Southwest Oral History Association

Rachael Cassidy {Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma} (Masters’ Program, University of New Mexico; New Mexico State Representative, SOHA Board of Directors) Diana [“Midge”] Dellinger {Muscogee/Creek} (Masters’ Program, American Studies, Northeastern State University; Student Representative, SOHA Board of Directors) Bridget Groat {Alaska Native} (Ph.D. Candidate, Arizona State University; Native Representative, SOHA Board of Directors),  Michael [“Mike”] Barthelemy {Hidatsa-Mandan} (Ph.D. Program, History, University of New Mexico), Neil Dodge {Diné} (Ph.D. Program, History, UNLV), and Joshua Thunder Little {Oglala Lakota} (Ph.D. Program, History, University of California, Riverside),  emerging Indigenous scholars, share stories and experiences of Native American community members – in some cases, members of their own families. Each delves into their own personal spaces and ties to Native American communities, within or beyond Native American reservations. They have initiated Indigenous oral history projects from rural, to bordertown, to urban spaces. They seek to serve and address the questions and needs of Native American communities. Some of them face the intricate processes of tribal review boards along with institutional review boards to gather and apply the oral histories in their writing and work. They have interviewed and had learn close to home and from home, discovering and developing oral history methodologies that balance professional, personal, and community goals.

Enjoy drinks and desserts with current undergraduate and graduate students from across the Southwest! SOHA members who are interested in providing a mentorship to our student members are encouraged to attend.

On January 18, 2017, students from the University of Florida’s Center for Gender, Sexualities, and Women’s Studies Research and The Samuel Proctor Oral History Program drove to Washington, DC to document and interview participants in the Women’s March on Washington and the presidential inauguration. Working together to evaluate and translate their research, several students co-created a collaborative theatrical experience. This unique peek into the diverse range of political, social, and personal viewpoints and experiences gives audience members an up-close and personal look into the fabric of American culture, women’s movements, and feminist intersectional activisms including Black Lives Matter, immigrant rights, and LGBTQ+ rights.

Jessica Buckle, Sierra Sampson, Helen Yoshida (all history M.A. graduate students at CSU, Fullerton), and Katelyn York (a December 2018 History B.A. graduate) present with the purpose of the panel to highlight specific groups and showcase women in those groups. The first presentation will look at the evolution of female activism in Orange County. The second presentation will look at the way that gender roles “shape” women environmental activists. The third presentation will look at the role of gender and the history of the LGBT activism movement in Southern California. The final presentation will look at the activities and contributions of Chicanas in art, education, and literature from the Chicano Civil Rights Movement to today. These four presentations show unity and resilience in the fact that women have to face struggles and difficulties in everything they do. They are part of Women, Politics, and Activism since Suffrage, a project directed by Dr. Natalie Fousekis at California State University, Fullerton.

Juan Coronado (Post Doctoral Scholar, Julian Samora Research Institute, Michigan State University; Co-President, SOHA) and Tomas Summers Sandoval (Associate Professor of History and Chicano/Latino Studies at Pomona College) bring needed attention to ignored or distorted groups of people who are marginalized due to war and confinement. The untold histories of Mexican Americans and their communities during the Vietnam War mean that they too have been denied the chance to tell their own truths. Yet their stories provide valuable insight into lived experiences.

Adrienne Cain (Assistant Director and Lecturer, Institute for Oral History at Baylor University),  Erikca Brown, Ph.D. (Credit Recovery Teacher, Rancho Cucamonga High School, California),  and Nina Cole (Doctoral Candidate, University of California, Davis) present a look at “Black Voices.” The first presentation centers on a series of interviews of young African Americanstudents as the minority at a predominantly white institution (PWI) and documents their journey to getting National Panhellenic Council organizations (also known as BGLOs—Black Greek Letter Organizations) on campus, including the challenges, triumphs, and bonds formed with one another. The second presentation delves into the experiences of African American teachers in K-12 public schools and argues that by documenting the oral histories of African American teachers andgiving a living voice to their words, we hear firsthand the role racism plays in the professional interactions of these teachers by highlighting their experiences with racial microaggressions. The third presentation explores the role of 1960s-era Jamaican music as a center of community formation.

Peter La Chapelle, Professor of History at Nevada State College, conducts his workshop: The Videotaped Mock Interview as a Practice for Conducting Actual Oral Histories

In this panel, David Baird (Professor, School of Architecture, UNLV), Steve Clarke (Director, UNLV Downtown Design Center), and Diego Alvarez (Researcher, UNLV Downtown Design Center) focuses on three ways designers can utilize narrative or storytelling in the design process. The first involves generating a narrative as a conceptual framework to organize decision-making within the design methodology. The second is developing spaces that support the active development of narratives by the users. Lastly, narratives can be used to better understand the context within which designers operate. These three approaches will be introduced with visuals highlighting a few funded community-based design projects through UNLV’s DDC (Downtown Design Center) and includes a conversation with 2 to 3 students that participated in these projects.

Liz Warren (South Mountain Community College, Storytelling Institute) and Kyle Mitchell {Navajo} (South Mountain Community College, Storytelling Institute), professors across disciplines provide their perspectives on storytelling, oral history, and teaching. Faculty from South Mountain Community College in southern Arizona explore the local and the global impacts of collecting stories, training students to ask the right questions, and sharing narratives. Each provides their own interpretation on the overlaps of storytelling and oral history, and will share how the power of the narrative shapes their approaches both in the classroom and in life.

Alexa Irizarry, Isabella Hulsizer, Alyssa Briana Ruiz, Lerman Montoya Hermosillo, and Edwin Valenti, all Arizona State University undergraduates, used oral history to highlight resilience and build unity. With oral history accounts, undergraduate students unearthed the marginalization of specific disadvantaged groups while showcasing the ways in which people overcame laws and imposition of sovereignty. This panel will discuss the ways in which students’ use of archival research and oral history enabled them to create and showcase an exhibit over the course of a single semester.

The opening event of the 2018 SOHA Annual Conference is: Introductory Workshop on the Craft of Doing Oral History on Friday, April 27th, 2018. This workshop is available for a special conference rate of $25 which includes the workshop and all materials. This workshop is presented by California State University, Fullerton’s Dr. Cora Granata, Professor of History & Associate Director of the Lawrence de Graaf Center for Oral and Public History Center. This workshop is for beginners and those who wish to brush up on the basics. All the essentials are covered such as planning, research, equipment, interviewing techniques, processing options and legal and ethical issues. Location: CSUF Center for Oral and Public History (Pollak Library South – 360)

This event is followed by an open house of COPH in which you can tour the center with the assistance of their archivist Natalie Navar.