1/ The COHDS is hosting this year's Fulbright Research Chair in North American Studies. University of Michigan psychologist Henry (Hank) Greenspan will be working closely with the Montreal Life Stories project and will be a constant presence in the centre between now and April.
Hank has been interviewing Holocaust survivors' since the 1970s – he is the author of On Listening to Holocaust Survivors: Beyond Testimony (second, expanded edition) and numerous articles on survivors' retelling. His acclaimed play, Remnants, also grounded in survivors' accounts, was originally produced for National Public Radio in the U.S. and has since been staged worldwide.Welcome Hank!

2/ Les affiliés du CHORN sont invités à soumettre leur proposition pour le colloque organisé par l'Université de Sherbrooke les 18, 19 et 20 octobre 2012. Le thème: L’individu face à l’histoire : Hommes et Femmes de l’Amérique française. La date de clôture des soumissions est fixée au 31 mars 2012. Prière d’expédier toute proposition (qui comprendra un titre, un synopsis d’une quinzaine de lignes et une notice biographique de 10 lignes maximum précisant: affiliation, diplôme obtenu, principales réalisations), par courriel, à :
Harold Bérubé et Benoît Grenier
Département d'histoire
Université de Sherbrooke
ihaf2012@usherbrooke.ca

3/The Montreal Life Stories project, which is entering its final six months, is featured in this month's issue of University Affairs.  Here is the article: http://www.universityaffairs.ca/survivors-tell-their-stories.aspx

-The journal 'alt.theatre': cultural diversity on the stage' has released two back-to-back special issues on "Oral History and Performance" (edited by Ted Little) that highlight the work of Montreal Life Stories artists and scholars. History MA student Al Yoshizawa has a book review in the first and Steven High has an article in the second reflecting on the joint history-theatre course he co-taught last year.

-Also,'Occupied St. John's: A Social History of a City at War' received an honourable mention for the C.P. Stacey Award in Military History. It was edited by Steven High, and Barbara Lorenzkowski has a chapter in it.

4/Call for Papers: Displaced Childhood: Oral history and traumatic experiences for the Annual Conference of the Oral History Society on July 13th and 14th 2012, at the University of Reading, United Kingdom.Deadline is on January 21st, so send send an abstract of no more than 400 words by 21 January 2012 to Belinda@essex.ac.uk or check the following website http://www.le.ac.uk/emoha/news.html

5/ There's a really interesting article, published in "Inside Higher Education", on a crucial court case involving oral history in the US that will interest students and researchers. It raises important issues that concern us all:
http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2012/01/03/stay-blocks-release-documents-boston-college-oral-history-project

6/ Our third installment of O Stories, aired on Friday, December 16, on 90.3 FM at 7:40 AM, featuring Neal Santamaria's conversation with anthropologist, Dr. Amahl Bishara, as they discuss her documentary film, Degrees of Incarceration. Screened recently at Concordia University this film documents the effects of political imprisonment on a community of Palestinians in the West Bank.

Missed this episode? Access the podcast at:
http://soundcloud.com/cohds/o-stories-december-16-1

7/The Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada (TRC) has posted the Call for Submissions to host the National Research Centre on residential schools.

The entity selected to host the NRC will be responsible for the preservation of one of Canada’s largest collections of oral history. The host will work with the Commission to preserve and archive millions of records including Survivor statements, documents, photos and other digital records imaged from Government and Church archives alongside materials created and received during the Commission’s work.
The deadline for Submissions is February 16, 2012.

For more information visit trc.ca.

8/Concordia's first Trudeau Fellow: Ronald Rudin, member of COHDS Administrative Board, earned a Trudeau Fellowship for his research. Read about this first in Concordia Now.

9/Steven High just published a book chapter: “Mapping Memories of Displacement: Oral History, Memoryscapes and Mobile Methodologies”, in Shelley Trower, ed. Place, Writing and Voice in Oral History (New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2011). Congratulations, Steve!

10/A very positive review of Stacey Zembrzycki's online memoryscape "Sharing
Authority with Baba" was recently published on Active History:
http://activehistory.ca/2011/10/connecting-past-present-and-future-a-website-review-of-stacey-zembryckis-sharing-authority-with-baba/

11/ GPS-based tours to discover canal Lachine: 6 different GPS-based tours are now proposed to discover Canal Lachine's many secrets: its story, its building and people who lived and worked there. During that 30 minutes (walking or on boat) tour you'll hear their story, old pictures, video.For more info please visit their website at: http://www.pc.gc.ca/eng/lhn-nhs/qc/canallachine/activ/balados-podcasts.aspx

12/News From our student affiliates:

-Lindsay Pattison, affiliate and intern at COHDS, has sucessfully completed her PhD at Concordia University. In her thesis: "Dynamics of the Disc" she has used oral history, collecting stories, pictures, video, and sound contributions from players and the general public. Congratulations Lindsay !!!

- PhD student Fred Burrill just published a fascinating article entitled “Engagement and Struggle: A Response to Stuart Henderson” published in Active History, available at: http://activehistory.ca/2011/09/new-paper-engagement-and-struggle-a-response-to-stuart-henderson/

-Marie Pelletier, Finding Meaning in Oral History Sources through Storytelling and Religion: Case Study of Three Cambodian Refugees. Available online:
http://spectrum.library.concordia.ca/7519/1/Pelletier_MA_S2011.pdf

-Caitlin Alton, "Cultural Diversity in Mile End: Everyday Interactions between Hasidim and Non-Hasidim"  Available online: http://spectrum.library.concordia.ca/7399/

-Jessica Mills, "What’s The Point?: The Meaning of Place, Memory, and Community in Point Saint Charles, Quebec" Available online: http://spectrum.library.concordia.ca/7282/.