Events

The Oral History Association of India will hold its 11th Annual Conference at Somaiya Vidyavihar University, in Mumbai from 5 to 7 February 2026

The theme of the conference is ‘Desert Dialogues: Oral Histories and Echoes of Arid Past’.

Find out more about the conference in the Call for Papers:

Dr Elaine Rabbit will deliver her nationally accredited oral history training program on 7-8 February in Fremantle, Western Australia.

To register contact: Elaine Rabbitt elaine.rabbitt@gme.com.au

Who should attend?

Anyone interested in learning how to do professional oral history interviews: Beginners, intermediate and advance, those wanting to gain an accredited oral history qualification:

• artists
• musicians
• playwrights
• choreographers
• community members
• historians
• history teachers
• museum and interpretive centre staff
• librarians
• archivists and curators
• students
• academics
• organisations and individuals working to document significant sites
• aged care workers
• health workers
• ranger and land management groups
• language centres and any organisations or community working to preserve languages, stories and cultures
• tour guides
• archaeologists
• broadcasters and producers
• anyone working or wanting to work in the creative industries.

The nationally accredited oral history training will be delivered over two days by Dr Elaine Rabbitt. Elaine has developed the oral history training package for AHCOCM404 Record and document Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander Community history, drawn from the wealth of oral history teaching materials that are available in Australia and overseas.

Too busy to treat yourself to a couple of days of oral history – think again? This is a rare opportunity to immerse yourself in the practicalities of oral history and gain nationally recognised certification. This is a stepping stone for further learning and possible employment opportunities.

The two workshops are practical and hands on. Students will learn how to use professional recording equipment and they can bring their own recording devices. Prior to the workshops students are asked to research and find an oral history and listen to it.

WORKSHOP CONTENT

Workshop One – 6 hours

• Introduction to Oral History and getting started
• What is oral history?
• Guidelines for ethical practice: writing an invitation to participate and informed consent
• Preparing for the interview: interview techniques and questions,
• Cultural protocols

Workshop Two – 6 hours

• Recording stories and how to use a professional recorder
• The interview
• Practice recording: interviewing each other
• Concluding the interview
• After the interview – reflections, storing the interview and uses
• Summaries, transcriptions

Practical tasks to be completed to gain the qualification include:

• Complete assessment workbook containing activities including answering questions re ethical practice.
• Learn how to write a letter of invitation and informed consent to suit your project.
• Use professional recording equipment
• Complete an interview.
• Keep a reflective journal to evaluate the interview context.

Each student will be given individual feedback on their interview.

CERTIFICATION

Those who complete the workshop, an interview and their assessment workbooks, will be awarded their certificate issued by the Goolarri Media Enterprises (GME) Registered Training Organisation No.51278.

COURSE COSTS: $395 (incl. GST)

Oral History Australia members & students: $360 (incl. GST)

Includes enrolment fees, resources, participant handbook, and assessment.

Recognition of prior learning

If you have completed other oral history courses, workshops or interviews you can apply for ‘recognition of prior learning’ (RPL). RPL is a way of using your existing skills, knowledge and experience to gain your formal qualification. You will be required to meet the performance criteria for the unit of competency AHCOCM404 Record and document Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander Community history. RPL cost: $240 incl. GST

The annual meeting of the Oral History Association will be held from 14 to 17 October 2026 in Portland, Oregon, United States. The theme is ‘Landcapes of Memory’.

Call for Proposals

Our memories are shaped by the landscapes we inhabit—both real and imagined. These landscapes are shifting in the face of environmental change, political instability, and an ongoing sense of crisis. Ancient connections with the natural world are being severed, and people are displaced not only from this innate connection to the earth but also from familiar ways of living and relating to one another. As oral historians, we witness narrators’ struggles to imagine new identities within this changing ecology.

For the 2026 Oral History Association Annual Meeting in Portland, Oregon, the Association invites contributions from around the world —from those working in academia, advocacy, education, and community-based practice—that speak to how people shape and are shaped by the landscapes they inhabit, traverse, defend, or are forced to leave behind. We welcome proposals that explore relationships to land, memory, and movement across shifting environmental, political, and cultural boundaries.

Find out more:

• https://oralhistory.org/2026-call-for-proposals/.