Oral History Project

Oral History

In Nigeria it’s seen as a blessing to have your newborn be bathed by their grandparents. This interview made me realize that my existence as well as anybody else’s is an archive within itself. This was especially personal to me since my grandmother and I share the same name. We are all physical representations of people who came before us, their DNA, culture, and ideologies live on past their death because of us. Our mothers, fathers and grandparents use their lives to nourish ours.  I interviewed both my sister and my father to represent the parallels between being raised in the 1960’s vs being raised in the early 2000s. It surprised me to learn that although my father grew up in a poor state, his community was relatively safe, and they raised children in communities. I found that through this we can clearly see how the general ideals and values are changing as we sift through countless generations. Throughout my life I had not developed a close relationship with my father, and I had an even more distant relationship with my grandmother because of circumstance and language barrier. Hearing about her resilience raising my father and uncles, waking up at 4 am to sell bread and then juggling 5 jobs to be able to raise her sons during and after WW2 made me feel closer to her. It made me put into perspective that our parents were once children and had their own separate life before we were introduced. Conducting these interviews were difficult for me, and I found it hard to ask questions and make the conversation cohesive. However, I still enjoyed taking myself out of my comfort zone, gaining better experience in talking to others. I believe that this oral history project honors the legacy of the interview because it tells a little part of their story. I personally believe that everyone you meet has something interesting about themselves that we’re missing out on due to lack of communication. By doing this project, I left the interviewee feeling like they gave a part of themselves, and feeling as if they had a clear platform to express an idea thats important to them.