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 Alistair Thomson How do we make sense of the memories that we record as oral historians? How do we begin to transform stories into histories? In this workshop we’ll consider a range of ways of approaching the interpretation of memories. We’ll note the changing ways that researchers have used memory as a historical […]
With Martha Norkunas This advanced oral history workshop focuses on miscommunications and complexities in listening. Participants will read a chapter from my forthcoming book, Learning to Listen, called “Complexities in Listening” and come to the workshop prepared to discuss the issues it raises. Based on years of listening journals written by graduate students in […]
Opening Plenary and Reception: Listening in the Age of Polycrisis Hosted at the MEM — Centre des Mémoires Montréalaises, 1210 Saint-Laurent Boulevard (Nearest metro station: St. Laurent Metro Station) Sponsored by the Centre de recherche interdisciplinairesur la diversité et la démocratie (CRIDAQ) A conversation about listening in an age of polycrisis, as several crises (economic, ecological, geopolitical, […]
The Kitchen Table Collective: Public Day of Workshops and Talks The Kitchen Table Collective (KTC) is an online network, founded by Anna Sheftel and Stacey Zembrzycki, whose members include leading scholars, artists, activists, and independent practitioners from around the world. Since 2023, the group has met virtually eight times a year to discuss members’ work, developments […]
With Steven High This workshop will provide you with some of the fundamentals in the interdisciplinary field of oral history. Participants will learn about an oral history approach to interviewing, ethics in research, and the many ways that oral histories are shared with the public. This workshop is strongly recommended to all new affiliates, […]
Keynote speaker: Ioana Radu “ Nurturing worlds of care and belonging: Indigenous Kinscapes and Oral History ” Ioana Radu is a professor at the School of Indigenous Studies at Université du Québec en Abitibi-Témiscamingue (UQAT) and COHDS core member. For more than two decades, Ioana has worked in partnership with Indigenous communities and organizations […]
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 […]
Facilitated by Anna Sheftel, Stacey Zembrzycki and Cassandra Marsillo, who are Kitchen Table Collective Members Creating open, safe, generative, and generous spaces to tell interview stories is vital to thinking through the varied challenges that oral historians face in the field. These monthly listening circles, led by an intergenerational group of practitioners, will enable COHDS […]
This year, “Team COHDS” will be joining the Concordia Shuffle – an annual fundraiser for student scholarships and bursaries – to help raise funds for our annual “Award of Distinction in Oral History.” We are warmly inviting all members of our community to come and walk with us from Concordia’s downtown campus to Loyola on Friday, […]
COHDS Storytelling Festival: “Oral History & Creative Practice” October 6 (Day 1) Join us October 6–9, 2026, for the COHDS Storytelling Festival: Oral History & Creative Practice, a four-day celebration marking COHDS’s 20th anniversary. Bringing together scholars, artists, students, and community practitioners from COHDS and beyond, the festival celebrates two decades of oral history, […]
COHDS Storytelling Festival: Festival Exhibitions October 6–9 Explore the festival exhibitions running throughout the COHDS Storytelling Festival from October 6–9, 2026. Featuring film screenings, podcasts, sound, touch, and creative works, these exhibitions invite visitors to engage with stories and creative practices across the festival. Tuesday, October 6 – Friday, October 9 Time ALLAB The 4th […]
COHDS Storytelling Festival: “Oral History & Creative Practice” October 7 (Day 2) Join us October 6–9, 2026, for the COHDS Storytelling Festival: Oral History & Creative Practice, a four-day celebration marking COHDS’s 20th anniversary. Bringing together scholars, artists, students, and community practitioners from COHDS and beyond, the festival celebrates two decades of oral history, […]
Time The Sunroom The 4th Space SHIFT Walking Tour 9:30–11:00 Oral History & Performance With Mairéad Filgate & Diego Lopez Francia In-Person Registration 11:00–11:30 ☕ Coffee / Tea Break (Media Lab) 11:00–13:00 Cooking with COHDS: Finding History in a Recipe With Eliana Hussain (Number of participants is limited) In-Person Registration 11:30–12:30 Presentation: An […]
Time The Sunroom The 4th Space 9:00–10:30 Panel Presentation: The Understanding Social Work Leadership in Canada Oral History Project In-Person Registration 10:30–11:00 ☕ Coffee / Tea Break (Media Lab) 11:00–12:00 Workshop: Oral History Needs a Body With Dona Nham In-Person Registration Roundtable: The Archive of the Future Hybrid Event Registration 12:00–12:30 12:30–13:00 🍴 BYOL […]
Picture credits: Eve Garnier, on the picture: Anita Saj, Signe Waldorff, Carina Raffel, Fatima Cerqueira and Martin Bélanger. With Eve Garnier This participatory workshop invites participants into the "hows" of Eve's research-creation master NURT/FLOW, exploring family stories as a third-generation descendant through dance practices. Conceived as a laboratory, the space is filled with […]
Facilitated by Anna Sheftel, Stacey Zembrzycki and Kay Ponthieux Stern, who are Kitchen Table Collective Members Creating open, safe, generative, and generous spaces to tell interview stories is vital to thinking through the varied challenges that oral historians face in the field. These monthly listening circles, led by an intergenerational group of practitioners, will enable […]
Avec Marie-Josée Gicali Trente ans après le génocide perpétré contre les Tutsi du Rwanda, les séquelles physiques et psychologiques demeurent profondément inscrites dans les corps, les esprits et la mémoire des personnes rescapées. Cet atelier vise à partager avec le public la démarche entreprise pour recueillir les récits de personnes rescapées portant les cicatrices des […]
With Anna Sheftel Oral historians are increasingly using their recorders closer to home, to try and understand the lives and legacies of their own families. This is often in the context of violence, migration, and diasporic experience. We study our families not just for our own benefit, but also because we know that the […]
Facilitated by Anna Sheftel, Stacey Zembrzycki and Kelann Currie-Williams, who are Kitchen Table Collective Members Creating open, safe, generative, and generous spaces to tell interview stories is vital to thinking through the varied challenges that oral historians face in the field. These monthly listening circles, led by an intergenerational group of practitioners, will enable COHDS […]