memory:: resurrected: proposal

Kitty, Sanha, Bernice:
Memory Resurrected Proposal

Through this project, we hope to gain insight into the lives of East Asian, specifically Chinese immigrants, and how their experiences both from their country of origin and in New York have affected their respective worldviews. By interviewing multiple sources of firsthand accounts, we will perhaps begin to detect common trends in the collective immigrant experience. We plan to focus mainly on Chinese immigrants, as there is a more concentrated population residing in Chinatown. Additionally, we will try to lean towards gathering the stories of an older demographic, as their experiences and memories will span a longer period of history, and perhaps allude to how they have personally dealt with change and transitions. We hope to further understand how New York City has changed their perspective if at all, why they moved and how they maintain a sensitivity to their own culture. Specific interview questions will be discussed in the near future.
Logistically speaking, we will most likely seek these people out in person, using frequented spots in Chinatown, Columbus Park for example, as starting points. In terms of research, we have come across several articles having to do with the matter, and depending on the relevance of the article and whether the author(s) have included contact information, we may also reach out to those who have documented these experiences in the past. Currently, we have yet to decide the specifics of our final project. We will be basing our decision off of the stories that we gather and the outcome of our interviews. We hope to incorporate both the physical, mental, and emotional experiences of those we interview in our final piece(s), to communicate the paradox of how these singular, personal journeys are connected as a collective memory.

Side note: If for some reason this plan doesn’t work out, we might choose a project relating of the underground tunnels at Doyers Street, where apparently in the 1930s, mob wars forced residents to use as a hideout location.

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