When I took an anthropology course on language and culture this semester, I wasn’t expecting to have to write an ethnographic portrait, or a report on a person or subject. For this class, the goal was to interview an older relative about their life while focusing on language and culture. Then, we had to write the paper about their responses using research. I am not going to focus on the paper; I am going to focus on the interview.
I chose to interview my grandpa, who was born in 1936. Going into the interview, I was unsure of what to expect. I knew I would learn a lot about my grandpa’s life, but what I got out of it was so much more than that—I felt like I was so much closer to him than ever before.
Doing this interview has helped me realize that people of all ages need to listen to their older relatives. Most of them probably want to share their memories. It’s not only an incredible experience for you to learn, but it’s amazing for them since they are able to reminisce about their lives.
In my class, I watched a Ted Talk from Dave Isay on StoryCorps. During the Ted Talk, Isay reveals how much talking to his father, who is gay, meant to him. He stresses the importance of listening to stories. He then developed StoryCorps to preserve and share all recorded conversations. Isay’s goal is to let everyone be heard, and that is something we all need to strive for in the word today.
Although Isay wants people to talk with anyone—and I agree with this sentiment too—my personal experience of talking to my grandpa made the interview much more special. Talking to someone and learning about the history of your family shows the influences that you may have not noticed which are present in your own life.
Even if you do not have the opportunity to do a full, recorded interview, sitting down for five minutes and asking any kind of question about any topic will make you and your relative feel extremely connected.
Listen to your family. Learn something about their lives. Maybe, you will even learn something about yourself.
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