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April 18 event to highlight oral history collections of Ebola and COVID-19 experiences
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Event update:

In response to feedback, the Documenting Health Crises: Oral Histories of Covid and Ebola oral history event will not be held on the Emory campus on Tuesday, April 18, at 4 p.m. as scheduled. The program will instead be virtual, so that international audiences may participate. Stay tuned for the new date and time for the rescheduled event.




The Oral History Program at Emory University’s Stuart A. Rose Manuscript, Archives, and Rare Book Library will hold a panel discussion and view videos from a recently acquired collection that documents the Ebola outbreak in Africa as well as the program’s own burgeoning archive of COVID-19 pandemic stories. 

“Documenting Health Crises: Oral Histories of Covid and Ebola” will be Tuesday, April 18, in the Jones Room on Level 3 of Emory’s Woodruff Library. The program will be 4-5:15 p.m. with discussion continuing until 6 p.m.  

Register online via Eventbrite to attend. 

The program will include a discussion on the intersection of oral history and health, and how narrative resources amplify individual stories and shared experiences. Panelists will reflect on using first-person interviews and oral history methods to document the impact of the Ebola outbreak in Sierra Leone as well as the COVID-19 pandemic. 

Clips from the collections will highlight people’s stories of resilience, adaptation and struggle while living through health crises. The program aims to explore these collections, discuss methods and practices, and reflect on how oral history builds bridges across disciplines and fields. 

Rose Library recently acquired the collection of documentary videos from Mirabel Pictures, which features interviews with survivors and family members of the victims of the West Africa Ebola outbreak from 2014-16. The library is preparing a finding aid for the Mirabel Pictures WeSurvive Oral History Collection, which will be included in the library’s finding aids listing when complete. 

The Emory Oral History Program has been recording interviews with Emory community members to document experiences during the COVID-19 pandemic. The stories include narratives of loss and resilience as people adapted to a changing world. 

The panel speakers are: 

  • Pamela Scully, professor of Women’s, Gender and Sexuality Studies and African Studies at Emory University
  • Banker White, executive director, Mirabel Pictures/WeOwnTV
  • Arthur Pratt, filmmaker, manager, WeOwnTV Freetown Media Centre
  • Jonathan Coulis, coordinator, Emory Oral History Program

The event is co-sponsored by the Woodruff Health Sciences Center Library at Emory University.

Documenting Health Crises: Oral Histories of Covid and Ebola

Tuesday, April 18

4-5:15 p.m., with open discussion until 6 p.m.

Woodruff Library Level 3, Jones Room

Free and open to the public.

Seating is limited to 100 guests.

Register


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