'Talking About Im/migration' - Swedish Dialogue

This Saturday the Swedish American Museum hosted the second dialogue in the ‘Talking About Im/migration’ series. The session was held in the Museum’s first floor gallery, against the colorful backdrop of Swedish-American artist Peter Åström’s ‘Roundtrip: New York – Gotland’ exhibition, where coffee and Swedish cake were served before an interesting and engaging discussion. The participants included both Swedish citizens living in Chicago and Americans whose families migrated from Sweden many generations ago, who shared fascinating stories and discussed what Swedish culture and identity mean to them.

'Talking About Im/migration' - Japanese Dialogue

Saturday saw the first dialogue session of the Alliance’s ‘Talking About Im/migration’ project, held by the Chicago Japanese American Historical Society. The event was a great success, with over 30 guests, CJAHS members and project members coming together to discuss experiences of im/migration and ethnic identity amongst Chicago’s Japanese and Japanese-American communities. Japanese tea and sweets were served, before participants moved on to discuss a fascinating range objects they had brought to discuss - from a rice bowl to a daruma doll, books of Japanese art to‘Su Doku for Dummies’ – as well as simply sharing their stories and experiences.

The group included both Japanese citizens living in Chicago and Japanese Americans, both young and old, and the diversity resulted in interesting and thought-provoking discussion, as well as providing the CJAHS with inspiration for future programming and outreach.

Participants’ comments:

“I had an amazing time and a very insightful discussion”

“Very provocative, very interesting”

“I liked talking to people who I had never talked to about topics what we don't talk about”

Meet Daniel

Hi, my name is Daniel Clarke, and I have just arrived from England to begin a five-week internship with the Alliance working on the ‘Talking about Im/migration’ project.

This is only the second time I have visited Chicago, or indeed the United States – having passed through back in July 2005 on a Greyhound bus trip across the country – so I am thrilled to finally have the chance to come back and get to know the city properly. I have certainly already found it a fantastically exciting place to be these first few days and it seems that, with Taste of Chicago, July 4^th celebrations and a host of other events, there will definitely be plenty for me to do!

I am originally from Manchester but have been studying at King’s College, Cambridge for the past four years, first for BA in Archaeology and currently for an MPhil in Social Anthropology. My research has focused primarily on civic identity in the aftermath of conflict, looking at the rebuilding of Manchester city centre after an IRA bomb in 1996 for my undergraduate thesis, and currently working on a project investigating public responses to the Madrid train bombing of March 2004. Therefore, not only am I interested to experience a new and exciting city, with its own distinct identity and history, but my current work on Madrid focuses on the different groups which comprise the identity of the city as a whole, particularly in relation to immigration. In addition, having spent time in Mexico through my archaeological fieldwork (excavating at the site of Teotihuacan, near Mexico City), I am particularly looking forward to experiencing the culture of the city's Mexican population.

Talking Im/migration Facilitator Training Workshop

On Monday, May 18, 2009 the Chicago Cultural Alliance's first facilitator training workshop for the Talking Im/migration series happened at The Field Museum. This all day event was attending by representatives from the four pilot sites for the Talking Im/migration dialogues, the Cambodian American Heritage Museum, Polish Museum of America, the Swedish American Museum, and the Chicago Japanese American Historical Society. These four sites will be putting together 2 dialogues each with their community on immigration. Also in attendance was representatives from the facilitating members, who were there to be trained to assist the pilot sites in facilitating their dialogues. The Indo-American Heritage Museum, the American Indian Center, Bronzeville Historical Society, and Chinese-American Museum of Chicago, will be the four facilitating members.

The workshop ran from 9:00 am to 5:00 pm and many topics were covered. A review of articles on immigration and civic engagement started a great discussion amongst the group. A trip into the museum to the thresholds case was an illustration of different object related to different immigrant and cultural experiences. The workshop concluded with the facilitator training and general outreach strategies. The 4 pilot sites will now have to hold two dialogues over the summer with people from their community who do not normally participate with their organization. This is an exciting capacity building program developed through the Chicago Cultural Alliance with the support of The Field Museum.

Angeli's bio

Having grown up as the child of immigrant parents, I was always interested in global affairs and traveling. It helped that my parents took us all over the world to visit different cultures. I decided to expand upon this idea and spend my entire university career abroad in Scotland at the University of St Andrews. I enjoyed myself studying in another country so much that I will be starting a double masters at Peking University in Beijing and the London School of Economics in International Affairs.

I have enjoyed working at the Chicago Cultural Alliance immensely because I am able to learn about the numerous ethnic communities in Chicago and how they have joined to form museums and the Alliance. It has been especially interesting to see how the economic downturn is affecting the communities in Chicago, when the larger media mainly ignores this subject.

While I did not know that much about social networking when I started this internship, I feel confident enough now to hold a workshop to instruct people on how use these sites more effectively. We continually hear about a generational difference in these communities, and social networking is just one way to try to reach out to the younger generations.

My work on the Talking Im/migration includes attending a very interesting workshop on telling immigrant stories, and a lot of work with Rebeccah and Mario and Rosa at The Field Museum.

I have learned a lot about working in a non-profit, and working with the many different ethnic communities in Chicago. I will be sad to go!

Immigration Storytelling Workshop

On Monday, May 11, 2009 a group gathered in the basement of the Cambodian American Heritage Museum to discuss immigrant stories in a workshop hosted by the Chicago Cultural Alliance and the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University. The Medill School of Journalism was recently awarded a grant from the Carnegie Foundation to start a collection of immigrant stories to be placed on Immigrant Connect Chicago.

The workshop, run by Jack Doppelt, a professor at the Medill, focused on teaching the participants the core questions and interview techniques required to draw out the stories that everyone has about immigration or migration. With the assistance of some written prompts, the group divided into partners and began to tell each other their stories, or the stories of someone they knew. The results were astounding; when given the task of reporting on other people's story, everyone was able to relate the story of their partner in great detail.

With the knowledge of how to start asking the questions that can facilitate dialogue about an individual's immigration experience, this workshop was timed to occur one week before the Talking about Im/migration facilitator training workshop at The Field Museum. These skills will be expanded during the day-long session on Monday, May 18 2009 and over the next few months.

The Immigrant Connect Chicago program is an online forum, where people can write their own stories or contact a member/student of the university program to assist them with writing their story. The ultimate purpose of this program is to bridge immigrant groups and cross ethnic and generational lines within communities. Their goal can in many ways be assisted by the Alliance, and makes the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University an ideal partner organization. For further information on sharing your own, or someone else's immigration story, you can can contact Professor Doppelt and his students at contact@immigrantconnect.org.