What is a Homecomer?

What is a Homecomer? What is Local Knowledge?

"There may not be ways to save the world that are not, first and foremost,
ways for people to save their own places."
-Alan Durning
This Place on Earth, 1996

When I say homecomer, what do I mean?

For the purpose of my project, I defined a homecomer as someone who grew up in Northfield for any length of time, left Northfield, for any reason, and then came back to live in Northfield again. Because I decided upon such a broad definition of "homecomer" it allowed me to collect stories from different generations. These stories help me to have a broad and diverse understanding of the changing understanding and value of a homecomer. Everyone's story was different, and this made my project challenging, and at the same time honest.

Children and Dogs, Northfield, ca. 1890, MN Historical Society

Group in front of home, Northfield, ca. 1890, MN Historical Society

"For us, coming home means restoring ecological and human
scale to a civization that has lost its sense of proportion and
purpose.  It means regenerating roots in particular places and
traditions.  But if we do not build a worthy home, what are we
building?  And if we do not prepare our young people to come 
home, for what destination and for what destiny do we consign 
them?"
-David W. Orr
Earth in Mind:  
On Education, Environment, and the Human Prospect, 
1994

"To become intimate with your home region, to know the territory as well as you can, to understand your life as woven into the local life, does not prevent you from recognizing and honoring the diversity of other places, cultures, ways. On the contrary, how can you value other places if you do not have one of your own? If you are not yourself placed, then you wander the world like a sightseer, a collector of sensations, with no gauge for measuring what you see. Local knowledge is the grounding for global knowledge."
-Scott Russell Sanders
Staying Put, 1993

How do you collect local knowledge?

I collected local knowledge through interviews, or "oral histories," from people who had spent large portions of their lives in Northfield. I asked them questions about their childhood, about what stories they remember about Northfield. I asked them what had changed in Northfield, and what had stayed the same. Mostly, I wanted to collect stories; everyday stories that people like me might eventually find interesting. I recorded the interviews on a digital audio recorder, and then had the tape converted to cd, which is available at the St. Olaf Library. Please contact Kris MacPherson about listening to the cds.

What do I mean when I say local knowledge?

Local knowledge is the understanding that people have about the places where they live. For me, local knowledge has been a tricky topic. Why does it matter? Because our knowledge of where we are, and who we are teaches us how to see our place in the world.

It's the map of our neighborhood that we would draw if someone asked us where we lived. It's knowing what plants grow well here, and when to plant them. It's knowing how to get to the grocery store. It's using the same recipes that our mothers used.

Can local knowledge be taught?
Yes, but not in the same conventional educational settings that we've come to rely on. Local knowledge is passed on from generation to generation through families and friends. It's passed on through stories, and events. Holidays and the rituals that go with them are local knowledge. And, we gain local knowledge when we make mistakes.

"I guess things have changed pretty much since you moved away, huh, Great Mam?" I asked.
She said, "I've never been here before."
-Barbara Kingsolver
Homeland and Other Stories, 1989

Bridge and square Northfield, Postcard 1876, MN Historical Society

A Note about Oral Histories

Collecting oral histories was a lot more work than I thought it would be, but I loved it. In fact, I hope that someday I can have a job collecting people's stories.

What follows are some of the answers from the interviews that I did with Northfield homecomers. Please see their photos and stories at Homecomer Interviews. Complete interview audio cds are available at the St. Olaf Library for the interviews of Jean Porterfield and Gordon Cumming.

Unfortunately, I don't have an audio cd of the interview of Dave Legvold, because part of the interview was conducted in his tractor cab, and then in his garage, while he was fixing his tractor. These environments would not have been conducive to recording. However, anyone in the environmental studies department here at St. Olaf could tell you how to get ahold of him.

Why did you come back to Northfield?

Each homecomer that I interviewed had a different reason for coming home. Jobs and families seem to have the most influence over people's migrational habits.

Jean Porterfield returned to Northfield because she found a tenure track job as a professor of biology. Gordon Cumming returned to Minnesota because his partner and he found good jobs. She, a job at the Mayo Clinic; Gordon, a job as the director the the Cannon River Watershed Project, (now housed, coincidentally on St. Olaf College grounds). Dave Legvold came back to Northfield because, like most parents, he wanted his children to get a good education. He and his wife had both graduated from Northfield High School, and he knew the district was doing good things for its students. Dave, was the second generation in his family to return to Northfield, but his sons quickly became the third generation.

How did you feel about returning?

The homecomers that I interviewed felt good about coming home. Jean Porterfield wondered if she'd feel smothered by her parents, but she said her parents worried about that too, and she's never felt smothered at all.

Gordon Cumming felt good about returning. He didn't think that he'd be back so soon, because he wants to build his life on the West Coast, where his original home is.

Dave Legvold was happy to come back to Northfield. He shopped around for land to have a small farm on, and he turned down his current property and house three times before agreeing to buy it.

Scriver Building, Bridge Square at Division Street, Northfield.

Ideal Cafe, Northfield, Minnesota

Somewhere along the line, my soul imprinted on topography. I returned, and the land felt right. The land takes you back. All you have to do is show up. Finding your place among the people, now that' is a different proposition. A community is a conglomeration of characters, and you can't force your way in.
- Michael Perry
Population: 485, 2002

Do you think that being a homecomer allows you to bring anything special to the community?

Homecomers don't seem to think that they're anything special. Now, it might be that the homecomers I interviewed were all currently Minnesotans, and there really does seem to be a sterotypical "no fuss" attitude here in Minnesota, but, I'm willing to bet that homecomers, in most places, are the "lead by quiet example" sort that are the pillars of the communities that they live in.

Jean Porterfield said that its something of a novelty to be a "townie" when her students find out that she grew up here.

Our task is to build cultural fortresses to protect our emerging nativeness. They must be strong enough to hold at bay the powers of consumerism, the powers of greed and envy and pride. One of the most effective ways for this to come about would be for our universities to assume the awesome responsibility to both validate and educate those who want to be homecomers- not necessarily to go home but to go someplace and dig in and begin the long search and experiment to become native.