Workshop: Indexing Gwich’in Oral History

Members only, register by February 15.

Come one, come all to a free indexing workshop! Join a behind-the-scenes peek and discussion about indexing a 700-page book of Indigenous oral history, hosted by Stephen Ullstrom. 

Oral history is an important way to preserve stories and voices which otherwise may be overlooked and forgotten. Oral history can also be challenging to index, as the way we speak and tell stories is often different from the way we write and typically structure books. Indigenous stories are also receiving greater attention and publishing opportunities in Canada, and can contain unique considerations for indexing. 

This workshop will be a guided discussion on indexing Indigenous oral history, through considering how to index two chapters from the book Our Whole Gwich’in Way of Life Has Changed / Gwich’in K’yuu Gwiidandài’ Tthak Ejuk Gòonlih: Stories from the People of the Land, by Leslie McCartney and the Gwich’in Tribal Council (Polynya Press (University of Alberta Press imprint), 2020).

The workshop will discuss a variety of topics, such as audience, term selection, exhaustivity, Indigenous terms, and names and places. Participation in the discussion is encouraged though not required. In order for participants to feel more comfortable talking, the workshop will not be recorded. 

Start Time: 

10am Pacific
11am Mountain
12pm Central
1pm Eastern
2pm Atlantic
2:30pm Newfoundland

Length: Two hours

Cost: Free

How: Zoom link will be provided after you RSVP, along with the chapters for discussion.

Registration: Please RSVP to Stephen Ullstrom at hello@stephenullstrom.com by Monday, Feb. 15. The press is providing PDFs of the chapters especially for this workshop, and only people who RSVP will receive the PDFs and Zoom link.

Pre-Workshop Preparation: Please read the two chapters (37 pages) prior to the workshop. Come ready to discuss how you might index the content and why. Questions can be submitted to Stephen prior to the workshop or bring them with you. Please note that you do not need to index the chapters yourself, nor will we be comparing indexes; just be familiar with the content and have some thoughts or questions on how you would approach the index.

About Your Host: Stephen Ullstrom is your host. He led writing the index for this book, and has also indexed other books on Indigenous subjects, including the recent Our Hearts Are as One Fire: An Ojibway-Anishinabe Vision for the Future, by Jerry Fontaine (UBC Press, 2020), a book which was largely written in the Ojibwaymowin language. He has been a freelance indexer since 2012 and is in his sixth year serving on the ISC/SCI executive, currently as prairie representative. Stephen lives in Edmonton, on Treaty 6 territory.