Topic #1 Oral History – Immigrant
For this topic you will need to interview an immigrant concerning their experiences adapting to
life in the United States. You will take field notes based on your interview and then write up your findings in a 5-7 page report (minimum word count of 1800 words). You will be expected to utilize and apply anthropological concepts, which you have learned in this class, to your findings. You will turn in your field notes with the final version of your paper.
You will need to devise your own open-ended style of interview questions asking your informant to tell you about his or her socio-cultural experiences of adapting to American society. You may want to ask them what were the influences that caused them to migrate to the US, what sort of difficulties they faced and what, if any advantages they felt they gained through their immigration experience. Remember that you want to encourage your informant to talk as much as possible about what HE or SHE felt to be important about his or her immigration experience and what he or she would like the reader to understand about what they went through to adapt to life in the US. Also, be sure and ask your informant in what ways does he or she feel that his or her values have changed as a result of the immigration experience and does he or she view this as having a positive or negative impact on their life. Please attach your interview notes (fieldnotes) to your final paper.
Topic #2 Oral History Senior Citizen
For this topic you will conduct an interview, take notes, and write up your findings in a five to
seven page paper. You will be expected to utilize and apply anthropological concepts, which you have learned in this class, to your findings.
Your interview source should be a senior citizen, preferably a family relative or family friend, with whom you feel comfortable conducting an interview. The focus of your interview will be on what was life like for your interviewee when she or he was your college age (please note that they do not have to have actually attended college). What beliefs, activities, values, and hopes did your interviewee have at that time? In what ways does your informant feel that their values, beliefs and expectation have changed over time? Does he or she consider these changes to be a positive or a negative? Be sure to conduct your interview in an open-ended manner. Your goal here is to have your informant tell you as much about his or her young adult life experiences as possible, so dont ask simple yes or no questions. Finally, compare his or her answers to your own life. In what ways are his or her responses similar to or different from your own life? Please attach your interview notes (fieldnotes) to your final paper.
Issues to keep in mind Both of these assignments should incorporate key ideas from our class. In other words, whether you choose to interview an immigrant or interview a senior citizen, you need to discuss a minimum of three issues from our class. These issues could include topics such as immigration, gendered behaviors, sexuality, family, marriage practices, kinship, economic practices, racism, assumptions about biology vs. culture, social roles of men and women (gender roles), problems of
Paper Due Date:
Your paper is due in lecture on Thurs., Dec. 5, 2019.
modernization and capitalism, unfair labor practices, economic exploitation, social pressures related to our bodies, issues of science and culture, religious beliefs, or any other topic that we will examine in class this semester.
The Learning Assistance Center offers assistance and guidance to students writing papers. . If you wish to use the Learning Assistance Center to help you with your paper you will need to make an appointment in advance. If you go to the Learning Assistance Center for help be sure to bring a copy of these paper instructions with you to your appointment. The Learning Assistance Center (LAC) is located at the Horn Center in room 104 (the phone number is (562) 985-5350).
