“Telling Untold Stories”
Essay 3: Ethnography / Oral History Project
“To read A Study in Scarlet is to be reminded both that the West’s current foray into Central Asia is not its first and that the world-historical events of our own time will soon be woven into the products of our popular culture. September 11 and its immediate aftermath; the ongoing “war on terror”; our new wariness of clunky shoes; our changing relationship to Muslims and the Islamic world–all of this will bubble to the surface in genre novels, films, music, and comic books. A recent issue of Spider-Man had an all-black cover with the wall crawler confronting the horror of 9-11 in the story. Even before September was over, a profusion of analytical nonfiction works on terrorism, Islam, and Afghanistan had begun to appear in bookstores. But to learn in what ways the terrorist attacks have changed us, we do well to look to genre fiction. What will it say about how we as a culture have assimilated September 11?”
—Gary Phillips, “Pulp Culture: History and Hard-Boiled,” The American Prospect
The overarching story of South Los Angeles is that it is a place called home to thousands of people. They are born or move here, go to school, make friends, grow up, try to make a living, raise a family, navigate neighborhood life, and participate in community groups and organizations. It is a place that matters to the people who live here or have lived here at different times. These experiences are the basis of South L.A.’s rich and complex history. The people of South L.A., have created vibrant neighborhoods and have a long history of banding together to find solutions to pressing concerns. But you wouldn’t know that from TV, the movies, or the newspapers. The stories that the mainstream media chooses to show about South L.A. focus on crimes, drugs, and gangs, playing into negative stereotypes.
In the words of Mike Amezcua, a college student who grew up in South L.A.:
“All I could see down my neighborhood streets were liquor stores and churches, not very many options for an active youth. Now in my early twenties, I realize that the deeper I look into the community that raised me, the more treasures I find. Whether speaking with the elders who have lived here for a lifetime or conversing with young kids on the basketball courts, I started gaining more from my own community.”
Your assignment is to tell the real story of the area’s distinctive neighborhoods and communities through the voices of several generations of Black, White, Asian, and Latino community members who, together, have created the history of this part of Los Angeles: uncover these treasures and the untold stories of South Los Angeles in the words of the people who live here. Your project will add one more voice to these stories.
Assignment: Write a 5-7 page essay (typed or word-processed, double-spaced, 12 point Times New Roman font) that uses your interview and your researched articles to draw conclusions about the social issue or historical / current event(s) discussed.
Remember: you must submit 2 assignments:
1) a 5-7 page researched essay with a Works Cited Page, draft(s), and Peer Review Form;
2) Your interview.
The project is based on the premise that while the predominately Black and Latino/a population living in South L.A. experience disproportionate rates of violence, low levels of education, poverty, homelessness, and incarceration, there exists too few public spaces and tools that allow for discussions of why things are the way they are. As part of your final project, you have been asked to interview someone about a historical or current event or a local social issue and locate at least 5 articles that discuss that same event or social issue, and then to explore that social issue or event in all of its complexity.
Note: Please note that this project may be modified to be about a social issue or the history of a “local community” outside of Los Angeles, anywhere else in the world.
Key Features:
1. An introduction that gives needed background information about the topic and appeals to your audience.
2. A thesis statement that takes a clear position on the social issue or event you are comparing without oversimplifying. What argument are you making about the person you interviewed or the period in our local history? To state simply that there are differences in multiple accounts of an event is obvious; in your thesis—and throughout your paper—emphasize how your sources are different, perhaps making inferences about why they might be different, and discussing which you see as the most truthful. If appropriate, you may also offer your own version of what actually happened, or conclude that the accounts are irresolvable.
3. Clear reasons and sufficient evidence to support the claim in your thesis. This evidence can come from personal experience, your oral history, the article or articles you researched, and/or library/Internet research. It is best to have a mix of different types of evidence. Remember that your goal is to draw an interesting conclusion about the versions of the event that you are comparing, so your evidence should identify those differences or similarities, and show your reader what those differences or similarities are. However, you must include several references to your fieldwork (Your Oral History Project Interview). In writing about history, your ideas are developed using a wealth of detail which shows your reader what you mean.
4. At least three library sources (most likely from Proquest or EBSCO, but possibly alternative sources from the Southern California Library for Research and Social Studies or other online archives.
5. At least two valid internet sources (try www.ipl.org).
6. (Optional) Use of at least one visual element (pictures, graphs, diagrams, charts). Try searching Google’s “Images” collection.
7. Appropriate organization and paragraphing, including use of clear topic sentences. The paragraphs should be in a logical order and use of transitions to show links between ideas.
8. A conclusion that provides closure to the essay and considers the implications of the event’s or person’s impact on the future.
9. Consistent, correct use of MLA style (check heading, margins, title, line spacing, page numbering, Works Cited Page and parenthetical note(s)).
10. Observance of the conventions of standard written English.
Suggested Steps
1. Begin researching. Preliminary research will help you identify good questions for your interview. You can do follow-up research later, but preliminary research can help familiarize you with your topic.
2. Conduct interview(s) for fieldwork project.
3. Freewrite for 5 minutes about what the person you interviewed said to you. Then freewrite for 10 minutes about the event, person, or location you intend to write about. Read through your freewrites, underlining the most important ideas.
4. Brainstorm other ideas to use in your essay. What personal experiences have you had (or have others had) that typify the experiences of the community? Are they similar to those your interview subject discusses?
5. Develop a working thesis. Initially, think about the individual’s (your interview subject’s) role in Los Angeles’ (or other community’s) history. What is, was, or will be the significance of this person’s voice or the event in question? Did, does, or will it have any lasting impact on the world?
6. Conduct further research, keeping track of your sources—including images or other visuals—and all necessary information for the Works Cited page of your essay. Follow up on promising references and ideas that you generated in your brainstorms
7. List at least three quotes or references from your research that you can use to support your argument. Your support should be specific evidence that proves that your description of (or conclusions) the community or local event and/or person is valid. Your support may come from your fieldwork, from your own experiences, or from researched articles.
8. List at least three possible stories, anecdotes, personal experiences, or quotes from your interview that you might include in your essay. Make sure that they are relevant to your subject. These may include reminiscences on political or social events that were common to the community, reactions to local events, or descriptions of other common relevant experiences.
9. Consider using any visual images that will help to support your argument. These may include: pictures from magazines, your own personal photographs, postcards, drawings, or pictures captured from the internet.
