Interview with Colleen Apostle: Trans Oral History Project

by Anna Šverclová ’23

In my work for the WGSS Newsletter, I interviewed senior English Major, Colleen Apostle, about her experience spearheading Macalester’s Trans Oral History Project. The Trans Oral History Project is a new endeavor headed by the GSRC (Macalester’s Gender & Sexuality Resource Center), with support from the WGSS department, to capture the experiences of queer and trans students at Macalester, particularly, those with marginalized racial identities. Since oral history is an interdisciplinary form, combining interview and historical practices into the process of writing, I thought I would include a piece from Colleen’s interview in this month’s newsletter to highlight the work that English majors are contributing to, outside of the English department!

Colleen reports, “The scope of the project is rather broad, focusing of histories of queer/trans activism at Macalester, both recently and within the past, while paying particular attention to centering and fronting the stories and experiences of queer/trans students of color. In documenting that history, it will necessarily include the experiences of students of color who are not queer and/or trans, as well as white queer/trans students who are working in antiracist solidarity.” When asked why she was interested in this project, Colleen states, “I’m really just interested in hearing all the amazing activism and resistance queer Mac students have been up to across the past two years, and preserving that somehow for future Mac students. The institutional memory of this college has an incredibly short half-life, and with so many juniors and seniors who were involved in the uprising last year and Line-3 protests a few years ago about to graduate soon, we’re about to lose an incredible depth of wisdom and knowledge that I feel anxious to keep alive somehow. I know that I’ve learned so much from queer folks at Mac, and I want to try and pass that onto the next generation of students if I can in any capacity.” 

Colleen cites Professor Myrl Beam’s oral history class as one of the inspirations for endeavoring in this project, “but this year, it’s going to be more Macalester based.” She urges any interested Macalester students to get involved. “I’m hoping to get a few more folks for a steering committee to help figure out logistics; funding so we can compensate people; connecting with other potential collaborators; organizing volunteers to help out with interviews; finding interviewees; etc…. The work is going to be flexible, and people can float in and out as they need.” 

If you’re interested in getting involved with this project, reach out to the GSRC ([email protected]) or Colleen Apostle for more information!