For this assignment, you will have the opportunity to write about your own immigrant or indigenous experience. You may focus on yourself, a family member, or a member of the community. The essay will be shaped as a personal narrative, and you may incorporate interviews as well as other supplemental/outside sources.
The assignment asks you to recognize storytelling as a vital part of culture and
to reflect on the realm of immigrant and indigenous experiences. Writing about your own journey or that of someone close to you can be a powerful way to explore identity and family, come to terms with losses and gains, and as a means to empower yourself and others.
The assignment encourages you to develop a distinçt voice that would appeal to a general reader. Your narrative should
• Draw on concrete language and selected evocative details to present a scene(s) related to immigration (or migration) and its related themes discussed in class. You should tell a story as a means to explore a theme.
• Develop a controlling idea (thesis) and draw attention to narrative elements including plot, setting, character, and voice.
•Employ rhetorical and stylistic techniques to inform, compel, and affect readers.
• The genre is a non-fiction essay and should draw upon elements of story-telling and the genres of autobiography, biography, and memoir.
• Your perspective (point of view) is as a participant or observer. You do not have to be the main character but can include yourself as a character, or develop a third-person perspective where you remain outside the narrative you are describing. If you can’t think of a family member to focus on, consider interviewing someone outside your family to learn their story.
• You may take creative liberties as you see fit, and if you desire, fictionalize the events and people for a short story, rather than a personal essay. (If this is vour intent make sure a reader knows that your work is fiction, rather than a memoir or biography.)The assignment encourages you to develop a distinçt voice that would appeal to a general reader. Your narrative should
• Draw on concrete language and selected evocative details to present a scene(s) related to immigration (or migration) and its related themes discussed in class. You should tell a story as a means to explore a theme.
• Develop a controlling idea (thesis) and draw attention to narrative elements including plot, setting, character, and voice.
•Employ rhetorical and stylistic techniques to inform, compel, and affect readers.
• The genre is a non-fiction essay and should draw upon elements of story-telling and the genres of autobiography, biography, and memoir.
• Your perspective (point of view) is as a participant or observer. You do not have to be the main character but can include yourself as a character, or develop a third-person perspective where you remain outside the narrative you are describing. If you can’t think of a family member to focus on, consider interviewing someone outside your family to learn their story.
• You may take creative liberties as you see fit, and if you desire, fictionalize the events and people for a short story, rather than a personal essay. (If this is vour intent make sure a reader knows that your work is fiction, rather than a memoir or biography.)
• Use interviews as needed, and search for sources including artifacts that might be important to you or your family’s experience. You may want to investigate a family story (such as how your relatives came to this country) or explore venues like ancestry.com and other archives for cultural information and migration trends.
• Narrow to one event or theme, or preset interconnected scenes. Before you start, reflect on what you learned or gained from the experience (whether it’s your own or a family member’s). What meaning does this story have for you; why is it worth sharing?
Examples of Personal Narratives include “The Cossacks of Connecticut” by Daniel Asa Rose and Kilii Yuyan’s video describing a whale hunt (supplement in
Dive Deeper Week 3), as well as Sarah Vowel’s audio podcast tracing her ancestor’s journey on the Trail of Tears.
The suggested length is four pages. Multimedia elements (such as photos or other images (like maps) are encouraged, but not required. Please give captions and source information for any images embedded into the text.
-was born in Haiti
-family of farmers, owning 8 lands of different crops
-first generation coming to America it was a struggle, especially being Haitian and Dominican
-coming to America for a better life
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