For my first summer, my research seeks to investigate the historical lived experience of the Chinese Cuban diaspora in the 20th century. Using oral histories and archival photographs, I am interested in highlighting the life experiences of a Chinese diasporic group that is frequently overlooked and somewhat under-theorised, especially relative to more significant Chinese diasporas like Chinese Americans and Chinese Canadians. This topic combines my academic and personal interest in migration and diaspora, as someone who is personally part of the overseas Chinese community. 

The research process up to this point has been both illuminating and challenging. Before I started this project, I was relatively confident in my research capabilities, especially in history. However, I felt extremely out of my depth when I started looking into the archives and parsing through primary sources. Many of the sources that I found in the archives did not come with any additional context to aid in my understanding and analysis, and I grappled with language barriers as most of the official documents were written in Spanish rather than the Chinese I was hoping for. I also came to realise that all of the "research" I had done up until this point for my history courses was mostly literature review, while now I was tasked with producing original historical research. It took until the end of Week 3 for me to finally feel comfortable with my body of primary sources and my finalised research abstract, especially given the time and scope constraints of the Laidlaw research summer. This process not only taught me valuable practical skills in working with archival sources, but also reminded me to exercise patience in historical research. Although things may seem murky or difficult to grasp at times, it is imperative to keep pushing through until a moment of clarity finally surfaces.