2012 Advanced Oral History Summer Institute
Regional Oral History Office
August 13-17, 2012

The Regional Oral History Office (ROHO) at the University of California, Berkeley, is offering a one-week advanced institute on the methodology, theory, and practice of oral/video history. This will take place at The Bancroft Library on the Berkeley campus from August 13-17, 2012. This year's keynote speaker will be Matthew Frye Jacobson, Professor of American Studies, African American Studies and History at Yale University.

Designed for graduate students, postdoctoral fellows, college faculty, and independent scholars using oral history interviews as part of a research project, the institute is also open to museum and community-based historians who are engaged in oral history work. The goal of the institute is to strengthen the ability of its participants to conduct researchfocused interviews and to consider the special characteristics of interviews as historical evidence in a rigorous academic environment. We will devote particular attention to how oral history interviews can broaden and deepen historical interpretation situated within contemporary discussions of history, subjectivity, memory, and memoir. Institute presentations by ROHO faculty and invited specialists will cover: project planning; preparation for interviewing and interview techniques; engaging oral histories with other kinds of archival documents; interview analysis; legal and ethical responsibilities such as copyright and human subject protection requirements. The institute is limited to forty participants and applications will be accepted up to May 1. Acceptances will be made on an on-going basis. In previous years, we have reached capacity as early as the end of March, so we urge you to apply as soon as possible. The cost of the five-day institute is $950.

Participants will also work throughout the week in small research-interest groups led by faculty with similar interests. Institute members will be given readings, a list of other participants, and the week’s schedule prior to the institute. Housing and most meals must be arranged separately. In addition to on-campus rooms available at the Faculty Club Hotel, this website offers many options for lodging in the Berkeley area.

Online applications are now available. Please contact Robin Li with any questions about the 2012 Advanced Oral History Summer Institute. 

About the Regional Oral History Office
The Regional Oral History Office is a research program of the University of California, Berkeley, working within The Bancroft Library.

ROHO conducts, teaches, analyzes, and archives oral and video history documents in a broad variety of subject areas critical to the history of California and the United States.

ROHO provides a forum for students and scholars working with oral sources to deepen the quality of their research and to engage with the theory, methodology, and meaning of individual testimony and social memory.