Migrant Archives: Experiments in Diaspora Writing

When history is under threat of being erased, archives become an especially relevant tool of survival and resilience. For writers and artists in contexts of war and migration, family photographs, old tapes, and found documents become a way to recover silenced histories and open creative possibilities for the future. In this two-quarter cultural studies and creative writing program, we will focus on literature, theory, and histories of Arab, Latin American/Latinx, Asian, and Black diasporas, and study how writers, mixed-media artists, and community activists engage with public and private archives to decolonize, subvert, and queer dominant historical narratives. From the US/Mexico Border to Palestine, we will explore how migrant stories rooted in archives are used to resist cultural and historical erasure, expose the violence of current policies, and serve as a letter to future generations.

Using writers and artists as models, we will explore our own histories through archives-based creative writing projects, including oral history, poetry, and personal narrative. We will also expand skills in literary and visual analysis, gain knowledge of principles of archival practice, and have opportunities for hands-on experiential learning through field trips and work in the Library Archives. Key questions explored in this program include: What does it mean to write based on personal and public archives? What role do photographs play in holding stories that are gapped and incomplete? How can archival research, poetry writing, and creative non-fiction fill in the gaps as we recover our hidden histories in the diaspora? Students will explore themes of dispossession, disappearance, memory, forgetfulness, and recuperation in the tension between ancestral roots and diasporic routes.

Fall quarter is structured as a 12-credit program core consisting of lectures, seminar, workshops, and field trips, and an additional 4-credit module that will allow students to conduct hands-on archival work. All students in the program core will refine skills in interpreting cultural texts—including archives, photography, and literature,—deepen understanding of the terminologies and methodologies of cultural studies, and develop skills in expository and creative writing. Students will learn how to integrate community documentation skills like interviewing and oral history into creative writing, and gain knowledge of foundational principles of archival practice in collaboration with Evergreen’s Archivist. Students enrolled for 16-credits will engage in an additional 4-credit module to gain hands-on experience working with archival collections and learn about participatory archiving while shaping Evergreen’s archival history. Students will work on cataloging, arranging, and describing materials documenting Evergreen’s relationship to Palestine/Israel or working on the Chicano/Latino Archive in the Evergreen Library in preparation for a winter-quarter exhibition. 

Winter quarter is intended to provide space for advanced students who are prepared to develop extended writing projects based on archival research. Winter quarter will be structured as an 8-credit program core consisting of reading, seminar, and workshops, and 4-8 credits of individual or collaborative writing projects. Students will continue exploring archives-based writing and artistic projects and participate in community projects, including an exhibition of posters and artwork from Evergreen’s Chicano/Latino Archive. With guidance of faculty Catalina Ocampo, students will also develop their own projects: these can include continuing participatory archival projects begun fall quarter or developing a major individual or collaborative multimodal writing project, with an emphasis on poetry and personal narrative. Students will learn to write proposals, conduct research, and engage in critique groups to produce substantive individual work.

Anticipated Credit Equivalencies:

Fall:

For 12 credits:

3 – Creative and Expository Writing (MiT endorsement requirement)

3 – Multicultural Literature (MiT endorsement requirement)

3 - Cultural Studies: Arab, Asian, Black, and Latin American Diasporas

3 - History and Archives

For 16 credits:

4 – Participatory Archives: Theory and Practice

Winter:

For 8 credits:

4 - Creative Writing: Advanced Poetry and Personal Narrative

4 - Cultural Studies: Literature, Art, and Archives

For 12-16 credits:

4-8 - Advanced Projects in Archives and Literary Arts