Director's Welcome

Ver esta página en español

Welcome to the Institute of Oral History at UTEP, the premier repository for oral histories related to the U.S.-Mexico border. We are a unique bilingual, bicultural, and borderlands institute with a long history of caring for the histories of our communities. Established in 1972, the Institute of Oral History (IOH) is home to over 1,600 oral histories and 20,000 pages of transcripts that tell the story of this border region spanning more than a century. Our collection tells the fascinating history of El Paso and Ciudad Juárez through the memories and words of the people who lived it. From the region’s early economic and urban growth, through the upheaval of the Mexican Revolution, the crisis of the Great Depression, World War II, and the Bracero Program, to the Chicano Movement and more current issues, such as the fight to save Barrio Duranguito, this rich story unfolds through our collection.

In our bilingual, bicultural collection, you can hear and read the words of people from all walks of life. In the coming years, we hope to expand our reach and include the histories of Latina/o/e communities across the city, with special attention to the histories of linguistic diversity and healthcare experiences. We also hope to provide you with new ways of accessing our collection. Stay tuned!

I am a fronteriza who grew up in Matamoros, México. My family and I also lived for a year in Juárez, México, when I was in elementary school. I began working in oral history in 2014 as a result of a service-learning course that prepared students to work with Latina/o/e communities in Ohio. I quickly realized the impact this work had on my students and on myself as we learned together to listen deeply to the stories of the community and, for me personally, to listen to people who, like me, were living in Ohio. I have collected over 160 video narratives, and the stories and experiences of these narrators became the foundation of the Oral Narratives of Latin@s in Ohio project. These narrators, and the students who recorded oral histories, have been an inspiration to me and are the reason I fell in love with this field.

I am an interdisciplinary scholar with a background in Spanish Language and Latina/o/e Studies, Latina/o/e and Latin American Literature, and community-engaged scholarship. I find that this interdisciplinary lens allows me to see the different ways in which oral history is impacting the fields of history, Spanish language studies, performance, public health and many others. I am excited to bring these experiences to IOH and UTEP and to share the various ways this methodology can inform our research and scholarship. I look forward to working with students, faculty, and the community to continue documenting the stories and histories of our communities.

Dra. Elena Foulis