Viktoriya Kamara Transcript

Please state your name, age, what college you go to and your major.

OK my name is Viktoriya Kamara.  I’m attending Northwestern University right now I’m going to be a senior.  I’m 21 years old and I’m studying philosophy and art history.

Where were you born and where did you grow up?

I was born in Minsk, Belarus, that is a country that has recently, well 17 years ago, broken up from the Soviet Blok.  And I came to the United States when I was 8 years old.

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What stories can you tell about your parents’ literacy values, educational values?

Umm, well, yeah, education has been one of the most important things in my family.  Umm, I think not necessarily, I think it more culturally because my parents believe that there’s probably from education that you allow your mind to open up to things and grow.  My father has a PhD and my mother has a master’s.  And they don’t consider themselves intellectuals but they consider themselves worldly people and at least that has been emphasized to keep an open mind to be able to converse with different types of people from every culture, every age.  And education blends into that because it broadens you in so many ways.

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What was your parents's ocioeconomic status when you were a child? What is your socioeconomic status now?

Oh.  Well, it was different when they were working in Belarus they, well they weren’t allowed to work, my father wasn’t allowed to work for the profession he trained in.  He trained to be a civil engineer but they wouldn’t allow him to gain any kind of a significant position because of his color so he began trading goods back from Germany and Africa and Italy so that kind of money that he was bringing in, it wasn’t even the amount of money he was bringing in, but more of the way Belarus was at the time it was enclosed country people couldn’t travel much outside so the type of goods we had which were deemed exotic and the type of lifestyle we live it was significantly above the average lifestyle of all of a Belarussian.  We weren’t rich but we were living comfortably.  When we came to the states we were on the welfare-type of poverty so and we’re still not too rich in this country.  I’m not going to give numbers but, lower, lower, lower middle class.
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How would your life be different if you didn't know how to read and write?

If I didn’t know how to read and write that would be awful.  That would be awful because I would be in some senses crippled and constantly dependent on people.  One…not because it’s degrading to not know how to read and write.  I don’t think that people who don’t know how to read and write don’t have just as much to say or don’t understand just as much but it really limits your ability to learn about things.  If we were in a different culture where things were shared differently but now it’s most of the time you have to find your own sources, do your research, find your books, move on from there, you know? 

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When you were growing up what did your family think about computers and its value?

They were just there. For the internet they’re there.  Yeah I mean, no computers were never special. Yeah, and I mean, I never was crazed about computers, I just used them whenever I needed to.

Did your family place any value on computer literacy?

No. Not at all.

Do you currently own a computer?

Mhmm. 

What kind?

It’s broken.  Um, a small, um.  Well the one that’s working I have a Toshiba. Laptop. 

How frequently do you use your computer and what purposes do you use it for?

I check my email, I write papers on it, and I save pictures on it.

What kind of stories do you have about using communication technologies, um such as cell phones, chats, um, email, texting?

Um, well I know that AIM helped me type faster.  Yeah.  It taught me how to type fast.  Besides that it’s really watered down my communication abilities.  It doesn’t, It’s uh, it doesn’t for, uh, it takes out creativity, creativity, a deeper level of creativity from writing.  A quick form because it, the emphasis, text messaging, emailing, a quick response and there is no time to sit and think about your words and that’s what I don’t like about it.

Do you have your own website or?

I have some photographs, yeah, like a photography website.

Are you currently using computer technologies to aid you in your research?

No