Lizette Esquivel Reflection #1

What the H is Chicana Feminism?

 I was immediately drawn to this course because I realized that I know close to nothing about Chicana Feminism. I believe that as a Mexican American Woman, I seek to understand and learn about my people's history within this country. Unfortunately its always obvious, that the history that is deeply imbedded with in our society is one that tells the story of the White mans journey through time. We rarely ever hear about what the Mexicans journey was like, what our experiences were and further we almost never hear what the Mexican Women's experiences were like. I have always been bothered by my lack of knowledge on the topic. 
I  know that this class will grant me the opportunity to not only learn about our history as Chicanas and the activism we participated in, but it will also grant me the opportunity to learn about the steps that the woman before me have taken to empower our community and combat the social injustices that still remain today so that I may be able to follow within their footsteps.
It is a goal of mine to learn as much as possible through  this amazing opportunity that hits extremely close to home. I am beyond ecstatic to begin on our journey of discovering our uncovered history, in a sense. I feel that it will be a very impactful and empowering experience for me to be able to hear first hand the amazing things the Chicanas before me were able to achieve. 
I currently, however, have zero exposure to archiving and cataloging so I am a bit skepitical about what the process is going to look like, but I am also very excited to learn new skills that undoubtedly will assist me in future endeavors. Overall I am mostly excited to learn the history of the women whose lives have impacted my own in various ways, but most  importantly, I am excited to learn about the legacies that the great women before me have laid in my path.

Taylor Davidson Reflection 1

About two weeks before classes started, I made some changes to my schedule and needed to find another Women’s Studies class. Originally, I enrolled in this class because it satisfies the practicum and gender, culture, and representation requirements for the Women’s Studies major. It also counts as a 400 level cognate toward the Spanish major. I immediately heard praise for Professor Cotera from both advisors and friends, and I looked forward to taking the class even though I wasn’t sure exactly what it would be about.  At the time, I wasn’t even sure what an oral history was or what this project entailed. Consequently, the first day of class left me a little overwhelmed. I realized I had very little knowledge of the Chicana feminist movement, and the responsibility of accurately and professionally portraying each interviewee’s life was quite daunting. However, our small class set-up will allow us to work together, learning from and teaching each other, during each step of the interview and archiving processes.

I am most apprehensive about the filming aspect of this project. I have very little experience in the digital media realm. I have not spent much time blogging or contributing to a website, and I’m sure that I have never worked with our recording equipment before despite taking a broadcasting class in high school. Because of this, I am very excited to learn these skills that I wouldn’t have otherwise sought out.

Prior to this course, I had never even thought about how archiving people’s personal belongings can contribute to the historical narrative of our country at large. In elementary, middle, and high school, any history I learned came from a textbook, and I always took that perspective of history to be the truth. It wasn’t until college that I learned to really question the one-sided summaries of our country’s past that I had previously learned. I realized how important it is to look at the many sides of history, being sure to include the groups that are often left out. This class has already shown me how valuable oral histories can be in creating this bigger picture of history.

I am also excited to learn about feminism from a Latina perspective. It is embarrassing to admit that as a white woman and feminist, I have not spent a lot of time thinking about how women of color or Latina women, specifically, have had very different experiences than me and faced additional oppression. I have been working on acknowledging my privilege and thinking more about societal factors that may not affect me but drastically shape the experiences of others. I have taken some classes that discuss intersectionality and focus on the prominent writings of feminist women of color, but I believe this experience will give me so much more insight into the world of feminism as a whole. I am excited to fill the gaps in my knowledge about both the civil rights and women’s rights movements during this time. Furthermore, I look forward to connecting these women’s personal experiences with a broader history that is often overshadowed by white feminism in the classroom and in the media.

Shirley Rivas, Reflection 1

Chicanas Through my Lens

            When I first considered adding this course, I was quite intimidated by the basic course description- Chicana? Oral history? I have taken quite a few Women’s Studies courses here at the University of Michigan, but I am quite embarrassed to say that I have no “formal” educational background on any type of Latin@ studies, and everything I know about history has been bestowed upon me by the average, American K-12 public school system. I believe what brought me to overcome any apprehension I had was the sheer intersectional framework of the course. Up until this point, I have taken many Women’s Studies course where thinking intersectionally is urged, but yet, it’s not the primary focus of the course. This idea that I may get to learn more about feminism through a lens I have yet to explore convinced me to bite the bullet and be part of this historical journey.

