With Frankie Ray In this hands-on workshop, participants will learn the essentials of setting up and recording oral history interviews with both video and audio. We will cover how to prepare a recording environment, assemble and test a recording rig, and troubleshoot common technical challenges. Beyond capturing the interview itself, participants will gain practical […]
With the DANC 202 Cohort: Charlotte Bisson, Nathaniel Cancela Edsell, Florence Cross, Homeyra Esmaeilzadeh, Leonardo Giraldo Rodriguez, Anaïs Girard, Elle Golfinopoulos, Sophie Groleau-Rouleau, Nasiriyah Hamilton, Joselande Josue, Adaline Kuranko, Camille Moon, Fredlyne Pierre, Pooya Ratnam, Amy Staples, Kaiya Thomas-Bynoe, and Cameron Weaver. Join us for an afternoon of dance as students from the Department […]
In June 2025, the University of Debrecen (Hungary) and Concordia University’s Centre for Oral History and Digital Storytelling (COHDS) signed a Memorandum of Understanding to formalize our collaboration on a large-scale research oral history project that explores the memories and lived experiences of Hungarian Canadians in Montreal and beyond. We are delighted to host […]
With Kelann Currie-Williams This workshop will provide a hands-on introduction to using Stories Matter— a free, open-source oral history database software that allows for the archiving of digital video and audio materials, and enables oral historians to annotate, analyze, and evaluate audio and video recordings of interviews. First developed in 2010 at COHDS, this second […]
With Nalini Mohabir Take part in an active listening session with Nalini Mohabir, inspired by artist Joyce Joumaa’s SIGHTINGS 45 installation. Together we will listen to previously restricted audio excerpts from a 1969 rally in the Hall Building’s mezzanine at the outset of the Sir George Williams Affair. Mohabir, associate professor in Concordia’s Department of Geography, […]
With Steven High The workshop will invite you to engage deeply with a videotaped interview of a Rwandan genocide survivor recorded as part of the Montreal Life Stories project. We will explore different ways of interpreting an interview recording and transcription including narrative analysis, life course visualization, analysis of emotion, etc. We will send the interview […]
With Vladimir Chindea and HotDocs We are pleased to present, in collaboration with HotDocs, three Citizen Minutes documentaries: Hommes-relais, Becoming Ruby, and Red Girl Rising. Each of these films runs approximately ten minutes and speaks directly to COHDS’s core values of inclusion, resilience, solidarity, and hope. Together, they are sure to captivate viewers and […]
With Cassandra Marsillo This workshop will centre on making two different types of pasta shapes and accompanying recipes typical to Molise, a small region in Southern Italy with a big, historic presence in Montreal. Cavatelli and taccozze are integral parts of Molisan winter remedies. The recipes used for this workshop were collected through oral […]
With Steven High This workshop will introduce you to ways of interpreting the underlying interviewer-interviewee dynamic that structures the oral history recording. It is an interview after all. Yet we tend to be so focused on the words spoken by our interview partners that we submerge the underlying dialogic that is its structuring force. Steven […]
Photo description: Marjorie Villefranche in a collective oral history interview at La Maison d'Haïti With Philippe Blouin, Michael Ferguson, Cassandra Marsillo, Tesfa Peterson, Léa Denieul Pinsky, and Désirée Rochat This conversation explores a central topic: How do oral historians navigate the web of relationships that tie them to the community they are working […]
With Frankie Ray This workshop provides a hands-on introduction to the principles and practices of recording high-quality audio in a range of real-world contexts. Participants will gain practical experience setting up and working with multiple microphone types, including lavaliers, shotgun microphones, podcasting microphones, and built-in camera audio systems. Through guided demonstrations and exercises, the […]
With Sonya Di Sclafani In Montreal’s Hungarian community, food is not only a reflection of stability, tradition, and assimilation, but also carries meanings of family, nostalgia, and joy. Palacsintá, a sweet or savory Hungarian crêpe, is a well-loved and easy dish that can be filled with jam, ground walnut purée, farmer's cheese, cabbage, and […]
With Michael Ferguson While Lebanese food has been ubiquitous across Canada for decades, this presentation/cooking activity moves beyond shawarma, hummus, and tabouleh to take a closer look at the foodways of one particular community in Leamington, Ontario. Hailing largely from the northern Lebanese village of Tourza, they migrated in mid-twentieth century to smalltown southwestern […]
With Lea Kabiljo This event marks the opening of The river that is not, an exhibition presenting a research project developed in collaboration with students from the visual arts program at the Universidad Laica Eloy Alfaro de Manabí, Ecuador, and presented at COHDS from March 9 to April 20. Developed as a short-term teaching intervention, the […]
COHDS is delighted to invite you to the 13th Emerging Scholars Symposium, a one-day, in-person event bringing together emerging scholars, artists, and community practitioners working in oral history, digital storytelling, and creative research. This year’s symposium asks: Where is the joy in oral history? exploring joy as an emotional, political, and creative force in storytelling […]
With Hannah Pinilla In this hands-on workshop, participants will explore the intersections of storytelling, music, and cooking through the preparation of Colombian empanadas—an everyday dish rich with regional and familial meaning. Guided by a demonstration of the four key steps, participants will make three variations of empanadas (pollo, carne, and plátano). Because music is […]
With Violaine Jolivet What story (city) sounds tell us? Reflections on ambiances and soundscapes as geographical narratives This research presentation aims to show how the sounds produced and perceived by individuals and groups can be understood as possible narratives about the places we inhabit and study. Based on interviews conducted as part of my […]
With Julie Norman In this urgent and compelling book, Julie M. Norman and Maia Carter Hallward tell the story of Gaza from its early foundations, across decades of occupation, to the devastation of the ongoing war. Rather than focusing on elites or abstract politics, at the book's heart are ordinary Gazans - students, aid […]
With Barbara Lorenzkowski To obtain the informed consent of our research participants is both an ethical and institutional obligation for oral historians working at Canadian universities. This workshop seeks to demystify the process of applying for ethics certification. Three emerging scholars will reflect on their experiences in navigating this process and discuss how they have […]
Avec Lea Kabiljo Cet atelier vous permettra d’explorer certains des éléments fondamentaux dans le domaine interdisciplinaire de l’histoire orale. Les participants découvriront une approche aux entretiens spécifique à l’histoire orale, l’éthique de la recherche et les nombreuses façons dont les histoires orales sont partagées avec le public. Cet atelier est fortement recommandé à tous nos […]