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Category: Oral History

A man playing a guitar and singing to a close crowd of a dozen or so men and women

‘We have our own long history and culture’: Listening to Taissa Decyk, Ukrainian American Artist

Posted by: Michelle Stefano

“Now, this tablecloth,” Taissa Decyk says, “I was in a camp expecting my first child, who is now thirty-one, when I made this tablecloth.” In September 1979, Mrs. Taissa Decyk was interviewed in her Providence home about her extensive knowledge of Ukrainian embroidery traditions. Conducted by folklorist Geraldine Niva Johnson, the interview was for the …

Posted in: Caught My Eye, Clothing, Crafts, Material Culture, Oral History, Textile arts, Textiles, Ukrainian Americans

A man playing a guitar and singing to a close crowd of a dozen or so men and women

On Remote Fieldwork and “Shifting Gears”

Posted by: Michelle Stefano

I find inspiration in anthropologist Ulf Hannerz’s characterization of ethnography as ‘the art of the possible’ and take from it the idea of doing the best with what you got. During this time when physical distancing is not only mandatory, but also compassionate, the ways in which we have tended to proceed in setting up …

Posted in: Fieldwork, Oral History