Preliminary Programme

Wed 4 April
    8.30 - 10.30
    11.00 - 13.00
    14.00 - 16.00
    16.30 - 18.30

Thu 5 April
    8.30 - 10.30
    11.00 - 13.00
    14.00 - 16.00
    16.30 - 18.30
    19.00 - 20.15
    20.30 - 22.00

Fri 6 April
    8.30 - 10.30
    11.00 - 13.00
    14.00 - 16.00
    16.30 - 18.30

Sat 7 April
    8.30 - 10.30
    11.00 - 13.00
    14.00 - 16.00
    16.00 - 17.00

All days
Go back

Wednesday 4 April 2018 14.00 - 16.00
ZA-3 ORA03 Problematizing, Presenting and Publicising LGBT+ Oral Histories
Mc Mordie Hall School of Music
Network: Oral History Chair: Sean O'Connell
Organizer: Rachel Wallace Discussants: -
Riikka Taavetti : Queer Life Stories and Queer Cultural Memory
This presentation discusses the intertwined nature of life stories and cultural memory in studying queer pasts and memories. The possibility of constructing a queer life stories is dependent on the cultural figures and representations of queer. In order to tell one’s life as gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgendered, or otherwise queer ... (Show more)
This presentation discusses the intertwined nature of life stories and cultural memory in studying queer pasts and memories. The possibility of constructing a queer life stories is dependent on the cultural figures and representations of queer. In order to tell one’s life as gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgendered, or otherwise queer person, one needs to have available framings and identity labels with which to construct an intelligible queer life. Moreover, researchers working on life stories from queer perspectives deploy cultural understanding of queer to interpret pasts in these personal accounts. Oral history and life story sources are have played an important role in queer historiography and public history as few other sources can tell of the past from the queer subjects’ perspective. Thus, the life stories that deploy cultural understandings of queer, also construct and articulate queer cultural memory and produce public understandings of queer life.
This presentation addresses questions concerning queer life stories and queer cultural memory in Finnish and Estonian contexts, based on analysis of life stories, collections in which these are gathered as well as archives and public history. The presentation discusses how the possibilities for telling, researching and utilising queer life stories have changed from the 1990s to 2010s. (Show less)

Emma Vickers : 'Dry Your Eyes, Princess'
This paper outlines the project, Dry Yours Eyes Princess, which uses oral testimony to explore the experiences of trans* veterans who served in the British Armed Forces after 1950. Before 2009, the Armed Forces did not have a codified policy on trans* personnel across the three services. Despite the optimism ... (Show more)
This paper outlines the project, Dry Yours Eyes Princess, which uses oral testimony to explore the experiences of trans* veterans who served in the British Armed Forces after 1950. Before 2009, the Armed Forces did not have a codified policy on trans* personnel across the three services. Despite the optimism of one senior official remarking on the case of Major Joanne Rushton in 1998 that, ‘the Army does not have a policy on transsexuals as such because we are an equal opportunities employer’, possessing a trans* identity was frequently conflated with same-sex desire and could result in discharge under the charge of indecency, the catch-all term for same-sex activity. The purpose of this paper is to explore some of the early findings of the research on institutional responses to trans* personnel and highlight the experiences of those who served. In doing so, the paper will also outline the methodological challenges and benefits of using oral testimony as a means of historicising trans* lives. (Show less)

Rachel Wallace : Fear of doing Time: Emotions, Mental Health and Criminality in Belfast before 1982
Contemplating their lives before the decriminalisation of homosexuality in 1982, gay men and women in Belfast discussed the fear which permeated their lives. Although narrators shared experiences of triumph, passion and community, the undercurrent of criminality often shadowed the interview and the act of decriminalisation was considered a turning point ... (Show more)
Contemplating their lives before the decriminalisation of homosexuality in 1982, gay men and women in Belfast discussed the fear which permeated their lives. Although narrators shared experiences of triumph, passion and community, the undercurrent of criminality often shadowed the interview and the act of decriminalisation was considered a turning point by many. Stories often followed a pre- and post- 1982 structure, despite the continuing problems of social rejection and condemnation in the 1980s. Interviewees discussed depression, mental breakdowns and suicide attempts (sometimes only manifesting years later) which they connected to the pressure of living a double life. The gay community felt under siege. Discovery in the 1960s and 1970s could have led to arrest, unemployment, familial rejection, medical treatment or social and religious condemnation. Some narrators described the strain of the enduring trauma that impacted their daily lives in Northern Ireland in the 1970s. They discussed fears caused by the widespread societal rejection of homosexuality alongside the violence, disruption and distress produced by the Troubles. They candidly examined their emotional wellbeing, often drawing parallels between illegality and ensuing suffering. This paper examines how oral history interviews expose both the contemporaneous and longstanding trauma caused by criminalisation for both gay men and women in Northern Ireland. (Show less)



Theme by Danetsoft and Danang Probo Sayekti inspired by Maksimer