            Entering the field of the Chicana movement is both daunting and exciting. Daunting because although I identify as Latin@, this is a movement that has Mexican-Americans at its center and I believe I have limited personal experience with what it means to be part of this culturally rich group. Although in my own past, I have experienced people clumping up all Latin@’s into one big group, I am aware that my mixture of a American, Peruvian, and El Salvadorian experience is different in many ways to the Mexican-American’s experience here in the United States. I am excited, however, because in the past, I have let this division in understanding distance myself from learning more about these types of movements. I am eager to allow myself to understand a different version of what it means to be Latin@ in the United States in the context of the Chicana movement.

            As far as archiving and history goes, I never really gave much though to what it means to archive or what it means to access an archive. Most archives have been so readily available to me, that I have truly been blinded by my privilege as a student here at this university. Although it may seem obvious that I have access to information that some may not even know exists, I am truly stunned by the thought that some people may never learn about certain histories. The reason may be that these histories are yet to exist in an easily accessible way or that some people just do not have the privilege to access these histories even if they wanted to. That’s what makes the project so amazing; it is almost unbelievable to think that we are making unknown histories known, archived, and then available to the worldwide web. Although I am not personally the object of focus in these projects, I will still be playing an integral role because these women are relying on the students of this course to make their experiences known and to do their experiences justice. My biggest hope is that the women we interview and that we help digitally upload their archives will get a great deal out of this experience. At the end of the day, I want to keep these women at the center of this project and I can only hope that they are truly happy with the end results of our labor.

Blake Ebright Reflection #1

After putting together my class schedule and talking to Donna, we decided I could analyze my honors thesis (in Psychology) under a feminist perspective to fulfill my practicum requirement. Some months into the summer, however, Donna sent an email to the Women’s Studies undergraduates suggesting we look into this course. I researched it and noticed that Professor Cotera would be teaching (my professor from Intro to Women’s Studies). I really enjoyed the structure of that class and enjoyed how interesting the insights were that Verónica (my GSI) and Professor Cotera offered. I do not mean to sound like a complete sycophant, but I immediately dropped my Tuesday/Thursday afternoon class to enroll in this one!

In Feminist Thought, we are currently reading Foucault and a book titled Intersectionality. In these two readings, the idea of knowledge and power are addressed, and both specifically address the practice of oral history as a marginalized form of knowledge. This marginalization is perpetuated by the fact that the institutions (grant providers and the universities themselves) use their power to endorse the knowledge-producing intellectuals that are contributing to traditional fields of theory (math, physics, etc.) and the knowledge production begotten of their endorsement further legitimizes their power to endorse. I want to do my part in using what little power I have to endorse marginalized forms of knowledge production, especially considering that I will eventually be forced to be a benefactor of the marginalization (I am applying to graduate schools this semester and plan on going into academia). So, in a manner of speaking, I feel guilty and plan to make my peace by contributing.

A few semesters ago, I took a Psychology and Women’s Studies cross-listed course with Abby Stewart about Global Feminisms. The Global Feminisms Project is a huge archive of oral histories about women in activism and scholarship. There are over 50 interviews on the site of women from India, Nicaragua, Poland, China, the United States, and Mexico (they are going to add interviews from Brazil soon). With the exception of the single Mexican-American feminist interviewed for the Global Feminisms Project, I know little about Chicana feminism, considering Marta Ojeda was focused on labor law and likely doesn’t consider herself a Chicana (she was schooled only briefly in Florida). Similarly, I would say I have little to no experience with archives because I simply studied the GFP, I did not contribute to it. Also important to note, is that GFP calls their site an archive, but it has no archival component (e.g. a letter from the Minister of Communications of the Brown Berets quitting along with the rest of the women) past the streaming video of the interview itself.

As of now, I would say that I come in knowing what an oral history project looks like and how much work goes into an interview – how difficult it is to prepare, schedule, adapt, etc. I have a scary and simultaneously exciting lack of knowledge of the Chicanas we are interviewing. I want so much to know their personal stories, trials, tribulations, and triumphs in the feminist community, Chicana community, and local community. I hope to be further inspired and prepared to make my own oral history project, perhaps related to the local LGBTQ community. My biggest fear, then, would be to be so immensely inspired and not have the time or resources to follow through – my apologies for making you suffer through that clichéd answer!

