Oral History Commons^™

Come As You Are: The Rise And Fall Of The Grunge Movement And Its Implications On The Identity Of Seattle, Colin J. Wood

Montview Journal of Research & Scholarship

This paper evaluates the rise of the Grunge movement through Nirvana’s Nevermind album as a unique burst of culture through the city of Seattle. Culturally, in the late 20th century, Seattle found its identity in the area around it, though other American cities overshadowed its significance. Through music, figures such as Jack Endino and the iconic Kurt Cobain gave Seattle an unfathomable uplift within global culture. This paper argues that grunge culture emerged as a distinct facet of Seattleite identity, with elements like flannel clothing and thrifting playing pivotal roles in shaping the city's recognizable and esteemed cultural landscape. It …

Interview No. 1789, Jorge Peña

Combined Interviews

In this interview, Mr. Jorge Peña describes his childhood living in Ciudad Juárez. Walking to school, playing with other kids on the street, as well as his family are some of the memories he has from these early years. One that stands out is crossing to El Paso to eat at restaurants and go shopping, creating a positive impact in his desire to cross the border in the future. When the time came for Jorge to enter high school, he came to El Paso to live with an aunt. He then attended Irving High School, went to El Paso Community …

Interview No. 1787, Antonio Marín

Combined Interviews

Mr. Antonio Marín is a former resident of El Segundo Barrio. Arriving to the United States from Jalisco, Mexico, at the age of 5, he recalls entering for the first time through the Santa Fe port of entry from Ciudad Juárez to downtown El Paso. He and his family first rented a single-room apartment and then moved to a two-room flat in a tenement. Antonio attended Aoy Elementary and Bowie High School. He talks about how Southside El Paso was a segregated community of Mexicans and Blacks, where they would get along well in places like Douglass Elementary. Mr. Marín …

Interview No. 1788, Simon Chandler

Combined Interviews

Simon Chandler was born in Marlborough, Wiltshire, England. He graduated from North Staffordshire in 1990. After that, he began traveling through America. He got to El Paso in 1991 to work as a volunteer in Casa Anunciacion.

Before coming to the United States, Simon had impacting life experiences in Africa and Israel, shaping his approach to community life and community service. After that, he came to the United States to know the culture more profoundly, leading him to El Paso as a volunteer at Casa Anunciacion. His plans to travel to Peru changed unexpectedly, keeping him and his family in …

Past * An Introduction To The Problem, Zelimir Zilnik, Boris Buden, New Media Center Kuda.Org, Olivera Jokic

Publications and Research

Who can know what is in the past? Is it what historians can tell us? Should we also trust what we can remember? Past • An Introduction to the Problem proposes that the problem of the past now concerns everyone. Visions of a different, brighter future defeated in the Cold War and its heated afterlives, we are being offered the past as the only horizon of possibility. And what are we supposed to find in that past? Philosopher Boris Buden considers these questions in a series of essays and conversations with filmmaker Želimir Žilnik, one of the most prominent filmmakers …

Threading With Hair // Intertwined Stories, Cloris Ding

Masters Theses

“Threading with Hair // Intertwined Stories” is a poignant exploration that navigates the nuanced landscape of women's growth and identity recognition amidst biased societal influences, tracing the trajectory from the artist’s mother's generation to her own. Through a deeply personal lens, the thesis transcends individual narratives to articulate some shared female experiences. Employing reflective works in the form of jewelry, objects and writings, the study delves into female-centric topics, including the fluidity of identity, the transformative journey through various life stages, and the profound impact of societal expectations and family heritage. At the heart of this exploration is the metaphorical …

To The Taste Of Ghurba: Diasporic Food And Oral Memories Of Tunisia In Europe, Gabriele Proglio

Dublin Gastronomy Symposium

During an oral history research on the larger European open-air market in Turin, called “Porta Palazzo,” Tunisian people replied to my questions using the Tunisian-Arab word ghurba in order to define their condition of being in diaspora. Ghurba is a specific emotion about the condition of separation and estrangement. It is used for describing the situation of being a foreigner, migrant, illegal, invisible in a land away from home. For this reason, it evokes a state of abandonment, loneliness, isolation but also it is used for yearning a reconnection and socialization with an idea of community based on memories of …

Carl Maneri, Mathematics And Statistics, Carl Maneri, Kathy Morris

Wright State University Retirees Association Oral History Project

In this May 10, 2024 oral history interview conducted by Kathy Morris, Carl Maneri reflects on his thirty-year career as a founding faculty member in Wright State University’s Department of Mathematics and Statistics. He discusses the university’s early development, faculty governance, departmental leadership, and the challenges of teaching first-generation students at a growing public institution.

Understanding Civic Engagement Through The Perspective And Experiences Of Mixed-Status Latinx Students In Higher Education, Alexandra Alcantar

Honors Capstones

This paper captures the perspectives and experiences of eight Latinx college-aged students from mixed-status families related to civil engagement. This paper identifies varied definitions of civic engagement and shows that students’ experiences within their mixed-status families and their academic experiences shaped how they understood their level of civic engagement and informed their career paths. The eight oral history interviews conducted as part of this project show that most of the participants consider their level of political involvement as insufficient. Interviews reveal an understanding of “civic engagement” that exists on an evolving spectrum of participation. Participants shared that work responsibilities and …

Aguaaaa!!!, Cory Villegas

Theses and Dissertations

“AGUA” is a call for new models of learning and sharing, celebrating the diasporic as a place of global revolution. Salsa, rooted in Latin American and Afro-Caribbean histories, is choreographer Cory Villegas’s expression of cultural legacy. As an Afro-diasporic dance, Salsa carries the wealth and variety of African and Indigenous roots. Villegas contextualizes her thesis event “Las Leyendas: An Afro Cuban Suite,” presenting herself and her troupe Soul Dance Co. as evidence that contradicts the erasure of Latin & Caribbean Culture in US dance history. The paper uses English and Spanish, written, visual, and oral materials with an accompanying webpage.

