With this Dunham Fund grant, the Pick Museum of Anthropology and the Center for Southeast Asian Studies at Northern Illinois University will embark on a two year project to document and preserve the culture and resettlement experiences of Myanmar/Burmese Karen refugees living in Aurora, Illinois.
In 2007, the US State Department authorized immigrant visas to the approximately 10,000 Karen refugees living in refugee camps throughout Thailand, a significant number of these refugees having settled in northern Illinois, specifically in Aurora.
Museum staff and student researchers, with support from Karen refugees and local refugee support organizations, will carry out original research, conduct oral histories, and develop a community exhibition and cultural programming series at Northern Illinois University and in Aurora, Illinois.