Familiarization process
At an early age Wurfel had the opportunity to live in the Philippines with his family. This adventure sparked his interest in Asia. With that precedent, Wurfel devoted his life to study agrarian issues and political development in Southeast Asia. His interests and his enduring commitment to the peoples of the region are reflected in the photographic slides and documents that Wurfel donated to York University. The thematic diversity and the variety of timeframes also show his deep engagement with this part of the world.
My process of familiarization with David Wurfel and his personal collection of material entailed getting to know Wurfel's trajectory. The availability of Wurfel's website, a part of his autobiography, hommages to his honour and obituaries made the process easier. This process also involved numerous encounters with the documents and photographic slides he donated to York University. Every encounter with the material gave me the possibility of identifying patterns of interests and preferences and tracing out various topics. I sought to familiarize with Wurfel's material and history to create a personal digital archive that would reflect his interests and trajectory as best as possible. Familiarization is key to make relevant decisions regarding what to include, what period of time to focus on, and so forth.
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