Places + people
I’m beginning in communities where personal and family connections can help me learn about people’s lives and the histories they share.
A mountain town where wartime memories and emigration remain part of family life, and where local stories are being collected for future generations.
A planned chapter on family life and work in a country shaped by colonization and migration.
My wife’s family has roots in Cesuna, and I have connections in Mauritius as well. Those relationships make it possible to begin with people who can help me understand the place and introduce me to others.
I’m looking for people who know their communities well and are willing to talk about what they have experienced. That could be someone who has collected local history for years, a family whose relatives emigrated, or a younger person deciding which traditions to continue.
Cesuna and Mauritius have very different histories. The questions I bring to each place will be similar, but the chapters will follow the experiences people describe there.
I’m interested in how those larger histories affected daily life. How did families stay in touch after someone left? What changed about work or raising children? What did one generation teach the next about managing those changes?
People can remember the same period differently, and a lesson can change as it moves through a family. Speaking with people of different ages will help me understand both what was passed down and how it is used today.
The book will include personal experience alongside family stories and local records. Photographs will show the people and places connected to those accounts.
I’ll add places as the work develops and new introductions make sustained conversations possible. Each chapter needs enough time for interviews, photography, and checking the history behind what I’ve heard.