March 16, 2009 - 4:21am
By Jan Beecher
Anthropology professor Helene Demers has started a unique oral history project based on a specific community: Vancouver Island University.
The project is part of her third-year anthropology course called Community Oral History. Students are collecting stories from staff, students, faculty and members of the community on all aspects of the university.
“Students have been generating their own lists of who they want to interview,” said Demers. “Typically, when we think of oral history, we automatically think of the older faculty, people who began the university,” she explained, “but some students want to interview younger faculty members, particularly those who have really made an impression on them.”
The breadth of the project has grown since its initiation. Students will conduct interviews and transcribe digitally recorded stories. The work will then be reviewed by the interviewee to ensure accuracy. The plan is to present this semester’s work at a special gathering for administrators and participants near the end of April.
Demer’s hopes the project can be extended because the response to the request for stories has been overwhelming. “I would like to respond with the same kind of enthusiasm that people contacted me with,” she said.
She also hopes to offer the oral history course every other year. “History isn’t ever finished,” she said. “It continues to build.”
Demers points out that VIU has undergone many changes very quickly, moving from a college to a university-college and now a fully accredited university. As employees retired and moved away from the university, she realized the institution was beginning to lose pieces of its history.
“The oral history of a community is its root,” said Demers. “For people to reminisce about this institution strengthens their connection.”
Community members with stories to share about Vancouver Island University are encouraged to contact Demers at 250-746-3539, local 3539 or by email at Helene.Demers@viu.ca.
Tags: In the Community
