This is a Call for Papers for a special issue titled, "Mapping the Diverse Horizons of Oral History in India: Theory, Method, Practice." The central idea of the special issue is to map the multiple directions in which oral history is evolving within India today and to highlight its significance in understanding lives, histories, and identities that often remain outside conventional archives. The issue will be published in collaboration with The Oral History Review [ https://www.tandfonline.com/journals/uohr20  Scopus, Q1].

We invite interested individuals to send us an abstract based on the following themes, but not limited to:

1. Methodological innovations in oral history 
2. Designing an oral history project 
3. Techno-Memories: AI, algorithm, and archives 
4. Oral histories of marginalised communities in India (religious minorities, LGBTQ+, Dalit, Adivasi, Tribal and subaltern life stories) 
5. Oral history at the intersection of oral traditions
6. Oral histories, object narratives, and material culture 
7. Gendered memories and intimate oral histories 
8. Coastal histories, mountain histories, environmental histories 
9. Oral histories of labour movements and informal economies  
10. Oral histories of social movements and political resistance 
11. Oral histories of migration (refugees, stateless populations, diaspora) 
12. Oral histories of artistic, musical, and performative traditions
13. Corporate oral histories
14. Oral histories in education and pedagogy 
15. Intimacy, kinship, and family histories

We welcome submissions that address these questions and more, whether through case studies, methodological reflections, archival discussions, or theoretical interventions. The issue aims to map the multiple directions oral history is taking within India today and to highlight its significance in understanding lives, histories, and identities that often remain outside conventional archives. 

The publication of the issue is divided into three phases. In the first phase, we encourage interested individuals to send us an abstract (350-500 words) of their proposed papers. The deadline to submit the abstract is 15 January 2026. Kindly email your abstracts to indiaoralhistory@gmail.com.The second phase commences as we inform the selected contributors to submit their papers to us (5000-7000 words, including references & notes). The papers will undergo a conventional blind peer-review process. The final phase comprises the production process which will be handled by the editors of the journal. 

We envision publication of the issue in mid-2027. Looking forward to host your stories and perspectives. Apologies for any cross-posting, if any. 

Special Issue Editors, 

Dr. Sumallya Mukhopdhyay & Dr. Aiswarya Sanath

Bio-Note of Special Issue Editors 

Dr. Sumallya Mukhopadhyay is an assistant professor in the Department of Humanities & Social Sciences at the National Institute of Technology Silchar, Assam, India. He is the Joint Secretary of the Oral History Association of India and an Asian Representative in the International Oral History Association. His essays have appeared in The Oral History Review, Memory Studies in India, Economic & Political Weekly, and Narrative Culture, among other places. 

Dr. Aiswarya Sanath is an assistant professor at the School of Humanities and Social Sciences, GITAM University, Visakhapatnam. She earned her PhD from the Department of Humanities and Social Sciences at the Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur, India. Her broader research interests lie at the intersection of memory and migration studies. She has published articles in journals such asSouth Asia: Journal of South Asian Studies and South Asian Review, and her work has also appeared in edited volumes published by Routledge, Helsinki University Press and Bloomsbury Publishing.