Marie Dillivan Reflection #1

         I made the decision to sign up for this class last year when I met with my advisor for my majors, Spanish and Latina/o Studies, because it would count for a requirement for my Latina/o Studies major and because my advisor highly recommended Professor Cotera. I think at first, on paper, this class can look kind of intimidating because it is not what we are normally used to seeing in a class description. I’m excited to take this class for many reasons and I think there is a lot that I can learn through this experience. Initially, I have a decent amount of experience learning and reading about the Chicano movement. I’m not an expert on the movement, but I have discussed it in a few classes here and have more exposure to it than the average student. However, I have zero experience learning about the feminist movement, so what I’m really excited to get from this class is a new perspective on the Chicano movement through the lens of its overlap with the feminist movement. I also hope to gain more understanding of these movements as they were present in the Midwest since this is where I have lived my whole life, and it’s an area that is not often referenced in discussions of Latina/o Studies since the Southwest is usually the focus.

            My first thoughts on all of these topics are that it’s very interesting that we are going to be creating a history for someone who otherwise wouldn’t be present in archives or history itself. It’s incredible that with modern technology we can do this fairly easily and make the stories of these women accessible to people all over the world in a way that couldn’t have been done at the time that these women were politically active in the 1960s and 1970s. I also think that it’s really great that we aren’t just getting oral histories but that we are also preserving their documents in an archive because as we know people are not as likely to believe in oral histories alone. Even though this isn’t a safe assumption to make about oral histories, I think that the documents and photos add an important dimension to the oral histories.

            I don’t have any background knowledge in Chicana feminism, so I’m excited to read and hear about these stories, but I think I might be a little nervous about making sure that everything is done right throughout this process and that we represent the woman who we interview in a way that she will be proud of as well. Although it is a great responsibility archiving the history of one of these women, I think it’s important to remember that without this project, their history would not be documented as well at all, or it wouldn’t be as accessible to everyone. Because of how unique this archive is, our final result will be important and a success even if we experience a few bumps in the road.

One thing that I have learned so far in this class, is that we really do grow up to acquire a trust in the idea of archives and that surely they’re unbiased and hold all of the information that we could ever need to know about history. This is clearly not the case, but it’s not something that we normally don’t have to think about. Archives are not normally in our consciousness at all. I think that in the future, more projects like this will be created to store the parts of history that mainstream archives are not interested in. These kinds of archives help to preserve a more diverse part of history, not just the stories of politicians and the rich and famous. I hope that at the end of this course, I will have a really awesome part of the Chicana Por Mi Raza website that I can show my friends and family and be really proud that I made a contribution to this project!

Katelynn Dreeze - Reflection 1

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 20^th 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.

Welcome to our class! I am so excited to start the semester and to get to know all of you as we work together to recover the local histories of Chicanas/Latinas in Michigan. I suspect that this class will feel pretty different from others you've taken. First, the work we do over the course of the semester—as well as the product of our labors—will not be limited to the four walls of the classroom. In fact, we will travel some distance from the university to collect the stories and documents that we will use to craft micro-histories of women's activism in Michigan. Second, the work you produce for this class will have a public life beyond the classroom. You are contributing to the Chicana por mi Raza Digital Memory project, and the materials you gather will be used by students in the School of Art and Design, who will create a community exhibit (in partnership with El Museo del Norte) based on your research in the Fall term of 2016. Here's some pictures from the show the students created in 2014 to get your creative juices flowing:

I have been working on the Chicana por mi Raza Digital Memory project since 2010. In the process, I've worked with many undergraduates, who have cataloged archives, scanned documents, traveled with me to interview women, worked to build our public website, and given public presentations about their work at conferences and in classes. 

You will be joining this collective, and building it, by helping us to expand knowledge about the hidden history of women's activism in the Chicano movement era, and by demonstrating that students, no matter how young (or old), can help to create history! To get a better sense of students' experiences in this class, you can read the blog from 2013. I'm so excited to get started on our work!