Cali and I have finally decided to try to reach out to the Somali population that is concentrated in the Lewiston/Auburn area in Maine. The planning is starting in earnest now so things are beginning to roll into motion. We have begun a draft document of our interview questions. It is really important to both of us that we allow the interviewees to be able to share what they think is important, and so our questions are rather broad and open ended. This should allow for us to follow up when interesting ideas and stories surface so each interview we do is completely unique. To learn more about how Cali is preparing, her blog can be found here.
Great first draft! I particularly like the general chronological ordering of the questions, whereas the outline of the interview moves logically through the life and experiences of your narrator. In addition, I really appreciate the question at the end, the one asking if the interviewee has anything she/he would like to add. I believe this empowers the narrator by giving her/him more control over the final overall narrative. My only suggestion would be to add a question about the migrant’s experience of finding and fitting into the established Somali community in Maine.
I think it’s really great that you ask what the person would improve about the community. Migrants opinions regarding their adopted homes are often undervalued, so this a really great question and I’m interested to see what sort of ideas and input they have!