The Oral History Association of South Africa (OHASA) in partnership with National Department of Sport, Arts and Culture (DSAC) and the Northern Cape Department of Sport, Arts and Culture will be hosting the 19th Annual National Oral History Conference at Thabo Moorosi Multi-purpose Centre in Kuruman in the John Taolo Gaetsewe District. The conference will be held from Monday, 10 to Friday 14 October 2022. It will be marked under the theme "Covid Narratives and Memories: Emerging Oral Histories and Methodologies in South Africa." It will be formally opened by the MEC for Sport, Arts and Culture Ms. Desery Fienies who will be accompanied by the leadership of John Taolo Gaetsewe District, OHASA President Professor Sekgothe Mokgoatsana and other dignitaries.
The 2022 Oral History Conference seeks to bring together scholars from around the Oral History discipline to look at lessons learnt during the Covid-19 pandemic. The pandemic caused major disruptions and challenged South Africans and the world to ask about its origin, the ways to avoid infection and treatment methodologies amongst others. It also taught the world about creative ways of providing treatment when infected, questioning the efficacy of the scientific and traditional health systems, to be innovative in ways of mourning and burial. In the confusion and fear those in various leadership positions rose from the state of paralysis and took advantage of their followers.
Papers will attempt to seek answers from many angles to show how the Covid – 19 transformed society. For Oral Historians, the use of oral sources will be maximized to establish the way the interviewees have created new epistemologies as in the face of the pandemic and how their lives have been transformed. Such lessons presented by scholars from various angles will contribute in the building of the archives for future and present generations to have reference.
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Issued by: Communications Unit.
Northern Cape Sport, Arts and Culture Department.
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