“Learning to Hear the Stories VI: Listening in the Borderlands,” will examine the importance of oral records with a melange of rap music, art and storytelling.

The workshop, scheduled for Saturday, is sponsored by the Shifting Borders Project, a Kansas University and Haskell Indian Nations University collaboration, in conjunction with the Hall Center for the Humanities. Funded by the Ford Foundation, the Shifting Borders Project studies the intersections of black and American Indian people.

“In the spirit of interdisciplinary and community building, it’s rewarding to bridge community research projects with academic research,” says Zanize Bond de Perez, co-director of the project.

Saturday’s program will highlight experiences from authors, historians, musicians and professors.

“All voices are valued and meaningful,” Perez says. “So we hear and listen to voices that have been silenced, muffled, ignored, those in pain or those filled with jubilation.”

Among workshop presenters will be Cynthia Chavez, curator of the “Our Lives” exhibit at the National Museum of the American Indian, Al Broussard, former president of the Oral History Assn., and Patrick Minges, author of “Black Indian Slave Narratives.”

Haskell professors Mike Tosee and Bill Curtis will lead a seminar on the technical aspects of oral history interviewing, and Haskell storyteller Lori Tapahonso will explain the significance of oral history in keeping legends alive.

“Oral stories are the oldest form of history, but also the most fragile,” Tapahonso explains. “If not listened to, passed on or preserved in some form, the history will be gone forever.”

A highlight of this year’s program will be a pictorial exhibit accompanied by written text taken from the Lawrence/Douglas County African-American Families Oral History Project. This study seeks to inform the public about achievements and hardships of African-Americans in the community.

“The project received a grant to assist them with their panel that documents the lives of ‘ordinary people’ here in Lawrence,” Perez explains. “The university and community at large benefit tremendously when we listen to the voices and stories of these outstanding citizens.”

Savage Family, a local American Indian rap group that provides an innovative approach to storytelling through music, will perform as well.

Included in the project is a community roundtable, enabling participants to discuss successes and challenges from their own experiences. Attendees are invited to share excerpts from their own oral history interviews.

“It’s a great opportunity to take advantage of being in Lawrence, which is the home of a university that recognizes the intrinsic value of the humanities,” Perez says.