| Project Narrative (from Ozbun Award proposal) | From 1930 to 1990 most country towns in North Dakota suffered out-migration trends that were not merely matters of net loss; they were matters of absolute loss, that is, people departed, and virtually none arrived. Demographically and economically this was damaging, but the psychological effect was worse. It was demoralizing, leading to a habitually dispirited attitude (documented by the research of NDSU social scientists) that stifled attempts at community development. Recent research by NDSU demographers and agricultural economists, however, confirms my own impressions, formed through personal contact, about new trends in small towns. There has been a remarkable development in the past fifteen years, such that now, every country town has newcomers. Some of them are returning to their regional roots, but many are newcomers in the truest sense, people who have come to North Dakota for reasons that are obscure to us, but obviously vital to them. Frequently I have remarked in public meetings, "Drop me into any town of 500 population in this state, and I'll find you somebody from California"--and I have never been proven wrong. As my experience with many community development efforts (including the Horizons program and others sponsored by NDSU Extension) confirms, the newcomers are particularly active and interested in the affairs of their new home towns. They are essential elements in any hope for community renewal in our small towns. We need to know more about the newcomers. Their experience, gathered and shared, can help us brand and market North Dakota in the coming generation. We might proceed to find out about them in various ways--survey research, focus groups, and other techniques of social science. Some of this work has been done. The premise of this proposal, however, is that the methods and perspectives of the humanities are of most value in understanding the newcomers and using their experience for the greater good of North Dakota. What distinguishes the humanities is the gathering and analysis of texts, that is, stories. The newcomers have stories. I propose to gather and analyze them for themes, schema, and plotlines that not only will help us understand their experience but also will tell us how to encourage continued and increased in-migration by these most desirable immigrants. Here, in brief, is the plan.
- Identify a set of informants in country towns distributed across the state--newcomers to be interviewed, asked to tell their stories in their own terms.
- Collect fifty newcomer narratives, using the best practice of oral history such as we have cultivated in other projects here at NDSU; we have the experience, expertise, and equipment to do this, and interviews will be cataloged into the collections of the Institute for Regional Studies.
- Analyze the narratives for common elements and convert the analysis into useful guidance for community leaders and community developers across the state. Analysts (humanities scholars): Tom Isern, History; Charles Okigbo, Communication; and John Helgeland, Religious Studies. Deliverables to include: a summary bulletin to be published and distributed by the Center for Heritage Renewal; a comprehensive website presenting the experiences of newcomers and touting their potential for community renewal; training materials for community developers, including NDSU staff; and scholarly papers to be presented at professional meetings and published in scholarly journals.
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