Emma McAvoy (she/her) was born in Cleveland Ohio and grew up in San Francisco California.
With a double major from Williams College in Biology and History Emma was introduced to Oral History junior year though a month long project recording interviews with Estonians who had fled their home country during the waves of Soviet Union and Nazi occupation. Having previously traveled to Estonia, Emma was familiar with that country’s lesser-know history. The project was in partnership with the Estonia Institute of Historical Memory, a non profit organization dedicated to bringing to light the suppressed history of war crimes committed during Nazi and Soviet occupation of the Baltics.
It was fascinating to interview and record individual experiences that revealed larger historical forces and that without documentation might be suppressed and forgotten. Additional courses at Williams allowed Emma to add to an archive documenting the experiences of long-time residents of a neighboring, depressed Massachusetts’ mill town. A local college level project “Uncovering Williams” revealed the profound impact of past religious beliefs embedded in quotidian elements like architecture and in the world-altering impact of heavy involvement of Williams alumni in the colonization and annexation of Hawai’i.
Emma spent several years working in the world of public radio where she focused on finding and emphasizing local stories and voices from the Bay Area, from covering the last reunion of Alcatraz prisoners and guards to preserving the memories of elderly residents for the nonprofit archive My Life - My Story.
While in this program, Emma’s intended course of study will revolve around documenting the possible resurgence of labor unions in the United States and how this trend is both experienced and understood by workers (both organized and unorganized). In addition, Emma is looking to explore how including oral histories in primary and secondary education curriculums offers a wider and more in-depth presentation of information while also making learning more accessible to students with different styles of learning.
Outside of her academic work, Emma’s interests include printmaking, papier-mâché, taking urban “hikes,” and teaching herself Russian.