Series:

Chemical Entanglements: Oral Histories of Environmental Illness

Topic:

Social Movements

Environmental Illness

Biographical Note:

Interviewed for the UCLA Center for the Study of Women’s Chemical Entanglements: Oral Histories of Environmental Illness series. Lives with chemical sensitivities and eczema. Born in Guatemala. Worked as a nurse before migrating to Los Angeles, California. Worked in various factory jobs, assisted living, and babysitting since migrating.

Interviewer:

Kim, Kelsey

Interviewee:

Kerr, Telma

Persons Present:

Kerr and Kim. Abraham Encinas was present during the session as a translator.

Supporting Documents:

Records relating to the interview are located in the office of the UCLA Library’s Center for Oral History Research.

Interviewer Background and Preparation:

This interview was conducted by Kelsey Kim, graduate student interviewer, for the Center for the Study of Women; PhD student in Anthropology, UCLA. Kim’s dissertation focuses on gender and racial inequalities in the Silicon Valley high-tech industry.

Processing of Interview:

The interviewer prepared for the interview by reading Anthropology and Environment Society’s Engagement blog, as well as a pre-interview questionnaire completed by the narrator. and The interview was conducted using the Zoom video conferencing platform.

Length:

1.5 hrs

Language:

Spanish

Copyright:

Regents of the University of California, UCLA Library.

Audio:

Series Statement:

Chemical Entanglements: Oral Histories of Environmental Illness is a collection of interviews with over seventy individuals living in the U.S. and Canada whose family history, occupation, art practice, or activism have brought them into direct contact with illness experience and disability related to chronic, low-dose exposure to toxicant chemicals. The procurement of this collection (from March 2019 through September 2020) was sponsored by the UCLA Center for the Study of Women under the directorship of Rachel C. Lee, with interviews conducted by six undergraduates, five graduate students, two career staff, and two faculty members at CSW.

Biographical details--Childhood and family life--Chemical allergies as a child--Experience in school--Work as a nurse, how chemical sensitivities affected her--Studied social work but left for United States shortly after entering university--Move to Los Angeles with husband, first jobs in LA--Factory work dyeing shirts, reactions to chemicals and paint used there--Work in pencil factory cutting lead, allergies and reactions to chemical smells--Eczema diagnosis and more details about her environmental reactions--Babysitting work and reactions to products used in that setting--Experience with doctors--Experience of her family with her sensitivities, ways that her family mediates her allergies to chemicals, how her illness has affected her social life--Details about her experiences with eczema and her specific reactions--How coronavirus has affected her--Using Gelmicin to treat eczema--Details about oral history project--Wish that people would understand what eczema is and that a cure could be found--Logistical details and details about transcription of interview