Revised topic paragraphs, research questions, and citations

My research will be a project based senior thesis helping the exhibition “Hostile Terrain”. This exhibition is an international pop-up exhibit concerning the humanitarian crisis at the US-Mexico border. A series of toe-tags will be pinned to the locations of deaths of migrants along the border on a large map. RIT will be exhibiting a piece of this map which will come together at the National Mall in the fall of 2020. To assist my understanding of the topic I will be doing a literature review and case studies of previous exhibits and museums who have presented controversial topics similar to this one. I will also be reading the book, “The Land of Open Graves” by Jason De Leon, who is the head of this exhibition. I want this exhibition and my senior research to contribute to existing research and arguments on museum involvement in political and controversial matters. This challenges the thought that museums and exhibitions are supposed to be neutral parties that only present facts to the public. I would also like it to raise awareness and spur action to help migrants crossing the US-Mexico border. I want to know how modern museums and exhibitions interpret, present, and engage the public with controversial matters, such as the humanitarian crisis on the US-Mexico border.


Citations:

León Jason De. The Land of Open Graves: Living and Dying on the Migrant Trail. Oakland, CA: University of California Press, 2015.

HANCHETT, TOM. "Rethinking Immigrant Integration in the American South: Can Museums Help Communities Address a Major Social Challenge?" In Remix: Changing Conversations in Museums of the Americas, edited by Holo Selma and Álvarez Mari-Tere, 182-85. University of California Press, 2016. http://www.jstor.org/stable/10.1525/j.ctt19rmbt3.38.

“Museum Best Practices for Managing Controversy.” National Coalition Against Censorship. National Coalition Against Censorship, July 15, 2019. https://ncac.org/resource/museum-best-practices-for-managing-controversy.

“Latino Stories.” National Museum of American History. National Museum of American History, July 25, 2018. https://americanhistory.si.edu/america-on-the-move/essays/latino-stories.

Plans for Winter Break

I am looking forward to Winter Break to get a decent amount of headway on my thesis. This semester has been full of difficulties when it comes to being able to put enough time into my project so this break will be a wonderful way to get thoroughly into this project. I hope to expand on my lit review during this break and go to the Rochester Museum and Science Center to look at their Latino Archives to learn more about the Puerto Rican community in Rochester. I also hope to begin reaching out to various members of the Puerto Rican community in Rochester, including the Ibero-American Action League. I also hope to begin work on my ideas for the interview, including an interview guide and beginning to find people who would be willing to tell me their immigration stories. I would like to also get in touch with some of the local colleges cultural and diversity efforts to reach some of these people.

Scheduling will be the most difficult thing in this upcoming break as well as the semester with work and holidays coming up. I hope to be able to work around all of this and really focus on my thesis. This project is one that is so incredibly important to me and the fact that I have not been able to put in my full efforts and time into this is a struggle. I am incredibly excited to be able to give this project the work and devotion such a project deserves. 

Over break I hope to stay in contact with my primary adviser Dr. Michael Brown and with Dr. Carroll so that my Interview guide and ideas are all complacent with the Oral History Associations best practices as well as being culturally sensitive and relevant. I think this break will be a great time for me to truly focus in on my work and meet with the relevant people and cannot wait for it to start. 

Mi Historia: Focusing in

Since the beginning of my research into Mi Historia I have decided to narrow down my focus for this project to college aged, Puerto Rican Immigrants in the Rochester area. The reasoning behind this is to be able to not only finish this project in a timely manner but also to focus on a large community in the area. I have learned that Rochester has an enormous Puerto Rican population, particularly for its size and about their importance in the city. It is a population with strong roots and advocacy dating back to the first migrant workers that came here. However, I still have a lot to learn about this community in the present and not just in the past. I hope to connect with some of the local activists in the area and have accumulated resources about Puerto Rican immigrants in particular to learn more about their culture and migration to the United States.

Mi Historia so far

For my senior thesis I am focusing on an online oral history exhibit. This exhibit will focus on young, adults of Latin descent in Rochester, specifically on their immigration stories. I hope that by allowing the narrative to be held by those whose stories these are that we can shift the power narrative. Often times when we hear about immigrants in our political climate it is nothing but negative and often false ideas of what it means to be an immigrant. I also hope that this project will help educate people and maybe open their eyes a little bit more. The reason I am focusing on young adults ages 18-25 is because we hold the future in our hands. Everything that is happening in the US right now, all of the legislation and rhetoric, is going to directly affect this specific group of people for the foreseeable future, so their stories should be told loudly and proudly. Although I am focusing on young adults in Rochester at the moment, I hope to expand this project later on to include a wide variety of people from all over the country. This story is an important one to tell, especially for me as an immigrant myself.