The Columbia University Center for Oral History held a One-Day Workshop at the Columbia School of Journalism in New York on January 28, 2017. The Director of the Center, Professor Mary Marshall Clark, invited Professor Anna Di Lellio to co-teach the class on Oral History and Human Rights, and make a presentation on the work of Kosovo Oral History Initiative. The audience of about thirty young scholars and practitioners discussed how oral history connects with and enhances the work of human rights activists. Cases presented and discussed, among others, were: the interviews with women activists gathered by KOHI, which have already been used by the Feminist Summer School in Kosovo to present models of activism, and KOHI research on the Blood Feuds Reconciliation Campaign, which shows how practices of conflict resolution and communal solidarity can prevent and/or avoid conflict.
Professor Clark presented the use of oral history to highlight and discuss the constitutional, political and moral challenges of the use of Gantànamo Bay detention facilities, part of a broader Rule of Law Oral History Project.