August 2020 – Voices of SMU

Sriya Reddy is a senior majoring in Journalism, Corporate Communications and Public Affairs, and History. She is a Research Assistant for Voices of SMU, Engagement Editor for the Daily Campus, and an intern for The Dallas Morning News

When I first joined the Voices of SMU team, I was a sophomore just beginning to dip my toes into research. I wanted to be a part of something that I am passionate about. The project was a perfect combination of everything I was interested in. I was ecstatic to be a part of documenting history and diversifying the SMU archives. After being a part of Voices of SMU for almost two years, my favorite part is simply listening to participant’s stories.

Voices of SMU has helped me develop my interviewing skills. As a journalism major, interviewing is a huge part of my career path. However, oral history delves deeper into interviews because we explore life histories. Each interview gives me an understanding of not only different perspectives on the SMU experience, but also the individual themselves. Here are some tips I’ve picked up over the last few years that have bettered my interviews.

1. Engage in conversation with them before (and after) the interview

I try not to jump straight into interviews. Especially as we transitioned to Zoom interviews, jumping straight in can be intimidating. Asking a few questions and making small talk lightens the mood and helps make both you and the interviewee more comfortable.

2. Explain the Purpose of the Interview

This is very important because it encourages the interviewee to share detailed stories. The purpose of Voices of SMU is to bring the perspective of alumni of color to the archives. Interviewees often apologize for talking a lot. However, if you let them know that we want to hear as much as they are willing to share, the interviewees will feel more at ease in telling their stories.

3. Use your questions as a guide not a script

For the Voices of SMU project, we have a standard set of questions that range from childhood to post-grad life. This list of questions is great and helps us, the interviewers, feel more prepared. We can even add to the list with personalized questions based on our research. Although the list is useful, it is not something interviewers have to stick to. Sometimes questions make more sense in a different order, or they answer multiple questions in one. It’s helpful to remember that your list of questions is not set in stone.

4. Embrace the silence after the participant’s response

Many interviewees take a few seconds to pause after they answer questions. This does not always mean that they are finished with their responses. Sometimes, they are gathering their thoughts or reliving memories. Giving them a few more seconds to finish their answer before you ask the next question can lead to great stories. Pay attention to body language to see if a participant is finished talking or simply thinking. When I am not sure, I count to three in my head just in case they want to say more.

5. Listen to them and ask follow up questions

A mistake I used to make a lot while interviewing was not listening. Instead I was focused on the next question on my list. After a while I learned that some of the best questions to ask are follow up questions. Asking about anything that needs further elaboration can take interviews to the next level.

6. Establish a timeline

Since Voices of SMU is a history project, establishing a timeline gives a lot of context to each interview. Experiences by themselves are great, but years can show historians the setting, which elevates every story. Asking questions like “Can you clarify what year that happened?” or “What years did you attend SMU?” not only helps the interviewer keep track of certain events, but also anyone who engages with the interview in the future.

7. Always end with “Is there anything that I missed that you want to discuss?”

Sometimes our questions don’t hit all the right spots, and that is okay. Asking this question gives an opportunity to the interviewee to bring up any more topics. You never know what extra answers you’ll get.

Laurence Lundy (Class of 2021) is a senior from Plano, Texas majoring in History and Journalism. He is a research assistant for Voices of SMU, a resident of the SMU Service House, and works with his fellow peer, Nia Kamau, in the Champions Mentorship Program, aiming to provide underprivileged youth with a firm foundation both spiritually and intellectually.

A saying I have heard throughout my life is that, “It takes a village to raise a child.” In the grand scheme of things, I believe that to be true. Children are shaped and molded by their experiences, and also by who teaches them and guides them. However, this is applicable to more than just people. Institutions, organizations, and colleges by their very definition generally require multiple people to pour into them and create the myriad of modern businesses, universities, and groups we know of today. Voices of SMU (VOSMU), considering I only joined the program in December of 2019, has taught me that and much more. Ultimately, it taught me to rein myself in because you simply cannot listen if you are too ready to scream. Additionally, you can never be ready to listen to an interviewee if you are ready to create your own answers. People are not puzzles with pre-defined parameters and one-size-fits-all questionnaires. They are individuals that deserve and require the full attention of whoever is talking to them so that their stories can be told. It takes a village to raise a child, and each child is a bastion of their own thoughts, conclusions, and reasons for why they feel as they do. To really engage with another person, you have to consistently make an effort to look outside of your own village and take a moment to see what helped comprise theirs.

I became a part of this project because of someone in my own village. I learned about VOSMU through Nia Kamau (my fellow classmate), who I was already working with in another program. And to be completely honest, it has been one of the most enlightening and simultaneously disheartening programs to take part in.

Laurence, Nia, and Camille attended the Black Excellence Ball in the beginning of 2020

My interview with Nariana Sands was one of the most interesting ones I had in light of what I believe about institutional villages. Throughout her time at SMU, she noticed when teachers seemed less willing to give her a fair share of attention or respect. I was compelled to find that implicit bias is not just something projected from the actions and thoughts of teachers, but students too. Her experiences, or at least that small snippet of her story, speak to the idea of the lone student of color, singled out simply because people have preconceived notions about communities of color. What was even more important was that she found that some students could be ignorant, while students of color were more intimately aware of such circumstances. If that divide is so palpable that an individual can describe it concisely, then how pervasive must it be for others? How many people have simply given up when faced with that invisible pressure? And ultimately how do we cross this invisible gap between people?

The adage of taking a village to raise a child should come with the corollary that some villages genuinely do not know how to raise children. Or perhaps the people that live there cannot be bothered to do it right. Either way, through my relatively short experience in VOSMU, I have seen how institutions and groups fail people. Of course, a Predominantly White Institution (PWI) like SMU is going to have imperfections and cracks in the perfectly paved sidewalks that all of its students must traverse. The most frustrating part is listening to those aggrieved by the university and fellow students/faculty they held faith in. When your school consistently has less than five percent black students across the whole body (in some cases decreasing to three percent or less), it becomes easy to see where systemic problems crop up. For me, what was most notable was how people responded to these situations. Some were resigned. They saw it as either an inevitable part of SMU culture, atmosphere, or overall social landscape. Others were angry, the mistreatment they had felt while on campus radiating off them even over video. It is strange to see and feel at times, that palpable sense that the experiences someone is relating to you might have irrevocably changed them in some form. Others still were happy, determined, and made a place all their own. They are not the same people that came to SMU, for good or ill. (And of course, for some there is no change at all). That is what really drives me when it comes to interviewing and making sure peoples’ perspectives get their fair share of airtime. The effects of imperfect systems leave behind stitched up wounds and scars unseen with the naked eye. Such structures additionally leave behind the spirits of people, through which the past and its status quo can become set. They surrender in their wake names, numbers, triumphs, and losses. Those are the kinds of things that make up a voice, and they are especially poignant in the voices of children who were left behind by their village.

People are not immune to the failures of those around them. The very concepts that bind us are products of dealing with and responding to the botches of our environment. We are kind not only to treat others as we wish to be, but to push back against hatred and division in our communities. Voices of SMU is a program that makes progress towards those ultimate ideals, for me at least. It is not saving people from burning buildings or creating cheap water purifiers. However, it does allow me and others to save the voices of other people. It allows us to observe and work to create bridges of understanding through which changes can be made and actions can be taken. Overall, individuals can feel heard in a way they may not be otherwise, and for that I will forever be thankful for the Voices of SMU project.

Interviewing Tips and Best Practices

Villages and People