First Advisor

Kathyrn Comer

Date of Award

5-24-2019

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Bachelor of Arts (B.A.) in English and University Honors

Department

English

Subjects

Vanport (Or.) -- History, Narration (Rhetoric), Oral history, History -- Social aspects, Collective memory

DOI

10.15760/honors.743

Abstract

This thesis analyzes representations of the history of Vanport, Oregon, through the lens of narrative rhetoric. It examines two mainstream texts, one academic and one written for the general public, to establish a foundation for Vanport's dominant representation, before exploring how local nonprofit Vanport Mosaic works to revise that history through community voices. Histories of Vanport have largely focused on its success as a public housing project before the 1948 flood that destroyed the city. In these accounts, the experiences of the residents themselves, including the flood’s devastating effects on their community, were overlooked. This neglect inspired the oral history project of Vanport Mosaic, which uses digital media to provide both an alternative historical account of life in Vanport and to disrupt the normative power dynamics of who creates narratives in a way previously impossible. Taken together, these representations demonstrate the subtle erasure of community members’ voices in mainstream narratives, as well as the powerful potential of grassroots digital storytelling to complicate those accounts. This case study of Vanport documents contemporary efforts to revise dominant histories and enrich local communities, thereby contributing to future research and advocacy work.

Rights

In Copyright. URI: http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/ This Item is protected by copyright and/or related rights. You are free to use this Item in any way that is permitted by the copyright and related rights legislation that applies to your use. For other uses you need to obtain permission from the rights-holder(s).

Comments

An undergraduate honors thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Bachelor of Arts in University Honors and English and Communications.

Persistent Identifier

https://archives.pdx.edu/ds/psu/28909

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