Oral history is a distinct research methodology that centers on the individual’s experience and perspective on life. It is a tool for recording history and experiences through “oral” conversations.
Oral history uses interviews to document stories and narratives directly from individuals, allowing them to choose how to record and present their stories based on their backgrounds and understandings of their experiences. These stories are often subjective and reflect the narrators’ personal visions and perspectives.
Through the workshop, participants will learn how to design and implement an oral history project, how to use various equipment to record stories, how to create an archive of recordings, and how to explore different formats for documenting and producing these stories.
About the workshop facilitator:
Nayri Abd El-Shafi is an Egyptian educator and oral historian with an interest in filmmaking.
Her passion lies in documenting personal narratives and producing them in different written, audio, and visual forms. She has worked on documenting narratives about movement and identity with Nubians, Palestinian and Syrian refugees in Egypt, as well as personal experiences with individuals from Nepal, El Salvador, and Puerto Rico in the United States.
She also worked as an oral history coordinator for a project documenting educational reforms in Egypt in 2020. Most recently, she completed work on a short documentary film following a year of studying documentary filmmaking. She holds a Master’s degree in Oral History from Columbia University and a Bachelor’s degree in Political Science from Cairo University.