Fall 2020 Grant Cycle

“The Argentine Diaspora Oral History Project”

Grantee: Delia Pamela Fuentes Korban, Ph.D., Lecturer of Spanish and Italian, Modern Languages and Literatures, College of Arts and Sciences

Featured Collection: Special Collections

Research Statement: Documenting the Argentine Diaspora and the Argentine-American experience is an oral history project that would contribute to the Oral Histories Collection housed under the Special Collections Department at the University of Miami Libraries. The project aims to make an underrepresented community visible and record the migration histories of Argentine and Argentine-Americans who migrated to South Florida. During the 1990s and after the Argentine economic crisis of 2001, many settled in North Miami – in an area known as “Little Buenos Aires.” The Argentine-American community contributes to the diversification of Miami’s vibrant socio-linguistic-and-cultural landscape.

Funds from the CREATE grant will be used primarily to conduct, transcribe, translate, and document interviews with the Argentine-American community members. These interviews will be included in the UM Libraries’ Oral Histories Collection and made available through an interactive website. Other CREATE funds will be allocated to invite Argentine American artists (performers, musicians, writers) to present their work in a mini-lecture series, featuring how their work explores the cultural exchanges between the US and Argentina. This series will advance the inclusion of the Argentine American experience to our UM community.

Moreover, this project will serve as a foundation for an undergraduate course (Spring 2022) in which students will discuss immigration, displacement, cultural heritage, and belonging.

Oral history is a significant resource to learn about memory, community, traditions, and language. Therefore, students will engage in ethnographic practices conducting interviews and managing a storytelling project that will be showcased at the end of the semester and expand this oral history project.

Amount Awarded: $9,000

Featured Material
Website: https://www.argentinediaspora.com/