Sponsored by the State Library of Victoria, the Monash University
Institute for Public History, Museum Victoria, the University of
Melbourne’s School of Historical Studies and Macquarie University’s
Department of Modern History.
The Talk about Town: Urban Lives and Oral Sources in Twentieth
Century Australia invites researchers and professionals working
on life in Australian cities since 1900 to come together and reflect
on their projects. It hopes to encourage participants to think about
the significance of the urban context, whether or not it is the
primary focus of their research. In particular, researchers working
with personal sources in fields such as oral history, life history
and immigration, are encouraged to look at the way that urban settings
have shaped the stories they have been told.
Postgraduate students and professionals working with history are
particularly encouraged to participate.
The Talk about Town is delighted to welcome distinguished oral
and urban historian Alessandro Portelli, Professor of American literature
at the University of Rome ‘La Sapienza’, as keynote
speaker. Professor Portelli is the author of a number of influential
studies in oral history and popular memory including The Order Has
Already Been Carried Out: History, Memory and Meaning of a Nazi
Massacre in Rome (Palgrave Macmillan, 2003) and The Death of Luigi
Trastulli: Form and Meaning in Oral History (State University of
New York Press, 1991). >From 2002 to 2008, he served as advisor
to the mayor of Rome for the preservation and promotion of the city’s
historical memory, and is currently co-manager of Rome's House of
History and Memory.
The Talk about Town offers a rich and stimulating conference program,
to be hosted by the State Library of Victoria and Museum Victoria,
on 27-28 August 2009. Day one of the conference will feature a series
of parallel sessions and a keynote address by Professor Portelli.
Day two of the conference will feature further parallel sessions,
a number of workshops led by experts in urban and oral history,
and additional events including walking tours of inner Melbourne
and a guided tour of ‘The Melbourne Story’ at Melbourne
Museum.
Following the conference, participants are encouraged to submit
articles based on their conference presentations for consideration
for publication in a special issue of a refereed journal.
Persons wishing to present papers at the conference should
send 200 word abstracts (for a 20 minute presentation), to Kerrie
Alexander at kerrie.alexander@arts.monash.edu.au on or before 31
December 2008.
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