Bengal Memory, Fahim Hamid

Theses and Dissertations

Bengal Memory is a documentary short film, told through an expository and personal lens, about a forgotten genocide that occurred in Bangladesh during its Liberation War, the controversial role that the U.S. government played in it, and how the lives of Bengali people in both the homeland and in the American diaspora were shaped by these events. As a Bangladeshi American and narrator of this story, I traveled to my native country to investigate. My father, Mohammed, had lived through the 1971 war and recounts his memories of the atrocities committed by West Pakistan, which claimed the lives of a …

Musselwhite: A Case Study In The Development Of Modern Legend In The American South, Ella J. Lauderdale

Honors Theses

The development of modern legend is widely researched, and there are many theories on the involvement of rumor and truth in the creation of folk stories. However, there are often few opportunities to look at the development of a modern legend in detail from beginning to end. The legend of Luther Musselwhite is unique in that it begins at a relatively fixed time, and the generations present during that time are still available to interview. This case study traces the development of this modern legend in Mississippi and analyzes the possible motivations for the spread and development of modern legends …

Stories Of Motivation And Values Of Small-Scale Farmers In Jamaica And The United States, Raquel Taylor

Dissertations and Doctoral Documents, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, 2023–

Small-scale farmers add to global and local food systems through various means such as connecting communities to local food and support economies. Small-scale farms can address issues related to food and nutritional security. However, farming can be a challenging career to engage in, especially for those who are small-scale farmers. Matters related to succession, higher paying off-farm employment, policies, and more can make it challenging to engage in farming. Leaving the question of what would motivate someone to engage in small-scale farming. Motivation can be viewed through multiple lenses; this study chose to use self-determination theory to understand the motivations …

The U.S. Greek Cypriot Community: An Oral History From 1974, Diana Violaris Minakakis

Seton Hall University Dissertations and Theses (ETDs)

The 1974 occupation of Cyprus has been discussed and analyzed by government officials, political scientists and diplomatic relations experts for half a century but a substantial, documented narrative history is lacking. An oral history of those who journeyed to the United States during this time has not been collected. This paper includes interviews with members of the Greek Cypriot Community in the United States who were willing to share their stories for the purposes of documenting their experiences as part of an oral history. For the purposes of this thesis, Turkish Cypriots were not sought for participation.

In addition to …

The Contributions Of Nuevomexicanas To New Mexico Lowrider Culture, Traditions, And Rituals: The Significance Of Young Chicana Cultural Pachuca And Chola Aesthetics And Identity Expression In The Albuquerque Lowrider Community, Valerie J. Chavez

Chicana and Chicano Studies ETDs

The lowrider community in Albuquerque creates a space for families and individuals to gather and express themselves within Chicana/o/x culture. Nuevomexicanas have played a significant role in the teaching and preservation of the New Mexican traditions and rituals of lowriding. This research project is a visual and plática-based study. It explores how young Nuevomexicanas express their Chicana identity through la pachuca and chola cultural aesthetics and identity while actively participating in lowrider culture. This project utilizes the research methods of la resolana, querencia, and plática to understand, discover, and document the roles of young Nuevomexicanas in the Albuquerque …

Voices On The Mountain: Beaver Mountain Oral History Project, Jasmine Lowe, Cedar Williams, Zoe'swanna Mcgee, Cassie Evans

Student Research Symposium

Through oral history interviews with a wide variety of people with connections to Beaver Mountain, we explore the memory and significance of Beaver Mountain to the community of Cache Valley from multiple perspectives.

Interview No. 1792, Osvaldo Velez

Combined Interviews

Mr Velez grew up in Segundo Barrio during the 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s. He associates those times with gang warfare because of the introduction of guns. He also remembers that in Segundo Barrio, many families lived in tenements. With the number of people living in the tenements, there were a lot of activities in the community, including social gatherings, parties, and family parties. In the absence of technology, most time was spent outside, whether it was hearing local gossip, visiting family and friends, or socializing; that was life in a small community. He lived in a tenement on the corner …

Bo Prosser Interviewed By Thomas Duke, Bo Prosser, Thomas Duke, Stephanie Opperman

Collecting the Past

Thomas Duke interviews Bo Prosser on his experience attending seminary school and living on the grounds of Central State Hospital.

Listen to the podcast version here:

YouTube

https://youtu.be/NnzIkUnii9k

Spotify

https://spotifyanchor-web.app.link/e/qybewWATwNb

Sister Kathleen Feeley Interviewed By Audrey Burney, Kathleen Feeley, Audrey Burney, Stephanie Opperman

Collecting the Past

Audrey Burney interviews Sister Kathleen Feeley on advice for teachers and the impact of education.

Listen to the podcast version here:

YouTube

https://youtu.be/VKstrVEkArU?si=8st7R4Vc-JBN7whG

Spotify

https://spotifyanchor-web.app.link/e/yx8pAZATwNb

Sandra Worsham Interviewed By Aggie Markwalter, Sandra Worsham, Aggie Markwalter, Stephanie Opperman

Collecting the Past

Aggie Markwalter interviews Sandra Worsham on growing up in segregated Milledgeville and her extensive teaching background.

Listen to the podcast version here:

YouTube

https://youtu.be/-fLgkc8sLYo

Spotify

https://spotifyanchor-web.app.link/e/RlAnPfsdpMb