The Oral History Archive of the Municipality of Malevizi

The Digital Oral History Archive of the Municipality of Malevizi constitutes the first attempt by a municipality at a pan-Cretan level to collect memories, recollections and stories of the people of its region in an era of digital data and renewed interest in the cultural and folkloric elements of the recent past.

Interviews, audio recordings, the collection of photographic material from the areas, as well as written documents, will together form the content of the Digital Oral History Archive of the Municipality of Malevizi.

Click here to browse the Archive:

https://www.malevizi-localstory.gr

The aim of this initiative is to place the citizen of the area at the center as a creator of content and collector of archival material, thus contributing to the recording of local history through the interaction of generations, the documentation of narratives and the preservation of the collective memory and cultural heritage of the region.

From today, the Oral History Archive operates as an active digital website, already containing 23 interviews, significant photographic material from 12 communities of the area so far, and with the main prospect of enrichment with stories, narratives and images from all the places that constitute the Municipality.

The cultural organization Androidus Project Tank and the Laboratory of Culture, Innovation and Research designed and implemented the above initiative as a result of cultural field research, software development and collaboration with the local communities and institutions of the Municipality of Malevizi.

On June 15 and 16, two oral history workshops will take place in the communities of Tylissos and Fodele, with the aim of presenting the way the archive operates and deepening the techniques of recording testimonies and narratives, so that many different sources of content contribution may be created, starting from the local human factor itself.

The Digital Archive of the Municipality of Malevizi, moreover, reflects the transition from the writing and printed discourse of the few (those who managed to write, leaving behind a rich legacy) to the recording of the memory and narratives of the many and diverse, who carry with them a treasure of data, shaping from generation to generation the cultural identity and character of each region.