Oral History and Memory in Post-War Settings: Methodology, Application, and Dissemination in Lebanon and Kosovo
Time: 2025-09-17 09:00 - 11:00
Location: Large Hall A at Auditorium Maximum
Chairman: Outi Fingerroos
Events within this Session
Empowering Community-Based Oral History
Type: session | Language: English
Time: 09:00 - 11:00
Abstract
As part of the panel on oral history and memory in post-war settings, this paper examines the rationale and process behind designing a hands-on toolkit for using oral history to address the contested history of post-war Lebanon. The past decade has seen a growing interest in oral history among academics and civil society practitioners in Lebanon. While this development is encouraging, we observed a range of (mis)understandings and diverse applications of oral history – whether regarding its values, limitations, archival purposes, or its relationship to memory. Moreover, oral traditions, which hold a venerable place in Middle Eastern context, were often conflated with oral history. With these factors in mind, and given oral history’s inherently multi-vocal, multi-perspective nature, we sought to harness the rising interest in oral history and explore its potential to engage with the contested narratives of the Lebanese Civil War. To start, we developed a comprehensive guide that introduces the history of oral history and outlines a step-by-step process for conducting oral history research, incorporating best practices. Collaborating with civil society organizations, we introduced the toolkit through a series of workshops aimed at diverse stakeholders – including public school teachers, law students, activists, and artists – to encourage them to integrate oral history into their work. To ensure its lifespan, expand its accessibility and reach, and build a reservoir of oral history resources, we transformed the toolkit into a bilingual oral history website – the first of its kind in the country and region. The website adopts a hands-on, learning-by-doing approach to support oral history projects, empower community-based initiatives, and foster regional networks, with the ultimate goal to instill sustained engagements with the past in an environment of dialogue and understanding
Speakers
Oral History and Collective Trauma: a Way to Transform Conflict?
Type: session | Language: English
Time: 09:00 - 11:00
Abstract
This paper delves into the transformative role of oral history in addressing collective trauma and breaking cycles of violence, with a focus on the value of a multi-perspective approach. In deeply divided societies such as Lebanon, where the civil war (1975–1990) has left enduring legacies of sectarian divides and societal fragmentation, collective trauma continues to shape identities. These identities are often constructed on foundations of distrust, exclusion, and unresolved anger and grief. Dominant narratives in such contexts tend to privilege certain perspectives, oversimplify complex histories, and negate the experiences of pain endured by others. This selective remembrance perpetuates polarization and hinders reconciliation. Using examples from Lebanon, this paper explores how oral history, grounded in a multi-perspective framework, can challenge these patterns. It demonstrates how oral testimonies have the potential to highlight patters of shared experiences that cut across societal divides. By highlighting interconnections between antagonizing communities, oral history can disrupt entrenched cycles of blame and victimization, fostering a deeper understanding of conflict dynamics. This, in turn, creates opportunities to address underlying tensions and transform conflict narratives. Oral history serves as a powerful tool to center historical accounts on the lived realities of individuals directly impacted by violence. It enables individuals to express their experiences of loss, displacement, and survival in their own voices. When these narratives are curated within a multi-perspective framework, they Foster empathy and mutual recognition of the shared human toll of violence, even among divided groups. Moreover, by embedding these personal stories within their broader socio-historical contexts, oral history offers a lens through which to examine the structural and systemic roots of violence. In doing so, it provides a platform for societies to critically engage with their pasts and envision pathways toward sustainable peace and justice
Speakers
Maabar: Preserving Memory and Addressing Lebanon’s Contested History Through Audio Storytelling.
