Cosas que uno no Sabía: Making Meaning of Narratives, Experiences, and Resilience

• In Event: 70.030 - Honoring Legacies of Resistance: Engaging Oral Life Histories of Mexican Immigrant Parents

Abstract

Considering the negative historical and contemporary rhetoric surrounding undocumented individuals, resurgence of nativism, shifts to more qualitative investigations, and devaluing the power of narratives in research—it is relevant to reconsider what we know about undocumented immigrants. The purpose of this paper is to reconceptualize the Mexican immigrant experience of the 20th century in the Southwest, articulate how oral history methodology serves to provide a space for participants to construct and co-construct knowledge with the researcher, and to add to the continuing conversation on objectivity. In addition, the goal is to disrupt homogenous articulations of undocumented immigrant groups and present a more inclusive representation of the Mexican immigrant experience.
This oral history project identified significant information and themes that allows for the recognition of concepts that present a comprehensive, multilayered perspective of individuals and society. Prominent scholars have documented accounts of Mexican origin people in the Southwest (Anzaldúa, 1987; Gutierrez, 1995; Portes & Rumbaut, 2001; Sánchez, 1940). In addition, scholars turned to oral histories methodologies (Perks & Thomson, 2006), but more is needed to better comprehend the undocumented Mexican immigrant life (Martin & Galvez, 2004). Through two 60-minute interviews with the researchers kin (Maria and Manuel)—the author provides personal narratives that help events, subjects, and themes come to life.
This paper provides two examples that help illustrate the complexity of the Mexican immigrant experience in Los Angeles. Findings demonstrate how Maria and Manuel struggled with the decision to emigrate, crossing the border, experience with discrimination, speaking Spanish, and their encounter with formal adult education. Motivators behind making the decision to immigrate to the United States are heterogeneous—influenced by economic status, gender, age, and other factors. Immigrants arrive at the border with a variation of knowledge about what they will face. For Maria and Manuel, crossing the border proved to be a very difficult challenge—both exemplified courage, determination, and strength. In addition, their experience with discrimination based on language demonstrates rooted racial tensions in Los Angeles, and examples of nativism (Chavez, 2013). Finally, formal education was an experience that was closely associated with support, need, and priorities.
The significance of this paper is wider than simply presenting stories of kin—it warrants challenging negative rhetoric surrounding undocumented immigration and notions of objectivity, reposition the focus to the epistemological margins (Anzaldúa, 1987; Delgado Bernal, Alemán, & Garavito, 2009; Elenes, 1997), and add fragments of knowledge to multiple disciplines. In doing so, this paper enhances information and adds to the conversation of undocumented Mexican immigration and oral history inquiry. In this case, my parents are participating in extraordinary acts that often go unseen and unrecognized, but add value to the conversation about Mexican immigration in late 20th century Los Angeles.

Authors

• Eduardo Coronel, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

• Eduardo Coronel, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign