Call for Participation: ‘Oral History and Movement‘
The Oral History Network of Ireland (OHNI) is pleased to announce its 2026 meeting, taking place on 18–19 June 2026 at the Meadowlands Hotel in Tralee, County Kerry. The annual meeting is a gathering of practising oral historians and all those with an interest in the recording, collecting and preserving oral history and heritage.
This two-day event offers interactive workshops, presentations and project showcases that are designed to inspire discussion, learning, knowledge and to create greater networking amongst our community. Whether you are experienced in oral history or just beginning your journey, we invite you to join us and share your insights and ideas.
Mary Stewart, Lead Curator of Oral History at the British Library, will deliver the keynote address at this year’s meeting. Mary is Director of the oral history fieldwork charity National Life Stories, and a trustee of OHNI’s UK equivalent, the Oral History Society. Her research interests include family histories and narratives and their use as a tool for academic research and oral history and their reception by family members of interviewees. She has also been exploring the ‘biography’ of the oral history archive: contextualising collections, capturing information about the research process and exploring ethical debates about the re-use archived oral history material.
Contributions are welcome in a range of formats:
Standard Papers (20 minutes)
Posters and Visual Presentations
Community Project Showcases & Moments (10 minutes) – this shorter format allows for presentations that offer an overview of new or developing projects, or that reflect on outstanding or memorable interviews, experiences, and/or incidents that influenced or changed the way the presenter practices oral history.
This year’s theme, ‘Oral History and Movement’, invites reflection on the many ways movement shapes human experience and storytelling. Movement can be understood broadly, and we invite reflections on how movement shapes human experience and storytelling: the physical movement of people across places and borders; social and political movements that bring people together/divide them; movement through time, memory, and the generations; movement of voices from the private spaces/spheres into public archives; those memories which emerge from our journeys taken, changes endured, and moments of transition.
Movement is central to how stories are told and remembered. Oral histories frequently unfold through accounts of travel, migration, work, protest, displacement, and return, but also through quieter movements: daily routines, changing neighbourhoods, or shifts in identity and belonging. This conference aims to create an inclusive and welcoming space for academics, community historians and OHNI members to explore how movement, in all its forms, is recorded, interpreted, and shared through oral history.
Possible Themes and Topics
We welcome proposals that engage with the theme Oral History and Movement in creative, reflective, or practical ways. Topics may include, but are not limited to:
Migration, emigration, immigration, and diaspora experiences
Asylum, refuge, displacement, forced movement and borders
Social, political, and labour movements
Everyday mobility: work, commuting, travel, and local journeys
Borders, boundaries, and crossing points
Movement across generations: memory, inheritance, and change over time
Rural and urban change, including housing, land, and community movement
Walking interviews, mobile methods, and place-based storytelling
Music, performance, sport and embodied movement
Movement from private memory to public archive: ethics and access
Digital movement: sharing oral histories online and across platforms
We welcome proposals from community groups, educators, archivists, academics, early career researchers, heritage professionals and anyone engaged in oral history practice or research.
Submissions highlighting collaborative or community-based projects are particularly encouraged.
Submission Guidelines
To participate, please submit an abstract (of not more than 250 words) along with your contact details using the form on our website no later than 20th March 2026
Contact Information
David Ryan, Communications Chair, Oral History Network of Ireland
Contact Email
info@oralhistorynetworkireland.ie
URL https://oralhistorynetworkireland.ie/events/2026-meeting/
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