During the spring 2020 transition to remote learning necessitated by the Covid-19 pandemic, the Oral History: the Art of the Interview classes were forced to abandon the planned interview projects During the three week interruption before classes resumed online, Associate Professor Erin McCarthy and Archives staff created Capturing Quarantine, a digital oral history project designed to document the student experience during the global pandemic.
The collection documents a frequently overlooked voice, that of the undergraduate student, and will be a valuable source for future study by those interested in learning about daily life during the pandemic from the student perspective.
Students interviewed each other, created biographical and interview abstract statements, and authored reflection pieces on the experience of the abrupt mid-semester switch and overall thoughts about the process and the pandemic.
This project resumed during the Fall 2020 semester, with additional interviews collected, as the college offered both remote and hybrid courses. As with the spring 2020 interviews, these fall interviews continue to capture the undergraduate student voice narrating their experiences during the Covid-19 pandemic.
Other oral history projects conducted by Dr. McCarthy's students in support of archival holdings:
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Interview with Snore Doumbia
Moises Camacho
Snore Doumbia was born in Oakland, California. Both of his parents are from Mali, West Africa and when he was about 1 years old, his family moved to Denver, Colorado. From his early life he knew he wanted to create films. His love for horror films grew into love for all films in middle school and strengthened even more during high school where he participated in various art projects and performed volunteer work.
Throughout high school, Snore joined as many clubs as possible to be active in the community. His love for art grew and after senior year he went through the challenge of scoliosis surgery, but with the unlimited support from his mother, he went on to attend Columbia College Chicago for film producing, where he is expected to graduate in the fall of 2020.