COHDS

Introduction à l'histoire orale
2026-11-27 13:00 - 15:00 (America/New_York) | LB-1019 (Sunroom), COHDS, 1400 de Maisonneuve Blvd W., Montreal, Québec, Canada
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 nouvelles.eaux affilié.e.s, car il a pour but de présenter la méthodologie et l’éthique suivies par notre Centre.
Cet atelier offre des conseils sur la réalisation d’un projet d’histoire orale du début à la fin, y compris la planification du projet, les méthodes d’entretien, la gestion des données et le traitement des dossiers, ainsi que la diffusion de ceux-ci. L’atelier comprend également des moments interactif qui permettront aux participant.e.s de discuter des concepts clés et de mettre en pratique les stratégies d’entretien.

Lea Kabiljo, professeur à l’École d’art, Université Laval, est une chercheuse multidisciplinaire, dont l’expertise s’étend aux domaines des arts, de la pédagogie et de l’histoire orale. Elle porte un intérêt particulier à l’intégration de la photographie et de l’histoire orale dans sa démarche de recherche-création.
Titulaire d’un doctorat en éducation artistique de l’Université Concordia, sa recherche met en évidence une approche multidisciplinaire en examinant le potentiel pédagogique de l’histoire orale et de la photographie dans le domaine de l’enseignement artistique.
Ayant enseigné dans des milieux scolaires, communautaires et universitaires, Lea s’intéresse activement à la formation des enseignants, avec un accent particulier sur le développement des compétences socio-émotionnelles. Également reconnue pour son expertise en histoire orale, elle a dirigé de nombreux projets de recherche au Québec, ainsi que des initiatives d’envergure internationale.
Quadrilingue, ayant voyagé dans plus de trente pays et vécu sur quatre continents, Lea a développé une vision du monde ancrée dans les valeurs d’équité, de diversité et d’inclusion. Elle cherche constamment à appliquer ces principes dans toutes ses démarches, tant professionnelles que personnelles.

INSCRIPTION
Inscrivez-vous ici.
Veuillez noter que tous nos événements sont gratuits et ouverts à toutes et à tous. Cependant, vous devez réserver votre place. Pour participer à l’événement en présentiel évrivez à: cohds.chorn@concordia.ca
LIEU
Le CHORN/ALLAB sont situés sur le territoire non-cédé de Kanien’kehá:ka à Tiohtiá:ke/Montréal.
En personne à LB-1019 (salle Sunroom), Centre d’histoire orale et de narration numérique (COHDS), Université Concordia, 1400 boulevard de Maisonneuve Ouest, pavillon J.-W. McConnell (pavillon de la Bibliothèque).

The Roots of Digital Storytelling: A workshop in revealing meaning without defining it
2027-01-15 10:00 - 12:30 | LB-1019 (Sunroom), COHDS, 1400 de Maisonneuve Blvd W., Montreal, Québec, Canada
With Carolina Cambre

Visuality (and sound) has an important yet under-developed and under-theorized role to play in the relationship between learning, knowledge production, and transmission in the university. Tools like digital storytelling present one way to explore this dynamic. This workshop will review the roots of digital storytelling practices and provide ways for participants to explore developing digital stories either through narrative driven approaches or image driven approaches. Finally we will examine the implications for research, and the role that digital storytelling can play at different points in the research process.
Carolina Cambre is an award-winning artist, writer and educator at Concordia University. Her book, The Semiotics of Che Guevara: Affective gateways (2015), presents a series of encounters with the photograph, Guerrillero Heroico (1960) by Alberto Korda, its unique trajectory and endless renderings. Her research-creation practice has spanned the fields of visual anthropology, sociology and education as well as across a variety of artistic media.

REGISTRATION
Register now with this link
Please note that all our events are free and open to all, but registration is mandatory. For any questions, please contact cohds.chorn@concordia.ca
LOCATION
In-person in LB-1019 (Sunroom), Centre for Oral History and Digital Storytelling (COHDS), Concordia University, 1400 de Maisonneuve Blvd. West, J.W. McConnell Building (Library Building).
COHDS/ALLAB is located on unceded Kanien’kehá:ka territory, in Tiohtiá:ke/Montreal.

