CCPS Lecture. Polish Diaspora Identities in Archival Home Movies

In this talk, Zborowska will examine home movies and related oral histories as sources for studying the transformation of the Polish-American diaspora. Her project “Critical Archives of Ordinariness: Vernacular Moving Image Practices and Migrant Identity in Polish Chicago” juxtaposes home movies — “ordinary” motion pictures created for family and close friends — with interviews with their creators to uncover the “not-so-ordinary” capabilities of this underused data source for studying and empowering underrepresented groups. Zborowska’s work shows how analogue home movies offer a unique insight into the lives of individuals and families, as well as the experience of migration, adaptation to new environments, and changing lifestyles, habits, values, and norms.
Agata Zborowska is a cultural historian with research interests at the intersection of material and visual cultures, property relations, and critical archival studies. Her project “Critical Archives of Ordinariness: Vernacular Moving Image Practices and Migrant Identity in Polish Chicago” investigates pre-digital era home movies and related oral histories to challenge and broaden our understanding of evolving migrant and diaspora identities. As a Chicago Film Archives scholar in residence, she works on the Polish diaspora film collection to increase community access to archival material. Her research has been supported by the European Commission, Kosciuszko Foundation, Franke Institute for Humanities at the University of Chicago, Al Larvick Conservation Fund, and Polish National Science Centre.

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