The 2008 Summer Institute lectures will explore the parallel uses of oral history and legal testimony in the classical definition of advocacy as "finding and giving" voice. Relationships between human rights commissions, tribunals and oral history documentation will be explored – as well as specific uses of oral history in legal advocacy work in capital crimes proceedings, land claims work involving oral memory in indigenous communities and the documentation of vulnerable communities in transition generally.

Lectures will be held in 501 Schermerhorn Hall, located on Columbia University's Morningside Heights Campus.

All lectures are free and open to the public.

Thursday, June 12
7:00 - 8:30pm
Alessandro Portelli, "Globalization in Steel: The Evolution of Working-Class Culture and the ThyssenKrupp Strikes, 2004-2008"

Alessandro Portelli is a professor of American Literature at the University of Rome. He is author of The Death of Luigi Trastulli and Other Stories: Form and Meaning in Oral History; The Battle of Valle Guilia: Oral History and the Art of Dialogue; and most recently The Order Has Been Carried Out: History, Memory and Meaning of a Nazi Massacre in Rome, winner of the prestigious Viareggio prize in Italy. His essays on oral history and narrative have appeared in many journals throughout the world.

Monday, June 16
7:30 - 9:00pm
Michael Ratner, "War on Democracy: Civil and Human Rights Post-9/11" Response: Gara LaMarche, "The Importance of Philanthropic Advocacy in the Post-911 Era"

Michael Ratner is a human rights lawyer and the president of the Center for Constitutional Rights, a human rights organization that represents victims of torture, rendition and domestic spying. He was co-counsel in representing Guantanamo Bay detainees in the United States Supreme Court in 2004. He is the author of many books and articles, including Against War with Iraq and Guantanamo: What the World Should Know, and a textbook on international human rights. Ratner is also the co-host of the radio program Law and Disorder and professor of law at the Columbia University Law School.

Gara LaMarche is President and CEO of the Atlantic Philanthropies. Before joining the Atlantic Philanthropies in April, 2007, Gara LaMarche was vice president and director of U.S. Programs for the Open Society Institute. Prior to joining OSI in 1996, LaMarche served as associate director of Human Rights Watch and was director of its Free Expression Project (1990-1996) and the Freedom-To-Write Program of the PEN American Center (1988-1990). From 1976 to 1988, he served in a variety of positions with the American Civil Liberties Union, including associate director of its New York branch (1979-1984) and executive director of the Texas Civil Liberties Union (1984-1988). In 1988-1989, he was a Charles H. Revson Fellow on the Future of the City of New York. He is a graduate of Columbia University.

Tuesday, June 17
7:30-9:00pm
Winona Wheeler, "Indigenous Oral Histories under the Gun: Bamboozled Methodologies"

Winona Wheeler (Cree/Assiniboine/Saulteaux/Irish/English with a dab of Scot) is a member of the Fisher River Cree First Nation, Manitoba. She has taught Indigenous Studies since 1988 and is currently an Associate Professor in the Centre for World Indigenous Knowledge and Research at Athabasca University. Dr. Wheeler has successfully petitioned the Canadian government for land claims rights using oral history as a form of evidence.