From May 4 to June 14, 2021, the University of Lethbridge’s Centre for Oral History & Tradition ran its extremely successful inaugural virtual Oral History Summer Institute. A slate of remarkable guest speakers who shared their expertise included:
Kristina Llewellyn (University of Waterloo); Funké Alajdejebi (University of Toronto); Adrienne Cain (Institute for Oral History, Baylor University); Tiffany Prete (University of Alberta); Allyson Stevenson (University of Saskatchewan); Cheryl Troupe (University of Saskatchewan); Winona Wheeler (University of Saskatchewan); Carly Adams (University of Lethbridge); Jenna Bailey (Research Fellow COHT, University of Lethbridge); and Stacey Zembrzycki (Dawson College). Moderators included Heidi MacDonald (UNB); Shelby Martens (PhD candidate University of New Brunswick); Darcy Tamayose (PhD candidate University of Lethbridge); Joslin Smith (MA University of Lethbridge) and Carol Williams (University of Lethbridge). Elder Francis First Charger offered blessings for our Institute.
Dr. Karissa Patton served as the Director of the Oral history Summer Institute with Research and teaching assistance from Elaine Toth (PhD candidate UofL).
Students learned about interviewing methods and technologies, shared their own oral history expertise and advice, and discussed a variety of approaches to oral history interviewing and ethics – including Indigenous and trauma-informed methodologies.
5 Indigenous student registrants, non-credit and community members, were awarded the COHT first annual tuition awards to attend the summer institute. The Mastercard Foundation provided matching funds to double donations from Carol Williams and Carly Adams.