Instruction
Please submit your typed response, with each numbered reply, via Canvas. We will dedicate some time, as part of an in-class reaction assignment, to doing this analysis on Tuesday, December 3, 2019. Be sure to bring Minian’s book to class that day in order to complete this assignment effectively and efficiently.
1. Broadly speaking, how does Minian use oral histories in this book?
2. What other sources (i.e., both primary and secondary) does Minian rely on to help fill in the gaps, or perhaps address some of the biases, of oral history testimonies?
3. On page 123 of Undocumented Lives, Minian tells the story of “Sara Villalobos,” and her family, as a means to explore some of the deeply personal and intimate experiences of migrant domestic workers who often found themselves in incredibly vulnerable positions. What are key arguments she makes on this page?
4. How might the argument Minian offers about the Villalobos family and their experiences be undermined, erased, or simply not made available in traditional archives had it not been for the recording of this oral history? That is, do you think that this information—or the insight we receive from this source—might have been available through some other source? If so, which source(s) might have offered up the same insight and how would one retrieve such a source?
5. Peruse the footnotes Minian provides for her above argument about the Villalobos family on page 123 (i.e., FN 85 and FN 68 on p. 281). What information about the interview do we learn from Minian’s citations? Why are they important, and what do they tell us about the practice of oral history?
6. On page 30, Minian furthers her arguments about the Mexican state’s critical role in prompting the migration of its people farther north to the United States. Look to FN 90 (i.e., cited on p. 259) and the paragraph in which it appears. How did this oral history provide a necessary piece of information that would otherwise have been difficult to recover or trace?