Session Abstract

This roundtable features scholars of color—at various stages in their careers—who are engaging in research that intimately involves the histories of their own families and ethnic communities. Some of the questions, provocations, or insights that this roundtable poses include: What are the challenges in writing about one's own community? Do scholars of color in particular bear a greater burden in writing about their own communities? If so, what is that burden? Do scholars of color who write about their own communities run a greater risk of having their objectivity challenged? Is there a role for self-reflexive subjectivity in the historical profession? All of the presenters have grappled with these questions in one way or another and will share their experiences in having to negotiate the murky boundaries between familial and community connection and objective historical inquiry. Each presenter will speak for about 10-15 minutes and the chair will turn it over to the audience for a larger discussion of the issues.