I came to
American Culture 498: Latina Practices of Oral History because I am currently
studying to receive my Masters of Science of Information and in order to receive
this degree I am required to take a graduate level course in any subject outside
of the School of Information. I chose to take AC 498 because while I identify
as a Latina, I have never in my 18 years of education ever taken a course in
Latino Studies. I also chose to take this course because of how this course
incorporates several different topics relevant to the School of Information
such as archives and the digital humanities. What I hope to get out of this
class is not only a greater knowledge and appreciation of Chicano history, but
also the experience of being able to document history by creating an archive
and oral history that can tell the story of one woman’s experience in the 1970s.
Upon
entering into the terrain of Chicana feminism, I am excited and interested to
learn about an area of study that I previously have no knowledge or experience in.
I was a member of the feminist group at my undergraduate university and we
discussed several feminist issues, but we never discussed Chicana feminism and
I am eager to learn about this particular movement. I am also equally excited to be entering into
the terrain of archives because I have experience dealing in archives both in
my studies in the School of Information and in my work as a Data Entry Specialist
at the Ruthven Natural History Museum where I work with an archive of 20th
century entomology field notebooks. I am
quite curious about entering into the terrain of oral history because I am
interested to see how these histories are created and how they can, according
to Cotera, offer “perspectives on the past that are both highly individual and
filtered through the concerns of the present” (“Invisibility is an Unnatural
Disaster", 794).
In all
honesty, I know very little about Chicano history and Chicana feminism. What I
do know however, is a little history about the Chicano movement in the United
States because of what my mother told me about her experience of moving from
Mexico as a girl and working as a migrant work in Ohio. My mom was born in
Mexico and when she was 6 years old her family moved to Texas. After a few
years in Texas, my mother’s family followed the tomato crop up to North West
Ohio where her family eventually settled. My mom has shared with me just a
little bit about her childhood and what it was like to work in fields and the
trepidation she felt while moving away from home to
Ohio. What I do not know, is how other migrant workers and their families were
able to adjust and acclimate themselves into an unknown culture and
environment. I do not know a lot about this topic, but I want to. I want to be
able to speak more accurately about my family’s history and be able to see how this
history is affecting my present day life.
I think my
biggest fear about this experience is failing to accurately represent the woman
that my partner and I are going to interview. I fear that my partner and I will
mess up somehow in either the interview portion or the artifact portion and
create an oral history that does not accurately tell the story of our
interviewee. I want to create an oral history and archive that accurately
represents the woman’s experience and is something that this individual can
look at and be certain in its authenticity.
First, I should say that I am so excited to have someone from the School of Information in the class. You will bring a very important perspective to our conversations about the democratization of archives, Katelynn. I also think that the perspective you bring to the class on a personal level (thanks for sharing your story) will be immensely beneficial as we engage with the stories of strength and struggle that we will no doubt hear. I think its so interesting—and frankly, moving—that your "greatest fear" is not doing justice to the stories of the women whom we will be interviewing (other students expressed similar concerns). This tells me that you (and others) know what is at stake in this work, and that you understand the immense responsibility that we must all feel when we "enter into the lives of others" (once again, stealing a line from This Bridge Called my Back). To do so puts us in a place of vulnerability: will we—can we—do justice to a story not our own? But the only other option is silence, which, though less risky, is really not an option at all.
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