Type: session | Language: English
Time: 09:00 - 11:00
Abstract
This paper presents Maabar, an oral history and documentary podcast on Lebanon’s modern and o7en contested past. In socie:es marked by conflict, audio storytelling emerges as a par:cularly powerful medium. Stripping away the visual and focusing solely on voices, it amplifies the raw, individual experience, shi7ing the emphasis from hard facts to personal memory. This approach is crucial for addressing a fractured history like Lebanon’s, where official narra:ves o7en fall short of capturing the nuanced reali:es lived by its people. By priori:zing memories, Maabar democra:zes the historical record, gran:ng equal importance to voices from all walks of life and fostering empathy in a way that hard data or wriHen accounts cannot achieve. Through its immersive combina:on of narra:on, music, and sound design, Maabar constructs a space where listeners can reflect deeply on the emo:onal weight of personal tes:monies. This method Bridges the gap between the individual and the collec:ve. For Lebanon, where the Civil War and subsequent events remain polarizing, this becomes an act of both preserva:on and resistance against the erasure or simplifica:on of complex reali:es. The presenta:on will highlight different elements of the produc:on process, including narrator selec:on and interview style, edi:ng process and music and sound design. Maabar underscores the poten:al of audio podcasts as a crea:ve way to make oral histories widely accessible and relevant to contemporary audiences. In doing so, it highlights the cri:cal role of dissemina:on in transforming oral history into a living, par:cipatory prac:ce that bridges gaps between individuals, communi:es, and their pasts, ensuring that history is not only preserved but ac:vely engaged with in the present
Speakers
Hijacked Childhoods: Agency, Memory, and Representation
Type: session | Language: English
Time: 09:00 - 11:00
Abstract
This presentation explores the experiences of children during the 1998–2000 Kosovo conflict, examining their role, agency, and representation within the broader societal discourse on trauma and loss. Children, often considered passive victims, were subjected to severe violence, including murder, abduction, displacement, and other grave violations of human rights. Their stories are often sidelined within the formal discussions about war and transitional justice, having their voices left unheard in processes of collective memory and reconciliation. Drawing on oral histories from Hijacked Childhoods, this presentation augments the lived experiences of children and their families, emphasizing how such narratives afford essential insights into the human cost of war. The project highlights resilience amidst unimaginable trauma, while challenging cultural norms that frame children as pre-social and apolitical. This exclusionary perspective perpetuates silence, undermining the recognition of children as active participants in history and memory. The presentation argues that centering children’s voices in memory work is crucial for understanding the complexities of war and fostering peacebuilding efforts. It explores societal discourse on loss and the ways families of war-affected children cope with trauma and loss, and the ways meaning-making processes unfold. One testimony poignantly recalls, “Our laughter was taken; all that remained was fear and silence.” Hijacked Childhoods is an effort aimed at challenging the systemic silence, creating pathways for justice, healing, and an inclusive memory landscape. During the Kosovo war, 1,024 children lost their lives, including 239 aged between 0 to 5 years, and an additional 109 were abducted and are still unaccounted for
Speakers
Digital Memories: Archiving Post-Conflict Narratives in Kosovo
Type: session | Language: English
Time: 09:00 - 11:00
Abstract
his paper showcases a creative example of oral history dissemination in the form of the animated short film Mardhë that grew out of an oral history research project on women’s activism conducted by the Oral History Initiative (OHI) in 2015. Documenting and digitizing narratives from various communities in Kosovo, the OHI has worked on exploring the impacts of colonialism and decolonization. The digitization of narratives through the Oral History Initiative marks a significant advance in preserving and sharing the stories of diverse communities. This process involves converting oral histories into digital formats, ensuring their preservation and accessibility for future generations. Our vision is to transform the way stories are recorded and understood, valuing the power of oral storytelling as a fundamental aspect of Kosovo’s cultural heritage and a critical tool for scholarly research. An important aspect of the Oral History Initiative’s work includes the media production of stories that focus on marginalized communities. In particular, the Oral History Initiative has produced short animations based on women’s oral histories of their experiences during the war in Kosovo. OHI has created documentation of less visible historical subjects and filled gaps in the historical record. For more than 10 years of existence, we have collected around 300 interviews all presented on the open access platform.