In an effort to highlight the ways in which the arts might inform our understanding of the current global refugee crisis, we have organized a reading and discussion with Mikhail Shishkin, one of Russia’s best living writers, at Swarthmore on April 25. While the refugees portrayed in his novel Maidenhair may not be “real,” they are based on his own encounters with migrants when he worked as an interpreter at the Swiss border, and he conveys their traumas, struggles, and daily existence in ways that have resonated strongly with readers around the globe.
 
To support a process of reflection, we have created a web page on which we hope to collect and highlight the rich diversity of heritages of our community.  We invite you to speak about a migration experience, your own, or that of a parent, grandparents, friends, partner etc. What does migration mean to you? We seek to celebrate the dynamic, transglobal nature of our community with stories on any kind of migration. We also hope to highlight the value of storytelling when exploring our shared human experience beyond national borders.

The stories should be relatively short. We suggest focusing on an aspect, a moment, a place, a memory involving migration from your life or that of someone close to you. For example, if I were telling a story about my great-grandmother I might begin the story about the teapot I inherited and the stories my grandmother told me about her.  

Some thoughts that might guide you in telling your story:

- Think about audience. Who are you telling the story to?
- Where did this happen?
- When did this happen?
- To whom?
- What circumstances lead to or were in motion when this happened?
- Why do you remember this?
- What impact did (or does) this event, or memory have?
- Does this story inform your thoughts about migration?

For oral stories we will have recording equipment available before and after the Shishkin Event.  If you would like more time (or would feel more comfortable) feel free to arrange a time to record your story with Michael Jones (mjones1@swarthmore.edu), or John Word (jword1@swarthmore.edu).