Un-Forgetting the Carnival, Remembering Home

Abstract

This article seeks to indagate the role of memory and nostalgia in the field while doing autoethnography. Navigating through the memories of the author, readers follow her and her son as they attempt to create a costume to celebrate the Spanish carnival; an activity which also embodies her childhood nostalgia and her connection with her homeland. The process raises questions about identity and the complexity and guilt surrounding the dynamics of a mother who tries to transfer the feeling of belonging, community, and an appreciation of the traditions of the native country to a child raised in the diaspora.