Archives of Mortality: Cariño as Method in Latinx Oral Histories and Digital Geographies on Year One of the COVID-19 Pandemic

Keywords: Latinx geographies, COVID-19 pandemic, Feminist methodologies
Abstract Type: Paper Abstract

Abstract

Dominant narratives have presented COVID-19 as a universal experience, further racializing laborers of color as “essential labor” (Obando, 2021). The experiences of Latinx communities have been mainly captured quantitatively, where reported cases and deaths show the disproportionate impact on Latinx communities in states, such as California and Texas. Our research project, “Archives of Mortality”, seeks to refute these dominant geographies by centering memory through oral histories and digital geographies that are comprehensive and holistic to the experiences of Latinx communities during the pandemic. Following scholarship that has called for geography’s engagement with Chicanx/Latinx feminisms and testimonio (Cahuas, 2021), we situate cariño as both a methodological and pedagogical tool that connects Latinx oral histories, testimonio, and geographic research. In Spanish, cariño is used as an affectionate term of tenderness and love for another person or community. Central to cariño is the recognition of relationality, collectivity, and social transformation in the production of knowledge as articulated in testimonio methodology (Cahuas, 2021). We have translated cariño as an ethos of care for our participants’ complex lived experiences and personhood of both trauma and survival (Gordon 2008). The lens of cariño also allows us to see how Latinx communities foster love and tenderness for themselves, families, and communities. As scholars, we attend to the emotional and spiritual work involved in honoring the stories of our interviewees. Our research reflects on the role of cariño in making Latinx experiences of the pandemic visible and the transformative potential of oral history and digital geographical research.