingly ‘noisy’ world – how do we encourage others to listen? We welcome oral historians from all backgrounds and levels of experience to discuss and reflect together.
The two-day conference will be at the University of Essex – an iconic place for oral history in the UK and around the world as the institutional base of the Society and journal for our first three decades.
