Online Narratives about the Immigrant Experience
There is nothing quite as compelling as hearing a story from the person who has lived it. When immigrants tell their stories, it includes experiences, details and emotion that third-person accounts cannot convey as directly or powerfully. These first-person narratives enhance our understanding of the struggles endured, and engage our empathy by asking us to identify directly with the person telling the story. Here are some recent examples of immigrant stories, in written, photographic, audio and video formats.
- Immigration Voter: This site captures the potential devastating impact of mass deportation with a six-part video series, 11 Million Stories. Scroll down, and then clock across for individual stories. http://www.immigrationvoter.com/
- StoryCorps: The latest StoryCorps podcast, 463: Journey’s End, includes three stories of people who fled their homelands and tell of the trials they endured on the way and after: http://www.npr.org/podcasts/510200/storycorps
- The Atlantic: A short documentary from filmmaker Rodrigo Reyes, A Visceral Portrait of Life at the U.S.–Mexico Border, features frank interviews with Victor and Alberto, both men recently deported to Mexico. The site includes a link to the full-length film from which this excerpt is drawn called Purgatorio. http://www.theatlantic.com/video/index/472707/a-visceral-portrait-of-life-at-the-us-mexico-border/
- The New American Story Project: This site presents video interviews with recently arrived children from Mexico and Central America, as well as background information from immigration lawyers, policy analysts, social scientists, teachers and social workers. http://www.newamericanstoryproject.org/
- Fusion: This recent photo essay illuminates the daily life of a DACA (Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals) recipient living in the US, and also includes a link to his StoryCorps interview. http://fusion.net/story/278002/daca-photo-essay/?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=fusion8&utm_content=5&utm_term=fusion-newsletter-278550
Photo by Larry Hanelin.
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