Hello! I’m Sophie Sickert, the new senior research assistant with the Father-and-Son Project. Over the next months, I will be helping the research team analyze and document primary and secondary sources as well as prepare a literature review summarizing the findings of our reading. As the project progresses, I will also be involved in the creation of podcasts showcasing oral histories with German immigrant fathers and their Canadian-born sons.
I have recently completed a MA in history under the guidance of Dr. Alexander Freund detailing the experiences of Salvadoran refugees through oral histories collected by the Salvadoran Voices of Manitoba Project. Through my studies and work with various oral history projects, I have developed a deep appreciation for research detailing the lives of ordinary people and the individuals who agree to share their stories.
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I am particularly excited to be working on a project focused on German Canadians since it allows me to explore my own family history. As the grandchild of German immigrants, I frequently come across echoes of old family narratives in the materials I read for the Father-and-Son project. The informal history lessons I received throughout my childhood are often in the front of my mind as I learn about the experiences of other German-Canadian families. This research has certainly made me feel closer to my late grandfather—an avid amateur historian who was heavily involved in the German-Canadian community in Winnipeg. (In fact, the GCS blog has written a post about his life and the documents he collected here!)
As a research assistant, I am very much looking forward to helping preserve the experiences of the German-Canadian community and to making their history available to the wider public.
Want to learn more about our Father-and-Son Project? Read our funding announcement and meet the rest of our research team.
German-Canadian Studies 