Artmaking in Community: A Conduit for Testimony and Life Stories
2027-01-21 13:00 - 15:00 | LB-1019 (Sunroom), COHDS, 1400 de Maisonneuve Blvd W., Montreal, Québec, Canada
With David LeRue

How can art be a form of testimony and storytelling? This hands-on and methodological workshop explores the possibility of using artmaking as a participatory approach to oral history practices, and considers what participants might share when being asked to create artworks rather than participate in a traditional interview. The workshop will begin with a brief overview of oral history projects integrating participant making, before narrowing on the presenter’s own approach called community-based research-creation, which uses the community art classroom as a way to engage participants through sustained making and dialogue as an alternative and supplement to one-on-one interviews. In addition to discussing the benefits of integrating artmaking as an oral history practice, we will consider the ethics of interpreting participant works and how to facilitate participants with diverse experiences and artistic backgrounds. We will conclude with a short drawing and interpretation activity to explore this approach in practice.

No expertise or experience with artmaking is required.

David LeRue is an Assistant Professor in Art Education at Concordia University. He is an artist, teacher, and researcher working between research-creation, qualitative research, and community-engaged pedagogical practices. His work theorizes the contradictions of community through developing and using inductive methods of participatory arts-based research informed by oral history to understand how places are experienced and interpreted on the grassroots level. Through using dialectical philosophies and community-engaged methods, he has come to understand community and places as inherently contradictory, subject to ongoing social and physical re-imaginings.

REGISTRATION
Register now with this link
Please note that all our events are free and open to all, but registration is mandatory. For any questions, please contact cohds.chorn@concordia.ca
LOCATION
In-person in LB-1019 (Sunroom), Centre for Oral History and Digital Storytelling (COHDS), Concordia University, 1400 de Maisonneuve Blvd. West, J.W. McConnell Building (Library Building).
COHDS/ALLAB is located on unceded Kanien’kehá:ka territory, in Tiohtiá:ke/Montreal.

Working with Oral History Transcripts
2027-02-05 13:00 - 15:00 | LB-1019 (Sunroom), COHDS, 1400 de Maisonneuve Blvd W., Montreal, Québec, Canada
With Steven High

What can we learn from an oral history transcript? This workshop will introduce you to ways of interpreting oral history transcripts starting with the underlying interview dynamic. We will ground our analysis in a single interview transcript that we will circulate a week in advance. You should go through it before our workshop. We will then discuss different interpretative strategies as a group.

Steven High is lead co-director of COHDS and has published extensively on oral history methodology, theory and ethics. His books include Oral History at the Crossroads, Beyond Testimony and Trauma: Oral History in the Aftermath of Mass Violence, and Deindustrializing Montreal: Entangled Histories of Race, Residence and Class. He also led the prize-winning Montreal Life Stories project.

REGISTRATION
Register now with this link
Please note that all our events are free and open to all, but registration is mandatory. For any questions, please contact cohds.chorn@concordia.ca
LOCATION
In-person in LB-1019 (Sunroom), Centre for Oral History and Digital Storytelling (COHDS), Concordia University, 1400 de Maisonneuve Blvd. West, J.W. McConnell Building (Library Building).
COHDS/ALLAB is located on unceded Kanien’kehá:ka territory, in Tiohtiá:ke/Montreal.

Capturing Voices: Recording Audio for History
2027-02-12 13:00 - 16:00 | Concordia University, LB-1042 (COHDS), 1400 de Maisonneuve Blvd O, Montreal
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 workshop examines how microphone selection, placement, and recording environment shape the clarity, texture, and intelligibility of recorded sound.
Participants will practice recording in both indoor and outdoor settings, rotating between the roles of recorder and speaker while capturing short audio samples across varied acoustic conditions. Emphasis is placed on critical listening as a methodological skill. The workshop also introduces basic audio workflows, including offloading recordings, performing foundational edits using Audacity, and organizing audio files for long-term storage and archival preservation.
Framed around the documentation of oral histories, this session equips participants with practical and transferable skills for recording clear, durable, and ethically sound audio materials. No prior technical experience is required.

Frankie Ray (they/them) is a Montreal-based videographer and DJ, with professional experience across music festivals, music videos, and film productions, including Netflix, HBO, the NFB and Crave. Trained as a certified 2nd Assistant Camera in ICG669/IATSE, Frankie brings both technical expertise and creative insight to their work. Outside of their personal work, Frankie has always put a focus on accessible, hands-on training. At COHDS, Frankie combines their professional background with a commitment to supporting researchers, artists, and storytellers in capturing and preserving stories with care and technical confidence.

