AMIA 2024

This presentation looks at vernacular moving image practices and related oral histories as sources for studying the transformation of the diaspora’s identity through a case study of the Not-So-Ordinary project on home movies and Polish Chicago. The research project is conducted by Agata Zborowska (University of Chicago/KU Leuven) in partnership with Chicago Film Archives. In the presentation, I will discuss the preliminary results of the project that aims to contextualize films and videos through oral histories and explore the media’s potential to evoke memories and narrativize one’s experience. The presented case study is an example of how to analyze not only the movies’ content and aesthetics but also the practices related to their creation, viewing, sharing, and their role in the lives of individuals, families, and communities.