2024 Oral History Association Annual Meeting

Mi’Jan Celie Tho-Biaz, Ed.D. is a Kennedy Center Citizen Artist who moves between realms of oral history, art, media and ritual to produce meaningful forward-facing cultural projects that creatively weave together folk narratives, popular culture, music, food, and art. Mi’Jan is a 2023-2024 Andrew Mellon Foundation Fellow at the Huntington Library researching Octavia E. Butler’s archives, and was a 2023 Fulbright Specialist Awardee to Ecuador, where she advised the design for the nationally mandated arts-based higher education university's new pedagogical model. She is also an inaugural Fellow with New America’s Us@250 program which supports individuals who champion the spirit of a more inclusive America. Previously, Mi’Jan curated and hosted Unfinished Network’s first public salon on the theme of multiracial democracy with CNN’s Van Jones and MSNBC’s Maria Teresa Kumar; designed and led the Gloria Steinem Initiative’s public policy digital storytelling pilot; served as a New Mexico Humanities Council Scholar; and has held various academic and scholarly appointments at Columbia University, New York University, and The Banff Centre in Canada. One of Mi'Jan's greatest joys is connecting to audiences through her visionary, story-rich talks at a range of institutions, from Carnegie Hall to the Institute of American Indian Arts to SXSW. Making history contemporary, personal and futures-dependent, she surfaces the stories that need to be heard.