What a fantastic couple of days. I have just finished the first official day of presentations at the 2010 Congress of the Humanities and Social Sciences, which is being held in Montreal at Concordia University.

Events got started unofficially on Saturday, when I attended a day of special seminars on Oral History.

During the day, I was able to sit in on a terrific seminar with Eve-Lyne Cayouette-Ashby, who spoke about Concordia's Montreal Life Stories Project, a groundbreaking project that relates the lives and stories of Montrealers. She also spoke about the challenges of interviewing subjects who have undergone terrible traumas, be it wars, genocides, or other violence.

In the coming days, I will be creating podcasts based on the audio interviews I have conducted, and will be conducting, with Cayouette-Ashby and other academics.

On Sunday, I spoke with academics engaged in studying the power of graphic novels (comics, to some) to tell history. It was really interesting to see how some academics are telling history through an art form once thought only to be the domain of kids. In fact, studies are showing that graphic novels may be a great way to introduce history to younger audiences.

On Sunday night, I attended the keynote speech by renowned oral historian Dr. Joy Parr of the University of Western Ontario.

She gave a powerful presentation that asked very difficult questions regarding the motivations, and indeed, the ultimate goals, of oral historians. Why do they do the interviews they do? What should they do when confronted by subjects that are unwilling to recount particularly painful memories? Should they push forward, aggressively seeking out the anecdotes they want? Or are they simply there to observe, to facilitate discussions for their subjects.

Parr has considerable experience interviewing subjects about the Home Children controversy, in which children from poor economic circumstances in Britain were sent to Canada and other outposts of the Empire to act as labourers or servants for their new "families."

The stories they told, of abuse and considerable hardship, were often difficult to deal with.
"I was interviewing people carry a considerable burden of pain," she told a packed audience on Sunday night.

Her speech on the complexities of interviewing "vulnerable" populations was thought-provking, and perhaps even a bit polarizing. One of the key messages she gave is that she is not in favour of pushing subjects to reveal darker or more painful memories.  Some scholars have argued that the interviewer has a duty to seek out these stories, but Parr questioned what justification there is to do this, especially when doing so might cause emotional harm to the subject.
"Do we need to write anything?" she said, adding that too often "we keep a loose tether on our right to harvest pain."

Certainly provocative stuff.

Stay tuned over the coming days as I blog more about the sessions I am attending. When I return to Winnipeg, I will put together a package of podcast interviews, and photos from the conference, for you to digest. Until then, take care.
Cheers
Mark