David Duncan

My name is David Duncan and I am a PhD Candidate of History at the University of California Santa Cruz. My oral history approach stems from my previous career as an EMT and a reserve fire fighter. I worked in many different settings across the San Francisco Bay Area from ambulances to hospitals to large public gatherings. When I was introduced to oral history after I had left the field, I discovered many parallels between the social component of patient care and oral history interviewing. I also realized that it fulfilled the aspect of first responder work that I missed the most, working within communities and public service. Through oral history interviews, my dissertation examines school desegregation in the San Francisco Bay Area in the 1960s and 1970s. I am also creating a companion podcast to showcase the oral history interviews and create a public-facing narrative. I lead UCSC's official podcast, "Slugcast," where we provide necessary information to students and create creative story-driven episodes. I have also been a part of an oral history book about UCSC student experience during COVID-19 titled "The Empty Year: An Oral History of the Pandemic(s) at UC Santa Cruz." Each summer, I teach an introductory oral history course that culminates with students creating an oral history podcast. In my limited spare time, I have done freelance oral history work, mostly focused on preserving memory for families.