An oral history collective that uses public art, podcasts, and now a book to interrupt the narratives of erasure that accompany gentrification and displacement. We believe community stories and neighborhood histories can change the way we think about community - what it means to have it and what it means to lose it.
The Seattle Black Spatial Histories Institute (SBSHI) is Wa Na Wari’s community history training program. Over the course of two years, a small cohort works with a faculty of Black oral historians from around the country, as well as with local historians, archivists, geographers, librarians, and artists, to learn and explore the ethics, techniques, best practices, tensions, and dilemmas of community-based oral history and Black memory work. SBSHI is one way, among many, that Wa Na Wari seeks to build collective power towards a future of Black ownership and belonging by rooting our work in a legacy of Black resilience, creativity, and self-determination. Training community members in the techniques and best practices of Black memory work is an important step towards shifting power around whose stories are told, how they’re told, and what place those stories hold in the shaping of Black futures.
Seattle Public Library, Sharing our Voices
48 oral history interviews conducted with legacy residents from twelve different Seattle neighborhoods exploring the question hat is it like to live in Seattle during this time of great change. A collaboration between Jill Freidberg, Inye Wokoma, and Seattle Public Library. 2016-2017
Students in my class Digital Oral History BISMCS343 conducted interviews with Bothell residents from 2013-2015.