MARCH 27th, 2016
A lot has happened over Spring Break with regards to my project. I didn’t end up contacting Raphael Tshibangu because I couldn’t find any contact information about him both online via Google and through the alumni network. From that, I would assume that perhaps he doesn’t want to be contact by Amherst which is definitely something to keep in mind as I begin my interviews with the names of the alums that the alumni office gave me. The office was pretty helpful giving me a few names of people who I could interview, people who were most likely to be willing to answer questions I have about their time at Amherst. This list was compiled according to the role that these alums played in Amherst, post-graduation – like attending reunion, the Office said, but I’m also certain that it could mean some financial contributions to the school too. It was also compiled according to those alums whose current address was somewhere on the African continent. Obviously not everyone living in Africa is African but there was really no other way of getting names of alums. Someone like me, who is a US citizen, living in the US, would not be on the Office’s database of possible African contacts.
Anyway, over break I had two Skype interviews with two alums – both South Africans actually, which wasn’t on purpose. I’m still not sure what to make of those interviews because, if anything, they seemed to simply the African influence on the black experience, almost like they were downplaying it. And it makes me wonder, what was the context of their years at Amherst, like, what was going on? If there was absolutely no conflict between these two inseparable but distinct identities, what made that possible? I’m also trying to be really cautious about not generalizing two people’s experiences to everyone’s experience. However, since they were both South African, they made me think about how the South African experience may compare to another African’s experience… It’s something I’ve always thought about, so I’m glad one of the interviewees brought it up. Perhaps, after a few more interviews, I can reflect on this point in some sort of final reflection.
-DMM