“ I learned so much about my grandparents, and I felt a renewed sense of pride for my family”
Audrey Shen, an undergraduate at BU, was assigned to conduct an interview with a migrant for her Introduction to Sociocultural Anthropology class last semester. Below is her essay, which documents her conversation with her grandfather, Dr. Shen.
For my assignment, I chose to interview my paternal grandfather to learn about my grandparents’ experience with migration. I have always heard bits and pieces of their migration story growing up, but I never fully understood it. I chose my grandparents because they are a part of my history and I wanted to know more about my family’s past. I specifically chose my paternal grandfather because he is a great storyteller and is passionate about our family’s history. Through this assignment, I learned much more about my grandparents and the hardships they went through while immigrating to the United States.
My grandfather grew up in Taiwan with many siblings. He eventually married my grandmother and soon after had a son, my father, and later a daughter. In 1966, my grandfather, who was 28 years old, moved to the US to earn his PhD. He originally did not want to go, since this would entail leaving his pregnant wife behind, but my grandmother convinced him that it was best. He believed that moving to the US would provide more opportunities for his family, and he could get a better education and therefore a better job. However, education and economics were not the sole reasons that he moved: it was also political. At that time, Taiwan was under a dictatorship, and my grandfather wanted to move to the US for freedom and democracy.
When he arrived, he had about $200 cash, a few suitcases, and a one-way ticket paid for by his father. He spoke little English, but he could read and write well. My grandfather was able to attend school on a scholarship. Through the scholarship, he was awarded $200 every month, and he forced himself to save $20 monthly so that he could eventually bring the rest of his family to the US. This period of his life was very hard for my grandfather, as he had to survive on very little and go to school simultaneously. Sometimes, he would send $60 back home to my grandmother who was working odd jobs with two children.
When asked about the most difficult part about moving to the US, instead of learning English, going to school, or not knowing anybody, he said that the most trying aspect was the homesickness. He had to leave all of his family behind and had no friends in a foreign country. In fact, my grandfather would write letters to my grandmother every day after school because they could not afford a telephone. He also contacted his father on holidays and would send back a few gifts. Eventually in 1968, two years after my grandfather arrived, he had enough money to buy tickets for my grandmother and her children to move to the US. During this reunion, my grandfather met his daughter for the first time and saw my father for the first time since he was 10 months old. Out of all the relatives on my father’s side, only my grandparents came to the US; all my grandfather’s and grandmother's siblings stayed behind. I think that my grandmother summarized their experience best when she said, “every penny counts.”
Because the line between “economic migrant” and “refugee” is blurred, I would broadly consider my grandparents to be both of these terms. My grandfather moved to the US to pursue a better education and therefore greater economic return in the long run, constituting an economic migrant. However, he also is a refugee as he disagreed with the political opinion at the time in Taiwan and feared for the future of his family. The definition of a refugee is “any person who, owing to a well-founded fear of being persecuted for reasons of race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group or political opinion, is outside the country of his/ her nationality and is unable, or owing to such fear, is unwilling to avail himself/ herself of the protection of that country,” as determined by the Geneva Convention in 1951. My grandfather was against a dictatorship because he is very independent and ideological. He knew that if he remained in Taiwan, he would not and could not keep his family safe. Because he feared for his family since he disagreed with the dominant political opinion in Taiwan, he constitutes a refugee as well. There were many push and pull factors involved in my grandfather's decision to immigrate to the US alone. He felt pushed from Taiwan because of the political instability, poverty, and lack of opportunities. He felt pulled to the US because of the freedom, education and job prospects, and safety plus stability.
Around 1978, ten years after my grandmother moved to the US, they saved enough money to visit family in Taiwan. This shows how my grandparents still had ties to Taiwan and their immigration to the US did not completely sever their connection to their native country.
This assignment was particularly interesting for me because I have not needed to interview someone before. As an interviewer, I learned that the best thing to do is to just listen. If there was a lull in the conversation, I would ask a question and my grandfather would discuss it for a while, naturally leading to another topic. I also learned that discussing someone's past, especially something as emotional and deep as immgration, can be very emotional for the interviewee. I observed my grandfather becoming emotional, especially when he discussed leaving my grandmother. If I were to do another migration interview, I would pose broader questions so the interviewee could talk more and would have more room to answer questions naturally. I found this assignment fun and influential because I learned so much about my grandparents, and I felt a renewed sense of pride for my family.
Interviewed & Written by Audrey Shen
Edited by Madeline Humphery
