MAKING AÂ FOND MEMORYÂ STICK
Reminiscing community and heritage
OVERVIEW
“Making a fond memory stick” project aims to explore the reasons for people to be a part of “Growing up in East London” Facebook page. This Fb page is a window to the lives and experiences of the group members growing up in this neighbourhood during 1950s to 1980s. They discuss the physical changes in the area with new builds and demolished buildings, they reminisce the long lost childhood haunts and social events but at the same time they are happy to get in touch with people they had lost contact with. These multiple shared experiences of people and places, heritage and community, invoked a deeper interest to research and find the reasons for the group members to join this group. I wanted to understand what neighbourhood means to this vibrant group of people who are members of this Facebook page and have these people, who are spread all over the world, recreated the neighbourhood that they cherished through digital means?
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I ground my observations on how the group members and my five participants are posting photos, commenting on them, recalling and remembering the past events and narrating the fond memories. In the beginning of the project, I intended to categorise my findings in two broad themes- community and heritage, but as I progressed in my research with my participants, there was a blurring of boundaries between heritage and community in their narratives. As one of my participants Suzanne said, "Heritage is what you inherit from your parents, the environment you grew up in, the historical values; the Valentine Park is part of my heritage as is good neighbourliness." So I have chosen to go by the narratives of my participants rather than strictly defining themes and consider heritage and community to go hand in hand, enmeshed with neighbourhood.
RESEARCH QUESTIONS
What are the reasons for people to be a part of this Facebook group?
Do people consider this Facebook page as a neighbourhood?
FIELDSITE
While finalising on the field site for "London Neighbourhood"project, I had to restrict my search for fieldsite to online platforms due to the Covid norms. During this search I came across a private Facebook (Fb) group that is for people who grew up in the East London area in the 50s to the 80s. I finalised on this Fb page as my field site and contacted the administrators of this Fb group to introduce myself and explain the project. As a result, the administrator added me to the group so that I could introduce myself to the whole group, ask for voluntary participation and obtain the requisite consents to proceed with my project work.
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"Growing up in East London" Fb page was started in 2009 with the aim to reconnect with childhood friends and memories. It has grown strong with time and currently has 16.3k members. More than 500 new members have been added since I joined this group in Jan'21. This Fb page’s concept of neighbourhood is endearing as this geographical location is the place where the group members grew up (a few have since moved out of the area), but now this Fb page is the place where they come together to share their experience of growing up in this neighbourhood. They discuss about history and traditions of the place, something they consider as their heritage, by posting what they did, what places they went to, what was it like to be in the 50s to 80s.They use photographs and comments to relive the past and this shared past is what binds them together today as a community and a neighbourhood.
METHODOLOGY
Participant Observation: I undertook participant observation by being a part of the FB page. During this time, I analysed the posts and discussions on the Fb group and focused on the themes and types of daily interactions within the group members. I started conversations and posted questions on the forum and participated in the group discussions.
Semi-structured Interviews: I conducted multiple interviews with each of my five participants over phone and WhatsApp calls lasting 15-45 minutes each.
Questionnaires: During the course of my research, I mailed questionnaires to the participants to seek answers and clarifications.
One to one conversations with the participants on the Fb messenger, WhatsApp messages, e-mail exchanges and phone calls.
PARTICIPANTS
Mick is an “East London” raised retired psychiatric nurse, author and freelance writer specialising in sport, genealogy and history. He is an ardent Spurs fan who now lives in Yorkshire. He joined this Facebook group to reminisce about the neighbourhood that is a big part of his life and family history.
Ariel is 70 years young and currently lives in Basildon. She lived in “East London” neighbourhood till 1973, went to Beal Grammar school and is a part of Redbridge youth orchestra veterans. She volunteers for various charities, is a Zumba enthusiast and loves gardening. She joined this Fb page to share memories and to be reminded of places and events that she had forgotten about. She tries to get in contact with people she had lost touch with through this Fb page.
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Raul is a South Africa born, 65 year young male who lived in this neighbourhood between 1961-1999. He has been the administrator of this Fb group since 7 years and is a part of only nine different groups on Facebook that are cheeky and irreverent . His favourite topic to discuss on this Fb page has been to relive and share the memories of youth and his aim is to reunite people on this Fb page when they haven’t seen each other for many years.
Suzanne is a 69 years young living in Cape Town, South Africa. She left this “East London” neighbourhood in 1980 and emigrated to SA where she has lived ever since. She is a cancer survivor who looks towards the future and all the wonderful opportunities open to her in years to come. However, when she looks back at her childhood in “East London” it is always with a great sense of nostalgia and many happy memories of a safe and secure environment. “One's early life is pivotal to their development and my parents, schools, youth club and friends have all contributed to the person who is” Suzanne. She is a part of this Facebook group to relive happy memories of a bygone era.
Alice is a vivacious, witty, retired professional currently living in Dorset. She left the “East London” neighbourhood after her marriage in 1970. She joined this Fb group around seven years back, mainly to reminisce. She enjoys being reminded of places and things that she had forgotten and connecting with the past.
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