Narrating Srebrenica: Conducting Oral Histories with Genocide Survivors

Date: November 16th, 2021
Duration: 1h:27m:39s

In the hills of eastern Bosnia and Herzegovina sits the small town of Srebrenica–once known for silver mines and health spas, now infamous for the genocide that occurred there during the Bosnian War. In July 1995, the Bosnian Serb Army captured and murdered over 8,000 Muslim men and boys, while forcibly bussing the women and girls away from the enclave. Twenty-six years later, many of Srebrenica’s surviving men and women continue to wrestle with coming forward to talk about their harrowing experiences. This conversation focuses on the practical, ethical, and gendered challenges involved in conducting oral history interviews with and obtaining consent from genocide survivors. Featuring the authors of "Voices from Srebrenica: Survivor Narratives of the Bosnian Genocide" (McFarland & Company, 2021), Hasan Hasanovic, Head of the Oral History Project at the Srebrenica Genocide Memorial and himself a genocide survivor and Ann Petrila, Professor of the Practice and Coordinator of Global Initiatives at the University of Denver’s Graduate School of Social Work, as well as Selma Leydesdorff, Professor of Oral History and Culture at the University of Amsterdam and author of "Surviving the Bosnian Genocide: The Women of Srebrenica Speak" (Indiana University Press, 2011). This event was co-sponsored by the Harriman Institute at Columbia University; the Sam and Frances Fried Holocaust and Genocide Academy at the University of Nebraska at Omaha; the Center for the Study of Genocide & Human Rights at Rutgers University; the Holocaust, Genocide and Interfaith Education Center at Manhattan College; and the Nancy & David Wolf Holocaust and Humanity Center.

The Harriet and Kenneth Kupferberg Holocaust Center (KHC) hosts a range of programs about Holocaust memory and its ongoing impact across, as well as relevancy to, societies around the world through annual commemorations, special events, student-focused initiatives, our National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) colloquia series, and lectures about our originally researched exhibitions. For more information about the KHC, please visit http://khc.qcc.cuny.edu

Website: https://khc.qcc.cuny.edu/