- While reading Bahadur ‘How could I write about women whose existence is barely acknowledged?’I learned about how Asian women were treated and I was not surprised by it. During her journey, She found pieces of information written or told by white men who held power over them. The archive did not allow them to reveal their thoughts or feelings due to the white men who held power over them. The Archive allows one to reconstruct the texture of the women’s life but they do not show the women, their thoughts or their feelings. She addressed these limits by beginning to explore clues in visual traces and the oral tradition such as folk songs, oral histories, photographs and colonial-era postcards. Farther more, she also returns to her great-grandmother’s village to find some unofficial information that could uncover more about her great grandmother. If I was to construct an archive of my family history, I would first ask all my family about their journey, then look through any photograph, diary, and documents.
- My Interviewee is Wilson Chow, Great-grandson of Chow Zun Yok. He was born in Hong Kong. Wilson Chow migrated to the United States with his family in 1990 and also studied to become a nurse in California, he used to be a dentist’s assistant. I learned that migrating is hard, and it is not easy to migrate; as it takes time, patience and a strong will in order to survive. This oral history confirms that people will always do what it takes in order to have a better life and make money for their family. It surprised me how similar his family’s hardships and my family’s hardships are. There was not much information missing in this as it answered most of the questions I had while listening to this oral history. I guess I would like to know what lifestyle changes he faced when he migrated to the United States.
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Hi Vannyka,
I believe the story of each of the interviewees in our oral history is very inspiring and we can learn a lot from their hardships. It is true and I agree with you migration is hard and not easy at all. It takes time to adjust to the new environment and obviously patience will help to get a better life. The Profession of your interviewee, Wilson Chow inspires me as how he could better it from Dental’s assistant to Nurse.
I’m glad you picked up on the note about “thought and feelings” in the piece by Bahadur. The past is much more than facts and figures, and one of the challenges is in how we capture the internal experiences– what did it feel like to be living in a time, what was going on inside one’s heart and mind? Your discussion of Bahadur helps us to see why it is important and how she was able to reconstruct some of this lost history.