Download Miriam Laytner, Graduate Assistant, Department of Anthropology

Miriam Laytner, Graduate Assistant, Department of Anthropology, University of Oklahoma Supervisor: Dr. Jack Friedman Education: BA | History| Barnard College, Columbia University | 2009 MA | Oral History | Columbia University | 2013 Research Interests: Miriam Laytner’s primary passions are folklore, oral traditions and severe weather knowledge. In the wake of Hurricane Sandy, Miriam partnered with Brooklyn Arts Council to record the oral histories of traditional storytellers from the Caribbean living in Brooklyn. Her master’s thesis developed around the question of how water-­‐
based climatic disasters intersect with folklore. Using oral history methodology, she sought to understand the interviewees’ subjective understanding of how these disasters shape their lives and their stories and affect what stories they choose to remember and repeat. Her perspective is informed by years of living in small coastal communities around the world as a professional free diver and scuba instructor. Miriam’s other interests include digital storytelling platforms and the possibility of using visual and new media technology to overcome barriers in the translation and transcription of oral histories. She is currently pursuing a PhD in Anthropology at University of Oklahoma. Her role in the EPSCoR project will be to draw on her experiences with storytelling, oral history and folklore to help the team understand the role of severe weather in Oklahomans' perceptions of climate, society and ecological change.