The Centre for Life Writing and Oral History (CLiOH) is an exciting new initiative exploring the many ways in which people are telling their life stories.
Oral history has grown, over the past 50 years, to become a major channel through which people can participate in documenting their lived experience. Valuing the lives of marginalised groups in society, it creates a ‘history from below’, empowers participants and includes more diverse perspectives on the past.
Over the past 15 years meanwhile, biography, autobiography and memoir, journals and diaries, have all been recognised as forms of life writing. Social media have contributed to its growth, development and popularity, providing multiple platforms through which ordinary people can narrate their own lives digitally.
CLiOH brings together these two methods and builds upon London Met’s significant expertise in this area, developing and deepening our links with our local communities and demonstrating how our research can serve them.
We launched in March 2020, just before lockdown, with a packed event on Writing Black Lives.
CLiOH is organised by Professor John Gabriel (School of Social Professions), Professor Jenny Harding (School of Computing and Digital Media) and Professor Anne Karpf (School of Art, Architecture and Design).
Contact the organisers
Anne Karpf: a.karpf@londonmet.ac.uk
Jenny Harding: j.harding@londonmet.ac.uk
John Gabriel: j.gabriel@londonmet.ac.uk
