memory | Center for the Humanities at UC Merced

By Shiraz Noorani, Graduate Student Researcher, Center for the Humanities, UC Merced

Crumme, Hannah Leah. “Building Community Archives: Vietnamese Portland.” The Routledge Companion to Public Humanities Scholarship. Routledge, 2024. 128-138. https://www.taylorfrancis.com/chapters/edit/10.4324/9781003248125-10/building-community-archives-hannah-leah-crumm%C3%A9

In “Building Community Archives: Vietnamese Portland,” Hannah Leah Crumme describes an initiative of Lewis & Clark College’s Special Collections to broaden Portland, Oregon’s historical record by building a community-based digital archive regarding the Vietnamese American community. Recognizing that traditional archives are far too often centered on white settler histories, Crumme and her team wanted to document the diverse experiences that shape the city explicitly, especially those of Vietnamese immigrants and their descendants, in their contributions and struggles. It also represents an alarmingly underrepresented population in Portland. The project, launched in 2017, grew from the college’s initiative to create more inclusive collections to better represent Portland’s multicultural legacy. It has collaborated with community leaders, like Thao Tu, who is president of the Vietnamese Community of Oregon, for cultural sensitivity and authenticity by collecting oral history, photographs, and documents; often, translators have been used to capture stories in both languages, English and Vietnamese. For the most part, it has been grant-funded by institutions, including the National Endowment for the Humanities, allowing Crumme and her team to hire student workers and cultural consultants, as well as reach out to local Vietnamese groups via events such as the annual Tet Festival. It is an initiative that not only looks to preserve the heritage of Vietnamese Portlanders but also works to incorporate their stories into local education through materials for public school curricula and exhibitions in community spaces, broadening public understanding of the city’s historical landscape.

Garcia-Medina, William. Making Black Public Humanities in South Florida: Fugitive Pedagogies, Self-Making, and Memory Work. Diss. University of Kansas, 2022. https://www.proquest.com/docview/2679773033?pq-origsite=gscholar&fromopenview=true&sourcetype=Dissertations%20&%20Theses

This dissertation by William Garcia-Medina gives a descriptive framework to understand the intersections of memory work with Black public humanities. He introduces theoretical methods underpinning the study of Black public humanities, including: fugitive pedagogy, a term that describes the educational practices Black educators have utilized to resist systemic oppression; and self-making, a concept that highlights the active ways in which Black individuals and communities shape their identities through cultural, intellectual, and political practices. These strategies are used in Black memory work, in the conservation and distribution of Black collective memory, and in making sure that histories are recorded and passed on through community-led initiatives.

Additionally, the dissertation discusses modern forms of public humanities within digital landscapes, demonstrating how the AARLCC embraces technology to expand its reach. It inspires further investigation into the ways digital platforms can magnify Black voices while staying rooted in local, community-based memory work.

Hill, Cecily Erin, and Mariel Aquino. “Community Case Studies: How the Humanities Enrich Community Life.” National Humanities Alliance. https://nhalliance.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/NHA-COMMUNITY-CASE-STUDIES-OVERVIEW-2024.pdf

This document provides an in-depth exploration of how communities across the United States are utilizing the humanities to address societal challenges, preserve cultural heritage, and foster social equity. It showcases case studies from Nogales, Arizona; Rapid City, South Dakota; and Charleston, South Carolina, each illustrating how humanities-based initiatives are empowering local populations. Through partnerships with local organizations, these initiatives utilize history, storytelling, and cultural practices to address issues such as economic inequality, racial divisions, and environmental challenges.

In Nogales, history and storytelling are used to reshape the narrative surrounding life on the U.S.-Mexico border, fostering a sense of pride and community resilience. In Rapid City, efforts focus on bridging divides between Native and non-Native populations through cultural recognition and historical research, leading to improved community trust and mental health outcomes. Charleston’s case study highlights initiatives aimed at confronting its legacy of slavery while promoting dialogue around the impacts of gentrification and climate change on African American communities. Together, these studies emphasize the vital role the humanities play in community-building and social progress.

Ramirez, Mario H., and Lorena Gauthereau. “Documenting Transborder Latinidades.” The International Journal of Information, Diversity, and Inclusion 6.4 (2022): 1-7. https://www.jstor.org/stable/pdf/48720302.pdf?refreqid=fastly-default%3A83b2d3271332df2053e846c62e909d08&ab_segments=&initiator=&acceptTC=1

The article “Documenting Transborder Latinidades” by Mario H. Ramirez and Lorena Gauthereau explores the dynamic relationship of archives, libraries, and digital humanities in the documentation of the lived experience of transborder Latinx communities. The authors have shown a rich history and identities formed across migrating journeys and colonial legacy.

