Oral History and Emotions.

In recent years, issues related to the world of emotions have gained interest within academia. Even though the approaches to these matters may vary – starting with the different meanings of the terms “emotion” and “affect” in different languages – it could be argued that all of them share an interest in inquiring not so much about what emotions are, but what they do (Ahmed, 2007). Oral History has not been an exception, and many of its studies incorporate in their theoretical and methodological tools elements coming from this new field of study, developed from Social and Critical Theory (Harding, Bornat, Hamilton, Llona…).

The following call for papers is aimed at those academic studies that use emotions as an analytical tool and demonstrate, from specific testimonies, how emotions point our actions towards a particular direction and infuse with meaning our everyday experiences. We seek to elucidate whether it could be possible to define a period or historical event by its “mood” or atmosphere, capable of introducing social or cultural transformations, as well as to analyze which emotional/affective practices are possible and in which bodies or subjectivities they reside.

We are especially interested in:

• The way in which emotions in a social and political sense determine historical circumstances.
• the relationship between emotions and memory, the way in which expectations, disappointments, trauma or any other kind of “affective event” configure our experiences and influence how we remember and narrate the past.
• The affective dynamic that is established between the interviewer and interviewee during Oral History interviews, and its effects upon the final result of the studies.
• The use of emotions and their commemorative purpose in memorials, performances, installations, etcetera.
• Any other aspect seeking to explore the relationship between Oral History and emotions.

Words and Silences, the journal of IOHA, is seeking contributions for the 2016 issue.

Guidelines

• Contributions may be written in English or Spanish (or both which would save us translation work). No longer than 5000 words. Use Word for Windows.
• Manuscripts should be double-spaced throughout (including footnotes) and prepared according to the Chicago Manual of Style. Source Type: Times New Roman, Size: 12.
• You need to upload your manuscript file at wordsandsilences.org, with no identifying author information, and send an e-mail to the appropriate editor (English/Spanish).
• Manuscripts submitted to Words and Silences should be original and not yet published.

Deadline: 15th April 2016.

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