Living Archives of Rwandan Exiles and Survivors in Canada
Funded by Canada’s Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council, this bilingual online life stories platform is built by Concordia University’s Centre for oral History and Digital Storytelling (COHDS – Steven High, Principal Investigator) and the Association des Parents et Amis des Victimes du genocide des Tutsis au Rwanda (Page-Rwanda), representing survivors of the 1994 Rwandan genocide now living in Montréal. Over eighty life story interviews were conducted by the Rwandan Working Group (led by Page-Rwanda) of Montreal Life Stories, twenty-eight of whom gave their permission to include their life stories here. Working in partnership, we sought to build a platform and suite of tools that would serve university researchers and community members. The resulting « living archives » enable you to engage with personal story in new and creative ways. The interview transcript is tethered to the video, allowing you to simply listen or conduct keyword searches and then enter into the recorded story. Otherwise much is lost in transcription. Thanks to the Geomedia Lab, there is also a narrative mapping tool that allows you to enter these stories using a map interface. And, finally, thanks to our partnership with the University of Western Ontario and Syracuse University, there is a “tension analysis” tool that allows us to analyse the interview dynamic itself. To access the English subtitles please press the button in the lower right corner of the video monitor once the video is playing.
