Storytelling is intrinsic to the human experience. Since prehistoric times, we have made sense of our lives—and of ourselves—through narrative. Today, that enduring power of literature lies at the heart of “Mass Migrations: Personal Voices,” a research project co-funded by the Obermann Center for Advanced Studies at the University of Iowa and the Consortium of Humanities Centers and Institutes.
This international collaboration brings together the University of Iowa and the Universidad de la República, Uruguay’s principal public university. Led by Luis Martín-Estudillo, director of the Obermann Center, and Fernando Ordóñez of the Universidad de la República, the project centers on a population both vulnerable and remarkably resilient: Venezuelan migrant women who have arrived in Montevideo, Uruguay, seeking refuge from an ongoing humanitarian crisis.
Exporting the “Iowa Model”
The University of Iowa has long demonstrated that writing is not only an art but a craft that can be taught, cultivated, and refined. Its renowned workshop model, built on sharing works-in-progress, critical dialogue, and revision, has shaped generations of writers. “Mass Migrations” draws on this tradition, extending it beyond academic walls and reimagining it as a tool for community integration.
Through a series of eight creative writing and oral history workshops, twenty Venezuelan migrant women in Montevideo are invited to explore and articulate their personal narratives. In doing so, they transform complex, layered life experiences into language, reclaiming agency over their identities. The workshops are grounded in an intersectional framework, acknowledging that each participant’s story is shaped by the interplay of gender, class, ethnicity, and migration status, rather than treating migrant experiences as uniform.
The project launched in November 2025 with a visit from Bolivian writer Camila Urioste to the Universidad de la República. A graduate of both the University of Iowa’s MFA in Spanish Creative Writing and the Iowa Writers’ Workshop, Urioste delivered lectures on literary pedagogy and led writing sessions with the participating women, offering both technical guidance and creative inspiration.
To deepen this exchange, co-director Fernando Ordóñez spent the Spring 2026 semester at the University of Iowa, observing creative writing workshops, including those led by Professor Giovanna Rivero (see photos below). His aim was to study the nuances of the workshop model and adapt it to new cultural and social contexts, testing its potential as a mechanism for integration.
Literature as a Tool for Integration and Community
Migrant Voices is not designed to produce professional writers. Rather, it offers participants a means of expression—tools to name, shape, and share their experiences. Each session begins with a reading from a contemporary female writer, often addressing themes of identity, belonging, and the liminal space between cultures. These texts serve as catalysts, prompting participants to craft their own narratives.
While the workshops are not explicitly therapeutic, they carry a clear secondary aim: fostering connection and mutual support. As Martín-Estudillo notes, “Transforming life stories—often marked by trauma—into poetry or fiction can make the experience of migration more bearable.” In this sense, storytelling becomes both an individual and collective act of resilience.
Writing the Future: The Social Power of Literature
Beyond its immediate impact on participants, “Mass Migrations” advances both scholarly inquiry and community engagement. By centering the voices of migrant women, the project contributes to a richer, more nuanced understanding of migration—one that foregrounds lived experience over abstract data.
As Martín-Estudillo and Ordóñez emphasize, the humanities are too often mischaracterized as static repositories of the past. Projects like this instead reveal their dynamic role in the present. By bridging university and community, and by using literature as a vehicle for empathy and connection, “Mass Migrations” affirms that imagining the future requires more than technological innovation. It requires human insight, care, and a commitment to keeping people and their stories at the center.
