Memory Work: Oral History as Toolkit for Creating a Living & Making an Impact

Join oral historian Cameron Vanderscoff to discuss the practice of oral history in times of crisis. “Memory Work” will explore the potential of the oral history toolkit for your own career and for social impact. This talk will share the practical lessons and pitfalls of converting a history education into paid historical work outside of conventional tenure-track pathways. We’ll consider the oral historian as a new public intellectual, and examine oral history not only in terms of its prosaic power as a discipline, but its poetic and popular power as an artform—as orature. Concrete case studies will be shared, and the fundaments of oral history method, theory, and ethics will be explored. Newcomers and experienced oral historians alike are welcome.

Cameron Vanderscoff is an oral historian and writer with his own practice based in New York City and a deep track record of public and private partnerships. He holds an MA from Columbia University and consults internationally across a versatile project portfolio, designing and executing impactful projects and offering comprehensive workshops. As Co-Founder of the Okinawa Memories Initiative, historical dialogue and education is the heart of his work. Cameron is also the co-editor of Seeds of Something Different, a celebrated new oral history of UC Santa Cruz and experimentation in education. He is currently collaborating on his second book, a social memoir touching on pressing themes of racial and social justice in American history.

This workshop is presented in partnership with CART Commons, an ongoing project hosted by the University Library’s Special Collections & Archives. CART Commons provides opportunities for graduate students to engage with one another and with archivists in considering questions related to primary source research practices.

About the PhD+ Workshop Series
Join us for the fifth year of PhD+ Workshops, hosted by The Humanities Institute. We meet monthly to discuss possible career paths for PhDs, internship possibilities, grants/fellowships, work/life balance, elements of style, online identity issues, and much, much more. *Note that all 2020-2021 PhD+ workshops are open to University of California faculty, staff, and students and will be held virtually until further notice.