XV Encuentro Nacional y IX Congreso Internacional de Historia Oral.
Pasado, presente y futuro de la historia oral en Argentina y América Latina.
Mar del Plata (Argentina), 9 al 11 de agosto de 2023
Report from Dra. Bettina Favero – President of AHORA – Asociación de Historia Oral de la República Argentina / Local organizing committee.
Between August 9 and 11, 2023, It was carried out the XV National Meeting and IX International Congress of Oral History took place at the headquarters of the Faculty of Humanities of the National University of Mar del Plata. Past, present and future of oral history in Argentina and Latin America. It was organized by the Oral History Association of the Argentine Republic (AHORA), the Word and Image Archive (CEHis) and the Faculty of Humanities (UNMdP) and was endorsed by the Center for Historical Studies (CEHis) and of the Institute of Humanities and Social Sciences (INHUS CONICET).
Throughout the three days and with the presence of three hundred attendees, workshops, panels, conversations and tables were held.
Twenty thematic tables were displayed with coordinators from the country and Latin America with a total of one hundred and forty-six exhibitors. They addressed topics already worked on in other congresses as well as some new ones:
Table 1: Narratives of women in Latin America: voices and singing. Coordinated by Alessandro Portelli, Patricia Flier, y Silvia Dutrénit Bielous.
Table 2: Oral history, genders and sexualities. Coordinated by Cristina Viano, Ana Noguera y Agustina Kresic.
Table 3: How much is new in mobility? From micro-displacements to forced migrations and exiles. Coordinated by Enrique Coraza de los Santos, Guillermo Rios y Mónica Gatica.
Table 4: Working class, culture, experience, class struggle and politics. Coordinated by Gerardo Necoechea Gracia, Laura Ortiz y Gonzalo Pérez Álvarez.
Table 5: Memories, oral history and human rights. Coordinated by Carol Solis, Marianela Scocco y Cecilia Azconegui.
Table 6: Dialogues between orality and art worlds in the recent Latin American past. Coordinated by Graciela Browarnik, Alejandra Soledad González y Daniela Lucena.
Table 7: Oral History and Education: Experiences, trajectories and challenges in the use of oral sources in the educational space. Coordinated by Ana Diamant, Virginia Hughes y Alicia Gartner
Table 8: Oral sources and methodological issues. Coordinated by Natalia Vázquez, Adriana Echezuri, Mariela Canali y Liliana Torres.
Table 10: Oral history, photography and gender. Coordinated by Susana Delgado y Ana Lia Rey.
Table 11: Oral History and reconstruction of student movements in Mexico: From the Mexican 68 to #YoSoy132. Coordinated by Gloria A. Tirado Villegas y Rosa María Valles Ruiz.
Table 12: The uncomfortable voices of contemporary migrations between Europe and America: what grandparents are silent and grandchildren seek to know. Coordinated by Maria Eugenia Cruset y Marcela Lucci.
Table 13: Rethinking Peronism from oral sources. Coordinated by Damian Cipolla y Martin Lucero.
Table 14: Sport, history and orality. Theoretical-methodological approaches. Coordinated by Graciela Gomez y Maximiliano Martinez.
Table 15: From the recorder to virtuality. Social networks as a “place” of construction and (re)production of recent memory. Coordinated by Bettina Favero y Camillo Robertini.
Table 17: Emotions and orality: what is said and unsaid. Coordinated by Maria Bjerg y Mónica Bartolucci.
Table 18: Oral history, memory and cultural heritage. Coordinated by Graciela Ciselli, Patricia Sampaoli y María Silvia Tessio Conca.
Table 19: 40 years after the return of democracy in Argentina: experiences and memories of dictatorships and “transitions” to democracy. Coordinated by Gabriela Fernández, Karin Otero y Andrea Belén Rodríguez.
Table 22: Oral History in the perspective of Global/local History (glocal). Approaches, experiences and methodologies. Coordinated by Laura Pasquali y Graciela Iuorno.
Table 23: Of magic, ghosts and other stories (Rescue of memory and identity in Argentina). Coordinated by Marta Elena Castellino, Silvia Marcela Hurtado y Carla Andrea Riggio.
Table 25 – Polyphony of voices around the Malvinas. Coordinated by Rocío Parga y Sandra Rosetti.
On the first day, the Education workshop “What does oral history contribute to the educational field” was held? A collective approach to the debate” was coordinated by Alicia Gartner, Graciela Gomez, Maximiliano Martinez and Walter Reartes and included the participation of undergraduate students as well as secondary school teachers interested in incorporating Oral History as a resource in the classroom.
Two panels were done, on 9/8 the opening one: “30 years of meetings: past and present of Oral History in Argentina” which was attended by Dora Bordegaray, Graciela Browarnik, Ana Diamant, Daniel Plotinsky and Pablo Pozzi. While 11/8 was the closing one: “Oral history in Latin America today. Debates and perspectives”, with Cristina Viano, Robson Laverdi and Gerardo Necoechea Gracia. Both panels can be seen on our YouTube channel (https://www.youtube.com/@AsociaciondeHistoriaOralRA).
We also have the possibility of speaking with Alessandro Portelli through videoconference: “The order has already been executed. 20 years later” and with Pablo Pozzi, in a conversation: “Oral history as a method of historical research.”
Research coordinators and speakers from various Latin American countries participated in the tables, panels and conversations, consolidating links that have been developing since previous meetings, especially with colleagues from Mexico, Brazil, Chile and Colombia. The exchanges of experiences, projects and ongoing research enhance the development of Oral History in the country as well as the networks and links between associations, universities and researchers.
As a result of our congress, a digital publication will be made with forty papers presented at the congress and which will be published in a book published by Teseo Press with open access and free download.
Finally, it should be noted that in the members’ assembly on Thursday, the designation of the next venue for the congress was voted unanimously, which will be in the city of Catamarca in 2025.
