middle eastern oral history
Other
Oral History Project
Food serves a biological function for human beings, but it has evolved into being a significant medium for cultural expression; one that is laden with meanings critical to distinct identity formation, social bonding and a repository of memories. For this assignment, you will carry out an oral history research centered around a Middle Eastern culinary dish to explore the identity(ies), values and memories of a person or a family whose members immigrated to the US from the region of our focus. You will:
1. Conduct an interview with an individual of your choice from a Middle Eastern origin who is willing to:
-Host you while cooking a meal from his/her culture.
2. Keep a detailed log of the recipe [ingredients and steps].
3. Listen carefully to what they explain as very important in terms of techniques (advice in this domain
are typically shared generation after generation and thus often preserved for decades and sometimes centuries), steps, and ingredients to use (along with ways to determine the ingredients’ best quality).
4. Ask why? Gently excavate for the stories behind the dish and the memories that were formed around it.
-What memories do they have associated with :
-This dish
Ex: Is this a dish that is typically eaten at a special time of the year? Is it something quick and easy that a rushed family wiped quickly after a long day at work? Only in cold weather?
-Specific ingredients
Ex: The smell of basil, the texture of olives…etc.
– Reflect on the following: Does the interview provoke memories beyond the immediate ones pertaining to the dish? What are they? Who are the central figures in it? How are they expressive of identity of formation and values?
5. In 3 pages describe and discuss your experience, your findings, your feelings and the ideas such an
encounter provoked. Include a 4th page of pictures taken during the interview [only take pictures of the host if they agree] and the dish.
These are the requirement. Must be written professionally and please, don’t bid on it if you are going ask me downpayment first and ask me for more later on. I will retract downpayment and report you without execption. Bid on it only if you can do it within time frame.
