Recollections of Home / Recuerdos
de mi Tierra
Exhibition by Student Action with
Farmworkers Interns
November 8, 2004 – January 20, 2005
Exposición por Estudiantes Becarios
de Acción Estudiantil con Trabajadores Agrícolas
Noviembre 8, 2004 – Enero 20, 2005
Recollections of Home is an exhibition celebrating the
rich cultural practices, beliefs, and values of farmworkers in North
and South Carolina. This exhibit was made possible with the support
of the North Carolina Arts Council, the North Carolina Humanities
Council, the South Carolina Arts Commission, and the Center for
Documentary Studies.
Recuerdos de mi Tierra es una exposición que celebra
las ricas costumbres culturales, creencias, y valores de los trabajadores
agrícolas en Carolina del Norte y Sur. Esta exposición
fue hecha posible gracias al apoyo del Consejo de Artes de Carolina
del Norte, al Consejo de Humanidades de Carolina del Norte, la Comisión
de Artes de Carolina del Sur y el Centro de Estudios Documentales.
Read
more about Student Action with Farmworkers
View
images from Recollections of Home / Recuerdos de mi Tierra
Rolando Rivera writes poetry about his family in Mexico. Photograph
by Scott Pryor.
Recollections of Home / Recuerdos de mi Tierra
"[Working on my project] gave me the opportunity to reach out
into the community and recognize the talents of someone who deserved
very much the recognition." — Alison Blaine, 2000 SAF
Intern
"I think [documenting the folklife traditions of farmworkers]
is such a positive and rewarding project, especially when you see
a lot of negativity in all other aspects of farmworkers' lives."
— Monica Smith, 2000 SAF Intern
In 1999 and 2000 forty college students in the Into the Fields Summer
Internship and Leadership Development Program of Student Action
with Farmworkers (SAF) received training and conducted projects
to document folk traditions of North and South Carolina’s
farmworker and immigrant Latino communities.
The SAF interns worked directly with farmworkers through health
clinics, legal and immigration organizations, Migrant Education
Programs, and community organizing groups. The interns worked in
areas with large farmworker populations in Eastern North Carolina,
the Piedmont region, and the foothills. Several interns also worked
in rural South Carolina. By working with community-based organizations,
interns gained direct access to the isolated farmworker population.
The interns learned about farmworkers’ patterns of life and
work, observing how farmworkers define community in North Carolina
and South Carolina. They used audio recording and photography to
document verbal, material, and customary traditions. They documented
songs such as rancheros and románticos,
stories about La Virgen de Guadalupe, and personal border-crossing
narratives; traditional foods, crochet, folk healing traditions,
and piñatas; and home altars, quinceañera
celebrations, weddings, and festivals.
The Latino farmworking population is a relatively new and significant
community in the Carolinas. Once they have arrived, farmworkers
often live in isolated, homogenous groups with other agricultural
workers. Interns also encountered and documented immigrants who
are finding work outside the migrant stream and choosing the Carolinas
as their home. At the same time, many local residents have not welcomed
these newcomers into their communities. Many Latinos experience
discrimination and prejudice because they speak a language other
than English, are not native-born citizens, and maintain customs
that are not a part of dominant culture. Folklife is the tool SAF
has chosen to demonstrate farmworkers’ humanity in the face
of such prejudice.
Part of SAF’s mission is to increase interaction, communication,
and understanding among people of different cultures. Fostering
cross-cultural awareness can help honor differences and deepen perceptions
beyond surface appearances. The gathered documents recognize and
record how farmworkers, Latinos, and their families transport and
re-create aspects of their native traditions as they migrate in
pursuit of agricultural work or settle into communities. These projects
represent the value of face-to-face interaction between interns
and farmworkers. In many instances, farmworkers reveal the dynamic
process of the shaping and reinvention of traditional expressions
through the forces of new settings and circumstances.
Farmworker literature and advocacy often focus solely on work-related
issues. This documentary initiative gives farmworkers an opportunity
to communicate outside of this limited frame—to convey a sense
of pride and value in their culture. As SAF identifies those who
maintain the songs, stories, and craft traditions of their native
cultures, opportunities arise for sharing this fieldwork with community
members, students, and the general public. By highlighting the traditions
and creative lives of farmworkers with those outside their occupational
and cultural group, we hope to bring their humanity to the forefront.
— Jill Hemming and Melinda Wiggins
banner image:
Partial view of the Lyndhurst Gallery, one of four exhibition spaces
at CDS. Photograph by Christoper Sims.
top
|
