Dr. Alexander Freund
WINNIPEG, MB – There are an estimated 15.4 million refugees in the world today. Canada annually takes in one out of every 10, through the government-assisted and privately sponsored refugee programs. Since 2000, Manitoba has welcomed about 15,000 refugees – and more per capita than any other province or territory in Canada. Dr. Alexander Freund (University of Winnipeg’s Oral History Centre and Chair in German-Canadian Studies) and Allison Penner have received a $7,000.00 Manitoba Heritage Grant to document the experiences of recent refugees in Winnipeg.
“We want to create a digital oral history archive to be part of UWinnipeg’s Oral History Centre,” explained Freund. “We want to encourage all recent refugee groups to participate. We want to build a richer more inclusive archive on the refugee experience in Winnipeg.”
While some interviews will be conducted in English, others will be conducted in the narrators’ first language and then translated. In addition to the lengthy oral histories, participants can also choose to create a short video – a so-called digital story – or a podcast about an important part of their lives. They will receive training in audio- and video-recording, interviewing, transcribing, story-writing, story-boarding, and audio and video editing. If they wish, participants can make their stories public on the Oral History Centre’s website.
In the past the two have worked with young people from Afghanistan, a small group of Karen from Burma and several Latin American groups. The project is part of a larger study on the history of refugees in Manitoba since 1945 that Freund began in 2011 with the help of a Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council grant.
