Tenants in the Time of COVID-19: Oral History Project Online Interview Process

The Anti-Eviction Mapping Project (AEMP) structures its methodologies around the concept of “counter-narratives,” where the dominant institutional accounts of housing injustices are challenged. Countering the narrative in this project was done by having individuals share their own story, in their own words, through their understanding, as to provide the human element that many accounts of displacements, evictions and other housing justice issues lack. In order to carry out this project there is a meticulous workflow that is dispersed through several online platforms and shared folders/accounts. In going through the interview process and collecting narratives, the processes had changed due to COVID-19. In light of the adaptations and new processes, Alicia Morales Perez and I, both Inequality and Democracy Fellows with AEMP, decided to create a thorough Remote Interview Guide that consolidates all the nuts and bolts required to conduct interviews under the ethical guidelines of AEMP. The goal with the guide, Tenants in the Time of COVID-19: Oral History Project Online Interview Process, was to streamline the onboarding process and provide a self-guided learning resource accessible to others joining in on the project at any stage and for any step to familiarize oneself to the reasoning behind certain technological and methodological practice as the practices are both critical and meaningful in preserving and highlighting the stories of tenants and those in jousting justice movements and struggles around the country and the world.