Research, Training & Collaboration : Workshops

World Oral Literature Project Workshop
with a focus on collections from the Asia-Pacific

Tuesday, 15 December to Wednesday, 16 December 2009
Location: Centre for Research in the Arts, Social Sciences and Humanities (CRASSH), University of Cambridge

This two-day workshop, organised by the World Oral Literature Project, brought together established scholars, early career researchers and graduate students with indigenous researchers, museum curators, archivists and audio-visual experts to discuss strategies for collecting, recording, preserving and disseminating oral literatures and endangered narrative traditions. In view of the diversity of current research initiatives on the oral literatures of the Asia-Pacific, and the geographical strengths of Cambridge-based scholars, the workshop had a broad focus on this region. Specific sessions were held on the Himalayas (India and Nepal), High Asia (China, Mongolia and Tibet) and the Pacific (Vanuatu).

The workshop provided a collaborative environment for scholars to present, discuss and be exposed to new techniques and fieldwork methodologies. Topics included the ethical responsibilities of researchers, their engagements with local communities as partners, the place of western universities as archival repositories of living traditions and sites of interaction for indigenous communities, and the role of local digital archives and community cultural centres in knowledge transfer, teaching and research.

In parallel, we hosted the second meeting of the ‘Ritual Speech in the Himalayas’ working group, participants of which presented on their research and publishing projects to those attending the World Oral Literature Project workshop.

Workshop presenters and participants included:

Professor Peter Austin (SOAS) [watch video]
Katey Blumenthal (University of Virginia) [watch video]
Dr Lissant Bolton (British Museum) [watch video]
Sir Charles Chadwyck-Healey (Publisher and Archivist)
Elin Stangeland (DSpace, University Library, Cambridge) [watch video]
Professor Ruth Finnegan (Open University) [watch video]
Professor Martin Gaenszle (University of Vienna) [watch video]
Dr Stephen Hugh-Jones (King’s College, Cambridge) [listen to audio]
Dr Christopher Kaplonski (MIASU, University of Cambridge) [watch video]
Professor Alan Macfarlane (King’s College, Cambridge)
David Nathan (Director, Endangered Languages Archive, SOAS) [watch video]
Professor Michael Oppitz (University of Zürich) [watch video]
Dr Carole Pegg (University of Cambridge, Inner Asian Music & 7-Star Records) [watch video]
Dr Judith Pettigrew (University of Limerick) [watch video]
Dr Anne de Sales (CNRS, Paris) [watch video]
Dr Sara Shneiderman (St Catharine’s College, Cambridge) [watch video]
Alban von Stockhausen (University of Zürich) [watch video]
Professor William Sutherland (Zoology, University of Cambridge) [watch video]
Yarjung Kromchai Tamu (Chief Advisor, Tamu Pye Lhu Sangh)

This workshop was made possible by generous support from C-SAP, the Onaway Trust and the Firebird Foundation for Anthropological Research.