Oral History on the Borders: Migration and Memory
Steven High, Concordia University
Devra Weber, University of California, Riverside
Session Abstract
Oral history interviews have proven invaluable in revealing the complexities of migration from one part of the world to another. How have identities been shaped and reshaped through the migration process? What decisions, values, and tensions have been associated with migration?
Moreover, as oral history itself straddles borders between history and memory, the past and the present, and personal and collective memory, remembrance assumes a historical significance of its own. What do the structure, form and framing of migration stories reveal? What are the attributes of migration stories in different settings and formats?
Each of the panelists has conducted extensive oral history interviews to illuminate migrations to and from diverse areas of the world. They have also examined a range of oral historical issues associated with these interviews.