Sin Esto No Soy Yo
Michelle Castellanos
From a young age, the idea of completing an academic thesis was always held in high regard in my family. More than 25 years ago, my parents decided to come to the United States, from Ecuador and Honduras respectively, to pursue a more fruitful life while leaving the ability to obtain their degrees behind. My work's essence lies in continuing my parents' academic journeys.
The inspiration behind the structure of my thesis draws from Ingles Sin Barreras, an English learning program popular during the 1990s and 2000s among Latin American immigrants. Sin Esto No Soy Yo is a culmination of three big factors that led me to be able to complete a thesis represented in three chapters, accompanying CDs, and a short film on DVD. The book’s form is an accordion-like construction in which three individual coptic stitch books are bound together to form one structure, representative of how the themes discussed in each book come together.
To maintain the integrity of the content shared with me and act as a form of resistance, the text exists in its truest form without any grammatical edits or language translations. The content featured in these various forms of media is sourced from my photography, family photos, and interviews I conducted with my parents and best friend. Through our discussions, we navigate through past immigration stories, effects of generational trauma, the importance of perseverance, and living without shame of the Latin American identity because “sin esto, no so yo.”