For this Race and Oral History class I was looking forward to doing hands on community work but unfortunately due to the pandemic the class had to be done remotely. Despite the circumstance, this course allowed us to utilize academia in a way that works alongside local communities and learning how to be a critical historian- all which are drawn from the history and ethnic studies department here at UCSD.
Providing space to community members, group members, and interviewees allowed us to work collectively and put the mission at the forefront. My group and I worked with the Refugee Teaching Institute and a lot of our work revolved around doing ethnic studies research, drafting workshops, and creating a survey. Our group members brought different knowledge and strengths and by combining our ideas we were able to get a lot of work done.
For community work some expectations that I do want to highlight is that sometimes the work may not be easy and sometimes initial expectations and plans may change. I did not take this class to necessarily focus on letter grade but rather to develop personal development, understanding of social justice, and understanding of my individual and collective responsibility to aide in development of local communities.
– Buffest Woman Alive
