Oral History and Cuba: a changing society?

Stephanie Panichelli (Participant)

Activity: Participating in or organising an event types › Participation in workshop, seminar, course

Description

Cuban doctors in the Sandinista Nicaragua: Sharing Memories

Period	23 Apr 2015
Event type	Workshop
Location	Birmingham, United KingdomShow on map

Keywords

Oral History
Cuban Solidarity Programme
Humanitarian Aid
Sensitive Topics
Emotions

Documents & Links

As Paul Thompson states in the Preface of his landmark work Voices of the Past, 'the richest possibilities of Oral History lie within the development of a more socially conscious and democratic history' (2000, vi). In the Cuban context, oral history is a vital tool in understanding popular experience, and producing narratives of social change from below. Yet in this context, oral history has sometimes been a challenging experience for researchers, due to the ideological orientation of the Cuban Revolutionary government and the weight of 'official history', serving to narrow access for researchers, and the scope of the sayable for citizens. This one day international workshop therefore seeks to break new ground, by bringing together academics who have conducted oral history research in Cuba or with Cubans living outside Cuba. It will also count with the presence of Professor Paul Thompson, founder of the Oral History society and founding editor of the journal Oral History, who will offer final remarks to close the day.