Join us for the final event of online lectures hosted by the Centre for Design History, University of Brighton. Organised by Dr Claire Wintle (University of Brighton), Dr Linda Sandino (Victoria and Albert Museum), and Andrea Potts (University of Brighton).

 

Oral Histories in Indian Museums

Priyanka Seshadri (Independent Archivist, Delhi, India)

Monday 4 July 2022
16:00-17:00 BST
Online

My presentation explores the impact that oral history can have on the museum as an institution, focusing on heritage projects in India. Several museums today are recognising their colonial antecedents and the ways that their histories of appropriation influence present-day processes and approaches. In response to this urgent question, oral history can be used as a guide to open up channels of communication between the museum and the audience it serves. I make the case that procedures that ensure informed consent, central to the practice of oral history, can create meaningful relationships with this audience even beyond the act of conducting an interview. Interviewees can also engage with the museum by reflecting on the institution’s history and contributing to its vision for the future. I will present insights from my work documenting stories of Partition and migration in the Indian context and suggest possibilities for further exploration.
Priyanka Seshadri is a museum professional. She has previously worked at the Centre for Public History (Srishti Manipal Institute of Design), the Centre for Community Knowledge (Ambedkar University Delhi), the Partition Museum, Amritsar, and Eka Archiving Services, New Delhi. She was involved in building an oral history archive for the Indian Museum, Kolkata, and in expanding the Partition Museum’s collection of material artefacts and oral histories. She also led the Partition Museum’s first international exhibition co-curated with Manchester Museum. She can be reached on Twitter @priyankatadpole.

 

Previous events in the series:

Pamela M. Henson, Smithsonian Instituton, US – ‘How Museums Live, Change, and Grow’
You can read about this event and watch the lecture here

Inkeri Hakamies, University of Helsinki, Finland – ‘Studying Finnish Museum Stories’
You can read about this event and watch the lecture here