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Memory and Orality in the Textual World

The Oral History Association (OHA) of India organized its 8th annual conference on Memory and Orality in the Textual World in association with the Human Sciences Research Group at IIIT Hyderabad from 10 – 12 March 2023. It was supported by Dr. Reddy ‘s Laboratories Ltd. This conference brought together scholars, researchers, and practitioners from India and abroad, in the field of oral history to explore the interactions between oral and written histories, and the ways in which oral traditions and memories can be preserved and transmitted in a rapidly progressing technological landscape.

The conference held 17 parallel sessions across three venues- Saranga (Nilgiri), Himalaya D 101 and KRB faculty meeting room and a total of 42 papers were presented. The sessions were conducted in both offline and hybrid mode. The panels relegated discussions through oral, aural and visual presentations on Women Making History, Oral History as method, Mountain Diasporas, Maps from Oral History, Evidence Lost and Found, Oral History in History, Oral History and Documentation, Community as Memory, Mountain memories, Text Memory Performance, Forgetting and Remembering, Family as Archive, Changing Memories, City Speaks, Archives and Museums, Delhi Diaries, Archiving sound and performance. There were comprehensive debates and discussions on the methods of Oral History, the loss and discovery of evidence, documentation and the concept of archives, memory, museums.

The Keynote speakers of the conference were:

K Laitha, is the founding member of the Oral History Association of India. She is a feminist researcher, editor and author writing in Telugu and English. She has documented the participation of Women peasants in the Telangana Peasant Armed Struggle in her book “We are making History”.

Ipsita Chanda is the professor at the department of Comparative Literature, English and Foreign Language University, Hyderabad. She has edited the volume, “Shaping the discourse: Women’s writing in Bengali Periodicals (1865-1964)” and authored the book “Shelfing the city: Single Women Migrants” and “Their lives in Kolkata.”

Ashley Barnwell is a senior research fellow at the School of Social and Political Science, University of Melbourne. Her research interest includes sociological aspects of memory, emotions and narrative, and the role of life writing, personal archives, and literature in sociological research.

The event was attended by Dr. Nandini Oza, author of “The struggle for Narmada”. and Dr. Saaz Aggarwal, author of “Losing Home, Finding Home”. A book exhibition by Orient Blackswan and Permanent Black was organised in tandem with the event. The entire session was summed up by the scholars and participants in the Rapporteurs session.

The event ended with the valedictory panel on “memory and orality in the family and community”, chaired by Indira Chowdhury, while basking in the glory of good food, great company and the greatest oral tradition of them all, communal dining.

March 2023