Oral Histories
About the Project
The goals of the Oral History project were to help identify community assets and engage residents in the health assessment process to give us a collective better understanding of Little Village community health needs and assets. It started in 2013, when community partners expressed how Interview, Focus Group, and Survey preliminary findings lacked an in depth understanding of community health assets. In order to better represent the strength and leadership of residents who contribute to positive community health, we collectively initiated an oral history component to the LVCHA with the support of Storycorps, an an independent nonprofit whose mission is to provide people of all backgrounds and beliefs with the opportunity to record, share, and preserve the stories of our lives. Each Storycorps conversation was preserved at the American Folklife Center at the Library of Congress.
Story collecters and storytellers at ENLACE Chicago's office, 2013
Story collecting
Storycorps staff initially facilitated the collection and recording of stories, while ENLACE Chicago provided the space for story collection and helped identify community leaders. We collected 32 Oral Histories in total. Eight were collected in 2013, 19 in 2014, and 5 in 2015. Two couples participated, two mother and daughters, 18 women, and 5 men.
Story collectors asked broad questions around the story teller's life, leading up to their involvement in Little Village. Some example questions included:
- How were you brought up?
- What does living in the Little Village community mean to you?
- What is it like to stay healthy in Little Village?
- Can you tell me a story that happened in your life that changed you?
- Tell me about a person who has made a positive difference in your life?
In our participatory analysis, we initially discussed emergent themes with our Think Tank group. Preliminary findings highlighted the importance of a Little Village sense of community and identity, immigration, family, racism, health care, and youth development.
Stories organized by topic
Many Oral Histories of Little Village residents have themes of activism and advocacy. Many residents tell their immigration story and how they overcame their struggles to be future leaders for youth. Below, we have included summaries of some of the stories we collected, organized broadly by specific health topics.
Occupational Health and Activism
Domestic Violence
Violence Prevention
Sense of Community
listen to some oral history audio clips:
For a full list of stories and/or audio files, please email us at littlevillagecha@gmail.com for more information.
Listening events
In refocusing our work to active listening and dialogue, the Think Tank organized two listening events, which allowed for the dissemination of the findings in a way that was interpersonal, interactive, and led to future work around stories. In a listening event, people are encouraged to interpret the meaning of stories and develop ideas around the topics presented in the story.
Listening Event at UIC, 2015
Two Listening Events have been hosted to date - one was at the University campus and the other was in Little Village. The Think Tank chose short, edited segments of the stories to illustrate some of the central topics. At each event, we collectively listened to these short clips and then discussed the power of stories to convey complex issues and to affirm intersectional identities and the lived experiences of community members.
PRESENTATIONS & ACADEMIC posters
We have had the opportunity to participate in several conference presentations to share our work with the Oral History project. Click below for each abstract and/or presentation.
If you're interested in learning more about how to collect your own Oral Histories or how to get involved and learn more, click the link below to access a resource page: