A Passion for Stories: Smith Students Participate in National Conference

For their final project in a course last fall on Documenting Lesbian Lives, Hana Sarfan ’17, Isabella Levy ’17 and Carmen Pullella ’16 created an in-class performance based on the oral histories they had gathered.

At the time, they had no idea they would be performing their script for a national audience. Earlier this semester, the trio presented their project at the Oral History Association’s annual meeting in Tampa, Fla.

The five-day October conference drew hundreds of scholars to explore the theme of “Stories for Social Change and Social Justice.” The Smith students performed their script, which offers stories from three women who came of age in the 1960s and 1970s and became active in the women’s movement.

Kelly Anderson, an oral historian who works in special collections at Smith, said undergraduates are rarely asked to participate in national oral history gatherings.

Anderson—who teaches the Lesbian Lives class—said the Oral History Association invited the Smith students because “they were interested in how we use oral history in undergraduate education at Smith. They are also aware that Documenting Lesbian Lives is one of the largest collections of lesbian histories in the world, used by numerous scholars.”

The Dean of the College Office, the Student Government Association and Smith’s Study of Women and Gender program supported the students’ participation in the conference.

Here are some reflections from the three Smithies on their experiences at the oral history gathering.

What was it like to be part of a national oral history conference?

Hana Sarfan: “It was different from what I expected because not all researchers present shared the feminist methodologies that we learned in Kelly’s class. But it was amazing to learn from so many people. There were many different approaches to oral history and ways of making it accessible to the public outside of academia. I particularly enjoyed a talk on street harassment in which presenters addressed methods of combating harassment and racism.”

Isabella Levy: “It was an honor to be presenting alongside veterans in the field. When student work was discussed, it was almost entirely graduate work. In fact, I think one of Kelly’s aims in taking us to the conference was to demonstrate that undergrads can do meaningful oral history work. The historians there were very receptive and had great feedback for us.”

Carmen Pullella: “I did not expect there to be so many varieties of themes within oral history. I attended a wide range of events and talks: Haitian refugees on Guantanamo Bay, stories about Ferguson and the Black Lives Matter movement, a panel on lesbian single mothers, a stand-up comedy performance, and a talk on women’s empowerment and street cat-calling. It was fascinating to see how oral history can be used to explore so many different issues and topics in people’s lives.”

What new lessons did you learn about oral history?

Sarfan: “I learned a lot of historical content, including stories about school segregation in Alabama in the 1960s, street harassment in Iran, and the mechanisms of control used by Ferguson police. I also learned about websites that are being used to document current events such as the Black Lives Matter movement in a way that is publicly accessible.”

Levy: “One of the most important things I learned is that there is a place for oral history in social justice movements. In fact, that place is crucial in order to make sure movements are accurately represented. Oral history is both intensely devoted to the individual— emphasizing the importance of a life story, giving narrators control over how their stories are told—and also interested in a larger framework. That is very powerful for social movements, the historiography of which often suffers from a lack of attention to the average activist or organizer in favor of more glamorous leaders, and a reluctance to showcase organizational process and philosophy alongside actions and results.”

Pullella: “I learned a lot in terms of personal growth, such as the importance of networking, connecting with other oral historians, taking chances, exploring new concepts and ideas. I learned to be proud of my own work. It was rewarding to see so many people interested in our presentation. It felt incredibly validating.”

Why are you drawn to oral history?

Sarfan: “I love oral history because it is a way for the subject to completely control the way their story is depicted. Oral historians don’t sensationalize stories or exaggerate them. Instead, they provide opportunities for people to organically share whatever stories they are comfortable making public. It is also a way to tell the stories of marginalized individuals whose stories are usually ignored in dominant historical narratives.”

Levy: “My major is classics and within that discipline, I’m most interested in women in the ancient world.  That is a field with a paucity of primary sources to work with.  Women in classical antiquity were not encouraged to tell their own stories—many didn’t even know how to write—and historians were not interested in preserving women’s accounts of their lives.  Obviously, the field of women’s history has developed since then, but I still feel an acute sense that if women cannot preserve our perspectives and stories, they will be lost to time in the same way.”

Pullella: “Conducting oral histories is a process that involves personal connections and relationships. Asking about other people’s lives, allowing them to feel special and important and giving them that opportunity to share their story, is very rewarding. In the end, oral history is a reciprocal relationship in which two strangers help each other and allow each other to grow—and that is an amazing feeling.”

What will you do next?

Sarfan: “I will definitely continue to incorporate oral history in my work because I think it is an ethical and powerful methodology. I have many ideas for possible projects, but am not exactly sure what I will pursue next. I do know I am committed to creating oral history projects that have implications for positive social change and can be widely accessible.” 

Levy: “My next big project is in classics, but will definitely be influenced by my oral history work—particularly our performance at the conference.  I’m hoping to put together a production of the ancient Greek tragedy Medea, in which a so-called barbarian woman gets revenge on her good-for-nothing husband. It’s heavy with questions of gender and ethnicity.  I’m interested in how performance can serve as a form of education, particularly about social issues.”

Pullella: “Participating in this conference and sharing my work made me realize how passionate I am about oral history, and I hope to have the chance to engage with it again in the future.”

Smith students (from left) Carmen Pullella '16, Hana Sarfan '17 and Isabella Levy '17 at the Oral History Association's annual meeting in Tampa, Fla.