REGISTRATION
Register now with this link
Please note that all our events are free and open to all, but registration is mandatory. For any questions, please contact cohds.chorn@concordia.ca
LOCATION
In-person in LB-1019 (Sunroom), Centre for Oral History and Digital Storytelling (COHDS), Concordia University, 1400 de Maisonneuve Blvd. West, J.W. McConnell Building (Library Building).
COHDS/ALLAB is located on unceded Kanien’kehá:ka territory, in Tiohtiá:ke/Montreal.

Beyond the Label
2027-04-02 17:00 - 19:00 | LB-1019 (Sunroom), COHDS, 1400 de Maisonneuve Blvd W., Montreal, Québec, Canada
With Gracia Dyer Jalea
What stories do your clothes tell? Inspired by Projet Friperie, this interactive workshop invites participants to explore fashion as a form of storytelling through the clothes we wear, keep, inherit, and choose. Together, we’ll reflect on identity, culture, community, and sustainability while discovering Montreal’s vibrant second-hand scene and circular fashion economy. The workshop concludes with a community clothing swap, where participants can exchange garments and the stories that come with them.

Bring one or two clean, gently used garments to swap, and be ready to share the story behind them.

Gracia Dyer Jalea is an award-winning change leader, aspiring artist and author, and a PhD candidate in Concordia University’s INDI program. Her research focuses on autoethnography, storytelling, and research-creation. A mother of twins, her work is shaped by her experiences as a Filipina-Canadian mother. She holds a SSHRC Doctoral Fellowship and has long been affiliated with Concordia University’s Centre for Oral History and Digital Storytelling.

REGISTRATION
Register now with this link
Please note that all our events are free and open to all, but registration is mandatory. For any questions, please contact cohds.chorn@concordia.ca
LOCATION
In-person in LB-1019 (Sunroom), Centre for Oral History and Digital Storytelling (COHDS), Concordia University, 1400 de Maisonneuve Blvd. West, J.W. McConnell Building (Library Building).
COHDS/ALLAB is located on unceded Kanien’kehá:ka territory, in Tiohtiá:ke/Montreal.

Autobiography After Trauma: Survivors Writing Their Own Stories
2027-05-06 13:00 - 15:00 | LB-1019 (Sunroom), COHDS, 1400 de Maisonneuve Blvd W., Montreal, Québec, Canada
With Hamed Farmand

When survivors write their own stories, they gain greater control over what to tell, how to tell it, and what to leave untold. Self-writing can become an act of reclaiming voice, agency, and authorship after trauma. In this workshop, I will reflect on my own experiences, both as the author of a childhood memoir and as someone who accompanied my grandmother as she wrote her own life story. Survivors, like my grandmother, may have strong and understandable reasons for finding it difficult to trust the process of being interviewed for their oral history. During more than 90 years of life, she lived through the Second World War, the 1953 coup and the 1979 Revolution in Iran, the extrajudicial killings of her daughter and son-in-law, the executions of two sons and her pregnant daughter-in-law, the imprisonment of her eldest daughter, and her own arrest and torture. Audio recorders, pens, and written interviews caused her particular discomfort because these same tools had been used during her interrogations. Yet, through writing her own story, she was able to take control of the process and tell her experiences in her own words.

Hamed Farmand is a children’s rights activist, educator, author, and storyteller. He is the founder of Children of Imprisoned Parents International (COIPI) and a co-chair of the International Coalition for Children with Incarcerated Parents (INCCIP). Born and raised in Iran, he moved to the United States in 2010 and has lived in Tiohtià:ke/Montréal since 2022. His childhood was marked by profound loss: his mother was imprisoned for five years, his grandmother for three, and several members of his extended family were executed. For more than a decade, Hamed has dedicated his work to advocacy, public awareness, and supporting families affected by parental incarceration in the Iranian community and globally. He is the author of Missing Mum, a memoir about his childhood experiences of separation, loss, grief, and resilience.

REGISTRATION
Register now with this link
Please note that all our events are free and open to all, but registration is mandatory.
For any questions, please contact cohds.chorn@concordia.ca

LOCATION
In-person in LB-1019 (Sunroom), Centre for Oral History and Digital Storytelling (COHDS), Concordia University, 1400 de Maisonneuve Blvd. West, J.W. McConnell Building (Library Building).
COHDS/ALLAB is located on unceded Kanien’kehá:ka territory, in Tiohtiá:ke/Montreal.
