Author Archives: Andy

The interaction between Narrative and Archive: The Lockerbie Disaster, Pan Am 103, and Syracuse University

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In October 2022, NOHUC Researcher Andy Clark undertook a research and engagement trip to Syracuse University, New York. Along with Colin Atkinson, this was part of their British Academy funded project that conducted oral history interviews with first responders to the Lockerbie Disaster, 1988. In this Lug post, Andy reflects on engaging with victim communities in the United States, and how the materials held in the Pan Am 103 archive aligned with the narratives collected in his research.

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Oral History Lunchtime Seminars: October 2022

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The Oral History Unit and Collective has organised two lunchtime online seminars in October, with guest speakers from the UK, Egypt and India.

Wednesday October 12th: Oral history and activism – guest speakers @TionneParris (Young Historians Project) and @Nandini Oza (Narmada Bachao Andolan)

Event brite: Oral history and activism – an on-line lunchtime seminar Tickets, Wed 12 Oct 2022 at 13:00 | Eventbrite

Wednesday October 19th: Oral history with refugees and migrants – guest speakers Tania Gessi (Roma Support Group) and Nairy Abdel Shafy (Egyptian educator, and oral historian)

Event brite: Oral history with refugees and migrants – an online lunchtime seminar Tickets, Wed 19 Oct 2022 at 13:00 | Eventbrite

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“Communities and Change” – welcoming the 2023 Memory Studies Association to Newcastle

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The international Memory Studies Association recently released the call for papers for its 2023 conference, to be held in Newcastle. Oral History Collective member Dr Alison Atkinson-Phillips is part of the organising committee. Here she explains why she’s so excited to see this particular conference held here in the North East.

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The Voices Of Stannington Sanatorium: Musings on Oral History and Creative Writing

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In this Lug post, Dr Liz O’Donnell reflects on interviews that she conducted being reused and repurposed for a radio drama, considering the attachments that we as oral historians have to the data we collect.

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“Older people are more concerned with environmental change…”: Living Deltas Hub

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In this Lug piece, Siobhan Warrington (NUOHUC) and her colleagues Hue Nguyen (An Giang University) and Laura Beckwith (Northumbria University) provide an update on the participatory oral history, mapping and photography work with two rural communities in the Mekong Delta as part of the Living Deltas Hub. Siobhan, Laura and Hue are working with a student-staff research team at An Giang University: Mai Thị Minh Thuy and Nguyễn Xuân Lan (research coordinators); and Hoang Uyen Cao, Huynh Linh, Lam Duy and Phan Cuong (student researchers). This is a follow-up to the post which introduced this project.

Note: Due to increasing Covid-19 infection rates in Vietnam, it has not been possible for the team to visit the communities since early July; this post is based on their visits between May and July 2021.

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“I used to love standing barefoot in the river”: Living Deltas Hub

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In this Lug piece, Siobhan Warrington  introduces the Living Deltas Hub and provides an update on how the Newcastle Oral History Unit & Collective is contributing to this large, five-year (2019-2024) international and interdisciplinary project. 

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Silence and remote interviewing: methodological reflections

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Over the last several months, oral historians have been acclimatising to remote interviewing in response to the Covid-19 pandemic. This shift for many (but not all) has led to a range of new methodological questions. In this Lug piece, Andy Clark reflects on the different nature of silence in remote interactions as compared with in-person encounters. Drawing on experience of both personal and professional remote conversations, he asks whether the changing dynamic of silence could have an impacts on the nature of the materials that we collect during the pandemic. Please feel free to join in the discussion using the comments section below.

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Podcast Episode – Jack Hepworth

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In this episode, historian of modern Ireland and Britain, Jack Hepworth, discusses his research interviewing Irish republican ex-prisoners. He outlines the background to his project, before analysing contested memories and identities among republican ex-combatants in ‘post-conflict’ Ireland.

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Podcast Episode – Wendy Rickard

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The first episode in Series 2 of the Newcastle Oral History Podcast features a conversation between Graham Smith and Wendy Rickard. Wendy is a renowned oral historian who has worked on a number of ‘taboo’ and difficult subjects, including sex working and the ongoing relationships between interviewer and interviewees. She has experience of working with medical researchers on the impact and experience of HIV/AIDS and pandemics such as Ebola and SARS. Throughout the episode, Graham and Wendy discuss the ethics of researching pandemic illness, the ‘new normal’ in the age of Covid-19, and the pros and cons of using videoconferencing tools in oral history interviews.

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