Ready, Foss collaborate on research of Oklahoma’s Latinx people
Friday, September 6, 2024
Media Contact: Elizabeth Gosney | CAS Marketing and Communications Manager | 405-744-7497 | egosney@okstate.edu
Dr. Sarah Foss, assistant professor in the Department of History, and Dr. Carol Ready, assistant professor of Spanish and linguistics in the Department of Languages and Literatures, are working together on research projects to create an archive of the history and linguistic diversity of Latinx communities in Oklahoma.
The collaboration started when Foss assisted graduate student Jorge Chávez with collecting oral histories from the Mexican American community in south Oklahoma City for his master’s research.
“Working with Jorge, I realized that there was a need for archival representation of people who identify in Oklahoma’s Latinx community. So, we began working in 2020 with Sarah Milligan and Patrick Daglaris in the Oklahoma Oral History Research Program,” Foss said.
In 2021, Foss received a Humanities-, Arts-, and Design-Based Disciplines (HAD) Grant through the College of Arts and Sciences to start recording Latinx community histories. Her group now has about 30 completed. That same year was also when Ready and Foss met. Ready helped Foss conduct several interviews for her research, which sparked a curiosity for Ready’s own research project. Ready then applied for and received a HAD Grant, which she is now using to build off of the open access aspect of Foss’ archival project.
“I’m looking at and including some surveys and questionnaires about language use,” Ready said. “I want to understand more broadly how languages are used in Spanish-speaking communities in Oklahoma to support their linguistic knowledge and support their language and human rights.”
Ready is also interested in language policy and how linguistic research can affect it, which can affect practice and education policy more broadly. More specifically, she is hoping to make an impact at the policy level for the Oklahoma State Legislature.
Ready conducted her interviews and collected data this summer in rural Oklahoma communities, specifically focusing on Guymon. Ready’s HAD Grant has allowed graduate researcher Ryan Nicklas — an applied linguistics student — to research Spanish for specific purposes in the United States while assisting Ready.
Ready and Foss have also involved undergraduates Alexandra Williams, Nadia Valles, Sury Yañez and Stephanie Landaverde in their research, adding that the students have been crucial contributors to the projects.
“This project would not be running as quickly and smoothly without the work [of our students] and their ideas, opinions and efforts. It has been a wonderful collaborative experience,” Foss said.
Ready and Foss share an appreciation for the generosity of community members by distributing their knowledge and practices. The professors expressed the importance of avoiding extractive research practices by prioritizing the needs and goals of the Latinx community.
“It’s a challenge and opportunity every time you do research with people where your main focus is to highlight and value the knowledge, skills and practices of the communities,” Ready said. “This project is meant to exist to support and benefit the community rather than trying to impose some sort of idea of how things should be.”
The archives will be published in fall 2024, available through the Oklahoma Oral History Research Program (OOHRP) webpage. Ready and Foss hope the archive will continue growing as other researchers contribute and utilize it as a resource.
Story by: Allie Putman | CONNECT magazine