I recently revisited my application for this Fellowship to check in with myself, if I was indeed doing what I said I wanted to do. Sometimes it was easy to lose my bearings as I was knee deep in finding …
Coming out of our Silence
When Will We See Another Citizenship Act?
Reflections
On my visit to Temple’s Special Collections Research Center, I was hoping to find evidence of Indonesian immigration to Philadelphia in the Nationalities Services Center (NSC) archives, but instead I found the immigration stories of our colonizers.
This whole …
What I Wish I Could Find in the Archives
Looking into the archives, I continually had to steel myself about what I may find or may not find.
I went to the Temple Special Collections Research Center in the new Charles Library on Temple University’s campus to look …
Imagining Alternative Immigration Realities
As I research Indonesian immigration and the evolution of the concept of citizenship in the United States, I am looking at three time periods for my research: Pre-1965, 1965, and 1998 to today.
Early on, I knew that I wanted …
The American Dream
Most of the women were immigrants. The stories in the news were about them leaving their countries in search of better opportunities for their children. The classic immigrant story.
Their children talked about mothers who spent all their time working, …
Throughlines in Migration and Citizenship
I’ve been thinking about throughlines, threads, and what could be weaving our stories together. One of the unique joys of this project is being in fellowship with the other activist-curators. Our bi-weekly check-ins are grounding and illuminating.
Migrants
During our …
Migration Stories
Who gets to be a citizen in America?
How do you tell the story of people who have been erased?
How can we learn from previous acts of resistance by immigrant communities in Philadelphia?
These are some of the questions …