Panelists will discuss research done to date on a grant from the Council of Independent Colleges for a project entitled: Humanities Research for the Public Good. Collaborating with community partner members from the Chicago Cultural Alliance, student researchers from Columbia College Chicago are studying 34 oral histories contained in the Chicagoland Anti-Apartheid Movement Collection (CAAMC). CAAMC is the definitive collection of anti-apartheid activist work in the Chicago area from the 1960s to 1994 and is part of the College Archive and Special Collections at Columbia College Chicago. The collection explores the work and formation of grass roots organizations in a pre-internet age, as both a blueprint for protest and a pathway to democracy and illustrates the impact of the local contribution to the global anti-apartheid movement (see: https://everyvoicechicago.com/cic-archives-project ).
Student researchers receive extensive research training on the Columbia College oral history model which includes: life history interviewing, core question development, content analysis and approaches to transcription editing. Outcomes include classification of research themes, identification of central stories, and sound editing. Finally, participants will learn how to produce a podcast.
The project concludes in January 2022, when the student researchers and Chicago Cultural Alliance community partner members will promote and present the podcast for Modeling History: Oral History and the Chicago Anti-Apartheid Movement through social media outlets and public programming.