a. The use of a website as community building. Is the audience that I am engaging with interested, has the access to and is willing to use a website to share their stories.
b. Is the community that I am engaging with interested or gives importance to sharing their stories.
c. What kind of questions would get what responses (in order to start thinking about my thesis project questions).
I interviewed three women who are activists in the Watsonville and Santa Cruz queer communities and who are also undocumented and have been in the U.S. between 8 years and 18 years. They are associated to organizations such as LYLYA (Latinas y Lesbianas yAliadas) and PFLAG.
Although the above aspects were the ones i had set out to proof, i learned much more from this process and the interviews, the website as well as participating in the latina lesbian/queer immigrant community informed my work in multiple ways. Additionally, i want to say that the process of getting close to the women i interviewed, the interviews, the building of the website and the responses yet to come are all part of the prototype.)
1. In terms of the website, when asked if a website as a way of sharing the interviews would be something that they would be interested, the women i interviewed showed excitement and were interested in giving me feedback. During the interviews comments such as “we are in camera, we are superstars” or referring to the interview as “an important moment” made me realize the impact that the process of collecting stories and making them public can have in people as well as in different communities. *(Here it is really important for me to point out the importance of being aware of the imaginaries that people can construct in interviewing processes and ultimately the responsibility and accountability that i have as a translator, collector, of this stories; as well as the importance of acknowledging my position within this project).
2. Since i wanted to find out what value the women i interviewed placed on sharing their stories as lesbians, immigrants, undocumented, mothers... I decided to ask them directly and their answers are reflected in the dialogs on immigration section of the website. Some of their comments were: “I believe that to be silent is to be in acceptance and that is to live in a mediocre way.” “In case our legal situation gets complicated we would have to go back to Mexico. So I am worried that I won’t be able to offer him a complete education. And my dream is to give it to him if he wants it. That is why it is really important to tell our stories as immigrants, as illegals, as undocumented women, as lesbians and as exiles.” “I think its essential to talk about (our experiences as undocumented)...and to use the power of knowledge through the experiences we live in order to tell others so that we can better our situation, and the situation of the generations to come.”
(These responses were really inspiring and grounding and gave me energy to confront my larger thesis project. Other outcomes of this community building process were also inspiring such as the creation of a collective for Latina Lesbian Immigrants called “Poker the Jotas.”)
3. The questions and their framing was an interesting process as well. Some of the questions were really emotional and really hard for them to answer. My original questions were:
1. Tell me a little bit about your self, what ever you want...
2. Do you think it is important to tell our stories as immigrants and as lesbians?
3. When did you come to the U.S.?
4. In what ways have you experienced racism, homophobia, hate, discrimination in particular for being a latina lesbian and an immigrant?
5. What is your relation to English?
6. What is it that you miss the most from Mexico?
7. What specific objects make you think of home?
8. What does it mean for you to be an immigrant, to be away from home?
9. Would you like to see a website about latina lesbian immigrants?
I almost didn’t had to ask the questions because they would touch on different points when answering other questions. When I asked the question “tell me a little bit about your self” all of them started by saying how long had they been in the U.S.
When I asked the questions of objects of memory, one of the women i interviewed shared with me this powerful story of her boots which is reflected in the objects of memory section of the website. Talking about her boots she states “It is a way of connecting with mexico... they are a bridge between this reality and that one, which is far away now. They have accompanied me throughout many stories. Stories there and stories here. They transport me back and forth.”
Lastly, and as encouraged by my cluster members and Sharon, I decided to incorporate my story within this larger narrative of telling our stories from the margins and of looking at the margins of the Nation-state, or of this society if you will, as malleable, changing and in transformation. When confronted with “telling my story” i realized i’ve lost it or rather there is multiple stories that i have had to construct in order to be able to stay in this country and navigate multiple worlds. So my attempt to incorporate myself, also as a way of being accountable to the women i interviewed and allowing me to make them vulnerable, is reflected in the queer asylum section of the website, which is what i want to end with.
my questions: What next steps do you think my website should take in order to capture more effectively stories and serve as a community building site? please email your answers to marginadas@gmail.com
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