A symposium, entitled Oral histories of socialist modernities: memories and lived experiences in Central and Inner Asia, organized by Uradyn E. Bulag and Christopher Kaplonski of the Mongolia and Inner Asia Studies Unit, will take place on 16 and 17 December 2008, in the Seminar Room, Mongolia and Inner Asia Studies Unit, the Mond Building, Free School Lane.
This two-day symposium offers a forum for the discussion of methodologies of oral history research in the post-socialist societies of Central and Inner Asia, and for the presentation of preliminary findings of oral histories of socialist modernities.
The symposium is based on two major oral history projects. The first is a collaborative project of Japan's National Museum of Ethnology under the title A history of modernization under socialism: a narrative-based reconstruction of experience, which collects and studies oral histories of 'lived experiences' of socialism in Central Asia. The second is the University's Oral history of twentieth century Mongolia, which studies how people's situatedness - their social, political, and cultural contexts - affects how they remember, understood, and responded to the events of Mongolia's turbulent twentieth century.
Attendance is free, but pre-registration is required. To pre-register, please contact Dr Christopher Kaplonski (email ck227@cam.ac.uk) or Mrs Libby Peachey (email eaup2@cam.ac.uk). For further information, and for the latest news on the symposium, please see the Mongolia and Inner Asia Studies website (http://www.innerasiaresearch.org/news.htm).