Chicana/Native Elder Volunteer Needed

[Novelafemme]

If anyone is interested in participating in this project with me, please let me know. My subject recently became very ill and can no longer participate.

Warm Regards and Many Thanks,

Novela

Chicana Mexicana Women’s History
Professor: Dr. Yolanda Broyles-González
Mexican American Sudies 495 / 595
Tuesdays 4-6:30
M Pacheco ILC, Rm 119
Office Hours: Tuesday 2-4 or by appointment
My office is in César E. Chávez 218

AN ORAL HISTORY PROJECT: HOW TO DO IT

1. FIND A WOMAN ELDER WHO IS WILLING TO SPEAK ABOUT HER LIFE. Select a Chicana/Latina/Native elder woman in your network of family or family friends and relations (mother, grandmother, aunt, cousin, madrina, family friend) who is not your peer, that is, not of your generation. You can also ask classmates to help you locate such a person. Perhaps a senior center can help; or a church. You can explain to the elder that you are studying women’s lives.

2. THE RECORDING:
Do a 90-minute audio or video taped oral history with a Chicana/Latina/Native American woman elder. Turn in the original tape or digital file and keep a copy for yourself. Recording equipment is available at various places on campus. For example, the UA Main Library has cassette player/recorders available for 4 hour circulation to University of Arizona students, faculty, and staff. Also the Gear-to-Go center lends audio equipment to students:
http://www.uits.arizona.edu/departme.../locations/gtg
The oral history should not be an interview with questions. Invite the person to talk about her life, what she considers noteworthy, what she would like to remember and have others remember. Only ask an occasional question if the person does not talk easily. It is best to let the person speak on her own--to let her talk about what she has experienced in her life, however she may wish. Ask her to speak about her life, to discuss what she considers important. Not every person is a “talker”. Leave yourself enough advance time so that you can pick someone else in case the first person does not work out.
Please note: Make sure you have fresh batteries before you record. You can record with mini-cassette, regular audio, or video. Turn in a copy of your recording.

3. LISTEN TO THE ENTIRE RECORDING (90 minutes) :
Transcribe ten pages of the material. You can transcribe the first ten pages (pages numbered, double-spaced, 12 pitch font) or transcribe any ten pages of material that you will be commenting on. For extra credit you may transcribe the entire 90-minute recording.
Study the narrative and the material you have transcribed. In preparation for your analysis, select aspects from that life which you considering striking or prominent or significant. Keep in mind our analytical concepts of gender relations, relations of economic class, environmental relations, racial relations, sexualities, cultural relations, and other forms of power relations including factors such as work experiences, immigration, family relations, etc.

4. THE ANALYSIS.
Prepare a 6-page analysis (12 pages for graduate students) --not a summary--of that person's life which connects to at least six of our readings. (cite only author’s last name and page number.) To analyze means to look at the “facts” of that life and to understand and explain some of the deeper meanings, contexts, of those “facts”. Deeper meanings have to do with making connections between that life and what you have learned in class readings and discussion. Connect selected aspects of that one person’s life to the broader social context—such as the social structures, social dynamics, and historical facts we are discussing in class. You are the commentator on that life. Select aspects of that person’s life which you consider memorable, striking, important, or in any way significant. Connect those aspects to at least SIX of the materials we are reading and to some of the analytical concepts: race relations, gender relations, economic class relations, cultural relations, environmental relations, sexualities, and power relations in general. Avoid long quotations from the readings or oral history.

5. MECHANICS: Your oral history project should be double-spaced, pages numbered, Courier New font, 10 pitch. Please spell-check and proof read what you write. When citing reading materials used in class, place the author’s name, one word from the title, and the page number in parentheses. Avoid long quotations. If you want to use a longer quotation, place it in the footnotes. Please do not turn in your oral history in any kind of folder or envelope. Also, not “cover sheet” is necessary. Simply write your name at the top right hand corner of page 1.

6. Once completed, provide your collaborator with a copy of the transcription and of your analysis.
GRADING:
Every student who turns in a recording, a transcription, and an analysis will receive an initial grade of “A” unless your paper falls short in any of these ways:
1. Your analysis is superficial: if you do not connect the life of the person in the oral history to the race/gender/class/environmental/sexuality issues and readings we study in the course. (One-half grade)
2. If your analysis is too short. (one-half grade)
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3. If your oral history is not labeled a) with your name b) name of the person speaking c) course number d) date of recording. (one-half grade)
4. Mechanics: if you did not use the spell-check or number your pages. (one-half grade)
IF YOU CANNOT LOCATE A PERSON FOR AN ORAL HISTORY YOU CAN DO AN ANALYTICAL CRITIQUE OF TWO BOOKS.
I will assign two books on Chicanas/Mexicanas (in consultation with you). You will write a 11-page analytical critique of the two books (discuss their strengths and weaknesses) in relationship to each other. Graduate students will write 20 pages.
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[Novelafemme]

I clarified with the professor in last night's class that by "elder" she means someone at least 5 years older than me. I am 38.

[Novelafemme]

I just found someone. Thanks All!