This article underlines how community-based archives preserve and celebrate diverse histories formed with and within Latinx communities. These projects, in turn, collaboratively create an active form of memory-building participation among the archivists, academics, and people in these communities. This provides access on a wider scale and, consequently, allows self-identity and contributions of marginalized groups to have their voices heard at global and local levels.

Shang, Haoyi. Telling Our Own Stories: An Analysis of Asian American Community Museums in the U.S. Diss. University of Pennsylvania, 2023. https://repository.upenn.edu/entities/publication/11d7eaaf-693d-4b62-bd01-ec9a24cbf358.

This dissertation explores the importance of community museums in showcasing the stories of American communities from a cultural standpoint. The paper also highlights efforts to address the historical oversight of Asian American contributions in mainstream U.S. heritage narratives through case studies of three institutions: the Portland Chinatown Museum, the Wing Luke Museum in Seattle, and the National Cambodian Heritage Museum & Killing Fields Memorial in Chicago. The study delves into the significance of community museums in bridging history with shared memory and effectively involving the public in cultural engagement activities. Haoyi Shang touches upon the roles of museums as historical interpreters that support and safeguard local identities. Additionally, the dissertation explores the origins of these museums and their community-centric method of organizing exhibits to showcase a variety of narratives.

by Robin DeLugan

Ed Lanfranco, a graduate student in the World Cultures Graduate Group and a 2013-2014 Center for the Humanities Graduate Fellow, shared his intellectual journey to design and frame a particular research project concerning the pro-Democracy movement in China—centered on the events surrounding the June 4, 1989 Tiananmen Square, Beijing protest—which next year will reach a 25-year anniversary. Ed has a unique connection to this particular history because between 1988-2009 he lived in China. While still a relative newcomer, he directly experienced the June 4, 1989 events—one of the most visible contemporary uprisings of citizens against the Chinese government. The government of China sent tanks and troops to restore order. The brutal dispersion resulted in death and injury. The world at large learned about efforts to squash China’s pro-democracy movement; meanwhile the Chinese government enforced a national ban on information about the event and its aftermath. Ed, acting much as an ethnographer in the field, collected flyers, posters and other ephemera surrounding “June 4.” Ed is researching official efforts within the People’s Republic of China to efface the 1989 Pro-Democracy Movement. While desiring to write the history of 1989, the topic of the past in the present is central to his project. When Ed inquires, “…are the Chinese aspirations in 1989 Beijing dead and gone, best forgotten there and by outsiders?”, he draws attention to the 25 years that have since transpired. The dynamics on the ground in China and elsewhere invite an examination of official silences; memories and counter-memories; and the forgetting that can surrounding the politics of the past.

Ed is responding to the milestone of the 25^th anniversary of the events at Tiananmen Square through a series of activities that will bring scholarly and public attention to China’s past. In addition to writing the history of 1989, Ed plans to develop the following: a UC Merced Kolligian Library exhibition “89@25”, a book for popular audiences, and a digital archive of the memorabilia he collected while in China. He also plans to travel in California and engage the pubic about the anniversary.

As a scholar who studies the role of academicians in memory work, in particular in memory work that challenges official silence about state violence and as someone who sees herself as one protagonist among others in the historical struggle for inclusion, human rights, and social justice, I pose to Ed the following questions:

a) To what extent do academics figure in your research?

b) What role do you see for yourself as a memory catalyst?

c) Beyond academicians, have you identified other collaborators or interlocutors inside or outside of China that are committed to commemorating the 25^th anniversary?

d) Are there networked domestic or international efforts taking place?

e) Lastly, have you identified other collections or archives pertaining to 1989 that can be compared or contrasted with your own personal archives?

Ed’s research interests complement my own and I will look forward to learning more about this important and unique project as it continues to develop. Important to the research will be what next year’s 25^th anniversary commemorations reveal about memory and nation; about states and citizens; about memory and democracy; about China’s post-democracy aspirations; and about the global interest in this important anniversary.

Center for the Humanities at UC Merced

Tag Archives: memory

Public Humanities in Practice: Selected Annotated Case Studies

89@25: Views of the Chinese Pro-Democracy Movement as Experience, Event, Myth, Materials and Memory