Director of the 3rd National Conference on Oral History of the Sacred Defense Announced:

Changing time of the National Conference on Oral History of the Sacred Defense

Interviewed by Faezeh Sassanikhah
Translated by Ruhollah Golmoradi

2021-12-14


The Third National Conference on Oral History of the Sacred Defense will be soon hold by the Sacred Defense Documents and Papers Organization of the Foundation for the Preservation of Relics and Values of the Sacred Defense, and NLAI. On this occasion, the correspondent of Iranian Oral History Website interviewed with Abdullah Esmaeili, chairman of the Executive Committee of the 3rd National Conference on Oral History of the Sacred Defense, to give more information to the audience about the conference and how to hold it.

 

Please explain a little about the 3rd National Conference on Oral History of the Sacred Defense.

It is the third national conference on oral history of the Sacred Defense. In order to be able to have a public aspect and not be exclusive to a particular audience, the Sacred Defense Documents and Papers Organization of the Foundation for the Preservation of Relics and Publication of Values of the Sacred Defense, and NLAI hold it jointly. Although the main title of the conference is oral history of the Sacred Defense, we did not determine the articles to be just in this field, and we decided that the topics to be free so that anyone who is interested in this field could present an article. To hold an effective specialized scientific conference, the professors we selected for arbitration and scientific committee are not merely military and they work in various organizations and institutions, such as NLAI, Hozeh Honari and universities. In fact, the important point in this period of oral history conference is that the specialized and scientific capacities of governmental and non-governmental and military organizations and institutions, the National Association of Oral History of Iran, etc. have been used. As well as, secretaries and experts of each of research, academic, military organizations, and other centers and institutions have been invited to attend various committees of the conference.

 

Which topics do the conference include?

We called for papers and designed six subjects, each of which includes ten topics. Some of the subjects include theoretical foundations and history of oral history of the Sacred Defense, necessities and opportunities, pathology and obstacles facing oral history of the Sacred Defense, and policy making and the role of military and civil organizations in oral history of the Sacred Defense.

Theoretical foundations and history of oral history of the Sacred Defense include topics such as role of oral history of the Sacred Defense in contemporary historiography, the role and function of oral history in developing social history, sociological foundations of oral history of the Sacred Defense, types of data in recording history of the war and position of oral history, oral history of Imam Khomeini command in the Sacred Defense, and finally principles and characteristics of school of Lt. Gen. Hajj Qasem Soleimani in revival and promotion of oral history of the Sacred Defense.

Subject of oral history of the Sacred Defense, necessities and opportunities includes also topics such as role of local documents in compiling oral history, role of art and media in oral history of the Sacred Defense, role of oral history of different groups (women, clergy, students, etc.) in eight years of the Sacred Defense, oral history of the Sacred Defense and cyberspace, necessities of formulating oral history of the government and statesmen of the Islamic Republic of Iran in eight years of the Sacred Defense, how to transfer experiences of oral history of the Sacred Defense to other nations, strategies for preserving and disseminating defense values in military and civil organizations to the next generation, the position and role of Imam Khomeini's thoughts in oral history of the Sacred Defense, the position and role of the Supreme Leader's thoughts in oral history of the Sacred Defense, and necessities of compiling oral history of defenders of the shrine and the Resistance Front.

Pathology of oral history of the Sacred Defense in the field of common borders with memory-writing, challenges of interviewer in oral history of the Sacred Defense, role of compiler in republishing and rationalizing resources in oral history of the Sacred Defense, an analysis of how to record oral history of the Sacred Defense, reviewing information obtained from interview in oral history of the Sacred Defense, barriers to the development and promotion of oral history of the Sacred Defense in military and civil organizations, do’s and don’ts of oral history of the  Sacred Defense in the field of the liberated veterans (in Persian: Azadegan), analysis and critique of published works of oral history of the Sacred Defense, pathology of use of oral history of Sacred Defense in academic research, and archives of oral history of Sacred Defense, an opportunity or threat are some of topics of the 3rd National Conference on Oral History of the Sacred Defense.

The field of policy making and role of military and civil organizations in oral history of the Sacred Defense includes topics such as role of policies in restoration, preservation, promotion, and institutionalization of oral history of the Sacred Defense, how the interviewer and compiler work in oral history of the Sacred Defense, the legal system in formulation of oral history of the Sacred Defense, how to convert oral history into written documents and how to efficiently exploit, exploring review of activities of institutions of oral history of the Sacred Defense, and unifying activities of oral history in civil and military organizations.

 

How many works have been delivered to the conference so far?

50 papers have been submitted to the secretariat of the conference and 10 specialized papers have been recommended to the top professors of the country whose Ph.D. thesis has been about oral history. Referees are professors and faculty members of universities whose Ph.D. degree is oral history and are active in different universities of the country. When the deadline for submitting articles expires, evaluation and arbitration phase will begin and the best works will be presented in four panels. I need to remind you that date of the conference has been changed and been postponed due to welcome of those interested in attending the conference and their request for more time. The last date of receiving articles is December 21 and the conference will be held on January 25, 2022. Other enthusiasts can also send their articles to info@defadocs.ir.

 

What are advantages for those who participate in this conference by presenting scientific papers?

This conference is licensed by Islamic Science Citation Center (ISC) and this license doubles value of articles for owners of these works; that is our conference is registered in this center and these articles are registered there and counted in resume of the participants. Those who participate receive certificate of submission of articles, those who become superior will receive both certificates and prizes. Through categorizing articles by the scientific committee, all submitted papers will be published in the book of articles of the 3rd National Conference on “Oral History of the Sacred Defense,” and selected articles will also be released in the quarterly journals, journals of NLAI, Imam Hossein University, cyberspace pages, etc.

 

Which provinces will participate in holding the conference?

31 provinces are participating in the conference.

 

Considering that the conference is held online, what measures have been regarded so that participants enjoy it better?

Previous courses were held in person, but this course is held online due to Corona. We have provided conditions in which we can communicate online, audio and video with 31 provinces at the same time. Therefore, participants do not have to come to Tehran. They present their papers from their provinces and all can see their presentation online. We also invited civil and military officials to participate in the conference.

Do you have any new plan at this conference?

Yes. One difference of this year's conference has with previous years is holding a workshop of interview and oral history. That is, first they read the articles and say what oral history is, and for making participants familiar with how oral history is formulated, we are going to invite two veterans of the Sacred Defense, and a professional interviewer interview them, and the participants will be familiar with methods and approaches at the same time. The workshop is open to the public.

 

Thank you for giving your time to the Iranian Oral History Website.

 

Call for 3rd National Conference on Oral History of Sacred Defense



 
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