This topic is incredibly important to me as an immigrant and the daughter of an immigrant. So often people are detached from this issue and look at it as something that is black and white. I think that by handing the power back to the people whose story this is and giving them the chance to tell it, we can lessen the vilification that has been happening to the Latino community. Being bilingual will also help me gather these stories because I would like to make the interviewees as comfortable as possible in sharing something so intimate with me. I am hoping to provide transcriptions of these interviews as well as audio recordings to make the information as accessible as possible. I am incredibly excited to begin this project and cannot wait until I can put some leg work behind it.
Monday, September 11, 2017
My thesis project
Immigration is currently one of the most hotly debated issues in our current political climate. With the recent news about DACA and Trump's comments on Latin Americans, Mexicans in particular. I find that no time is better than now to do a project centered around Latino immigrants. My senior thesis idea is to make a website with a collection of immigration stories straight from the mouths of immigrants. I will most likely be narrowing this idea down even further to have the stories of immigrants in the Rochester area.
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Hi Gaby,
ReplyDeleteThis is an exciting project, and I look forward to learning from the interviews you do. One source that might help you to contextualize the experience of Mexican immigrants earlier in the 20th century is George Sanchez, Becoming Mexican American, available through the RIT library at: http://albert.rit.edu/search/t?SEARCH=becoming+mexican+american&searchscope=3
Gaby,
ReplyDeleteI think this is a really interesting project, especially because it's something that is so personal to you. That being said, I was wondering if you're going to share your own immigrant experience, both with the people you interview (perhaps this will help you to gain their trust if they're apprehensive about participating in this sort of project) and with those who read your thesis (I think the personal connection you have with this topic is what makes it really special).
This sounds like such an interesting and extremely important one to shed more light on. With all that's going on in this country, I think a project like this has the ability to really give voice to those who need to be heard the most right now.
ReplyDeleteGaby, this topic has contemporary relevance as you noted, but is also important for connecting the present with the past, which is important, too. Everyone has a story! How will your project be different than other immigrant story collections that have been captured in Rochester recently? (let's talk!) What is the guiding framework: is it origin geography? where the person lives in Rochester now? age? time in this area? Are you interested in a deep, rich collection in one of these areas or breadth to cover more stories, even if not unified? Looking forward to see where your continued decision making leads!
ReplyDeleteThis article is a good introduction to ethical debates about doing oral histories, including the Boston College IRA interview project: Who’s Afraid of Oral History? Fifty Years of Debates and Anxiety about Ethics
ReplyDeleteAnna Sheftel Stacey Zembrzycki
The Oral History Review, Volume 43, Issue 2, 1 September 2016, Pages 338–366, https://doi.org/10.1093/ohr/ohw071
We can discuss different options in designing your research methodology -- the important thing is to think through the choices in a deliberate way.