Leyla’s ABBREVIATED CV

education and affiliations

Community affiliate, Centre for Oral History and Digital Storytelling, Concordia University

M.A., Oral History, Columbia University, 2015. Thesis: “Paying Respects,” about Hart Island, New York City’s potter’s field

Ph.D., Geography, Rutgers University, 1994. Thesis: “Unionism as a Way of Life: The Community Orientation of the International Ladies’ Garment Workers’ Union and the Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America.” (Research funded by a grant from the National Science Foundation)

B.A. with Honors, McGill University, 1984. Thesis: “Guest Workers in Switzerland.”

oral history projects & Interviews

The Rockefeller University Oral History Project, 0ngoing (Short films edited from the interviews are available online. The interviews will be archived at the Rockefeller Archive Center.)

International Ladies’ Garment Workers’ Union Oral History Project, ongoing (Interviews are being processed at the Kheel Center for Labor-Management Documentation and Archives at Cornell University)

Amalgamated Bank, centennial book based on archival materials and interviews, 2023

Social justice audio stories created in partnership with an audio storyteller/audio engineer for a social justice foundation that works internationally, 2023 and 2021

Karl Rodney, 2022

John Pai, 2021-2022 (Will be archived at the Archives of American Art at the Smithsonian)

Ira M. Millstein, 2021 (Archived at the Oral History Archives at Columbia University)

Columbus Avenue and the Upper West Side Oral History Project, 2019-2020 (Archived at the New-York Historical Society)

Stonewall Oral History Project, interviewer, 2018 (Archived at The LBGT Community Center and available online)

Cultural Roadmapp, interviewer, 2017

New York Preservation Archive Project, interviewer, 2015 and 2017 (Interviews available online)

The Civilians, Field Research Team member/interviewer, 2015-2017

Service Employees International Union, interviewer, 2016

Hart Island Oral History Project, 2015-2016

conferences, presentations & workshops

Panel moderator for “Artist Talk with John Pai,” held at the Korean Cultural Center New York in conjunction with “Eternal Moment,” a retrospective of Pai’s sculptures, March 2024

Four audio stories from John Pai’s oral history featured as part of the “Eternal Moment” exhibit (March 6 - April 18, 2024) and I conducted the interview for the film about John’s life and art that accompanies the show

Oral history interview training for graduate and undergraduate students who will be conducting interviews for the Bronx Jewish History Project, Fordham University, January 2024

How to conduct oral history interviews with scientists. Presentation (on Zoom) to graduate students in a summer program entitled “Science, Technology, and Medicine in Dialogue: Oral History and Frontiers in the Modern History of Science and Technology,” Peking University, Beijing, July 2023

“How does a good girl like me wind up in a dump like this?” Presented at Embodied Stories: Gender, the body, and oral history. Biannual Summer Institute of the Scottish Oral History Centre (University of Strathclyde) and the Centre for Oral History and Digital Storytelling (Concordia University), Online, June 2021

“‘I remembered you’: Mourning at New York City’s Potter’s Field.” Presented at Loss: A symposium, an interdisciplinary dialogue about loss, remaining and justice, McGill University, Montréal, May 2019

Guest speaker, The History of Public Sector Unions, City University of New York, School of Labor and Urban Studies, New York City, March and October 2019

Guest speaker, Peace and Justice Studies Thesis Class, Pace University, New York City, November 2018

“Writing with Our Narrators’ Words: Editing Oral History.” Roundtable panelist with Svetlana Kitto and Sara SInclair. Presented at Oral History in Our Challenging Times, Annual Meeting of the Oral History Association, Montréal, October 2018

Workshop on conducting an oral history project. Presented with Liz Strong and Obden Mondesir at “Beyond Bricks and Mortar: Rethinking Sites of Cultural Memory,” a conference co-sponsored by the Historic Districts Council, New York Preservation Project, and the NYC LGBT Historic Sites Project, New York City, October 2018

“Death and Mourning at the City’s Edge: The Hart Island Oral History Project.” Presented at Dangerous Oral Histories: Risks, Responsibilities and Rewards, Annual Conference of the Oral History Society and the Oral History Network of Ireland, Belfast, June 2018

“Death and Mourning at the City’s Edge: The Hart Island Oral History Project.” Presented at the Summer Institute of the Scottish Oral History Centre (University of Strathclyde) and the Centre for Oral History and Digital Storytelling (Concordia University), Glasgow, June 2018

Workshop on how to conduct a community oral history project. Co-sponsored by the New York Public Library, the New York Preservation Archive Project, and the Sandy Ground Historical Society. New York City, July 2017

“Learning from the Past 50 Years: Capturing Preservation Narratives to Inspire the Future.” Presented at “Cultural and Historic Preservation: Preservation in the U.S. 50 Years On,” Salve Regina University, Newport, October 2016 (with Matthew Coody and William Cook)

Storyteller, “Inaugural Agora on Transforming the World through Sustainable Energy for All: Leaving No One Behind.” Organized by the Royal Academy of Science International Trust and Eko Renewable Energy, United Nations Headquarters, New York City, June 2016

Circle Song/Oral History Experimental Workshop blending vocal improvisation and interviewing about how participants each found their voice. New York City, October 2015 (with Kate Richards Geller)

publications

“rest in peace? the moral topography of New York City’s potter’s field,” you are here: the journal of creative geography, Fall 2023.

Excerpt from the oral history with sculptor John Pai on the AHL Foundation website.

The Unseen Professors: Leo Amino (1911-1989), Minoru Niizuma (1930-1998), John Pai (b. 1937) , published by Gregory R. Miller & Co. and the Tina Kim Gallery, 2021 (The exhibit catalogue includes a lengthy excerpt from the oral history with John Pai.)

Book review of NOT Talking Union: An Oral History of North American Mennonites and Labour, by Janis Thiessen, Oral History Review, Spring 2021, pp. 130-131.

“Potter’s field as heterotopia: death and mourning at New York City’s edge,” Public History essay in the journal of the Oral History Society, Fall 2019, pp. 106-116

“Reading in Berlin: Thoughts on Jill Stauffer’s Ethical Loneliness.” In Context Journal, October 2016. Selected as a “favorite essay” by The Hannah Arendt Center for Politics and Humanities at Bard College.

professional service

Chair of the book award selection committee, Oral History Association

Mentor for current graduate student, Oral History Master of Arts (OHMA) Program, Columbia University