Asian Americans & American Ideals and Institutions
Oral History paper assignment [see due dates below]
Your third major paper is an exploration of the migration and cultural
changes in your own family over a three generation period that extends back
to your grandparent's childhood years. You are to gather information by formal
and informal interviews and discussions with family members that cover the
points listed below. Write a paper that describes continuities and changes
from your family’s experience. Keep in mind you must also draw from the Ancheta
book [up thru Chap. 4], the immigration-related web sites and other class
readings for this assignment.
The paper must be typed, double-spaced and a minimum of 1000 words and a
maximum of 1500 words. You must interview at least one member of your family.
In person interviews are best, but I will accept phone interviews as
well. See below for proper citation of interview sources. Remember
- the scope is 3 generations - from a grandparents' childhood years
to your generation today.
1. Where have you and your relatives that migrated lived?
2. Discuss the immigration/migration process of you and your family [example:
how did the consular offices or immigration service officers/staff treat
family members, how long did family members wait for immigration documents
to be approved, etc.]?
3. Where, when, and why may have they moved/migrated over the years? Make
sure you discuss the 'push' AND the 'pull' factors here.
4. What were the nature of those moves and the adjustments that you/they had
to make in new places and times [example: why did family members move?; how
did they adjust after arriving or moving within the US, etc.]?
5. Be sure to explore change and continuity in the following:
a) Employment;6. What do your family members who were interviewed think are the most important changes and continuities in their cultural adjustment to life in the US?
b) Education and schooling;
c) Housing and neighbors;
d) Values and customs;
e) Languages [especially maintenance of home country language as well as acquisition of the English language in the U.S.]; and
f) Family
The paper should include clear citations and references of your interview
sources [incl. information such as name of person interviewed, their
relationship to you, the place you conducted the interview and the date,
etc.]. You may also draw on other sources beyond interviews, including family
photographs and documents, but you must interview at least one member
of the family. TIP - In answering the above questions, you should try to
draw also from concepts from Ancheta Chapters 1-4, the immigration-related
web sites and other class readings for this assignment..