In this workshop we will explore useful concepts in the transcription of oral history to help us more accurately portray the voice of our narrators. The English language is inextricably linked to a history of colonialism and has been used in the history of America to delegitimize the voices and agency of Black people (from forced illiteracy during slavery, to voter suppression during the Civil Rights Era, to even the halls of academia today). This workshop aims to change the way we think of the transcript as a record and the way we consider dialect and the importance of AAVE (African American Vernacular English) to recording American history and culture.

I will be looking at the CCOHR Transcription Style Guide, Margaret Walker’s Jubilee and Zora Neale Hurston’s Barracoon as well as contemporary audio and transcript samples. Participants need not read all of these, however a passing familiarity would be helpful. I encourage participants to send in examples of how these issues come up in their own work, even with narrators from other races, dialects, or languages. The ultimate question we will seek to answer together: how do we transcribe and edit the voices of Black people while balancing the importance of accuracy and feeling with the necessity for understandability?

Registration Link Below!

https://www.eventbrite.com/e/talking-white-an-anti-oppression-view-towards-transcribing-black-narrators-tickets-112218135464?aff=ebdssbeditorialcollection