“Vivre avec le trouble” – Trouble in Oral History and Storytelling 12th Emerging Scholars Symposium

How might trouble and troublemaking (re)shape our fields? How might oral history and storytelling help us survive the current moment of poly-crisis? How might we mobilize oral history and storytelling to engage in necessary troublemaking? This year’s symposium brings together twenty emerging scholars from Concordia and beyond in an interdisciplinary conversation on “Vivre avec le trouble” and the transformative potential of oral history in troubled times.

Over the course of our day-long conversations, panelists and conference attendees will explore ways of knowing, interrogate the politics of the archive, listen to oral histories on the ground, and examine how oral history and storytelling might be used in creating a more just society. We will delve into intergenerational conversations and contemplate ways of feeling memory. There will be “ghost stories” too. The program will culminate in a series of four brief performances, followed by a conversation with the researchers-artists.

Our keynote speaker, Lea Kabiljo (Université Laval), the 2024 recipient of the Award of Distinction in Oral History, will reflect on the complex ethical and relational dynamics of sharing authority in works of research-creation. Her keynote – “Oral History x Photography: Negotiating Authority in Participatory Research-Creation” – brings oral history and photography into a single analytical frame to explore the tensions between researcher subjectivity and participant agency.

The Emerging Scholars Symposium is one of the highlights of our COHDS year. We’d be delighted if you could join us!