Reflection # 15

We wrap up our semester long reflections with readings from alternative urban landscapes. Compare and contrast these articles and reflect on what they may imply of archaeology going forward.

The first article by Matthew Brunwasser discusses his efforts to preserve the history of and show what life was like at the Olompali…[Read more]

Reflections #14

In lieu of readings this week, we will be meeting in the library in room 283 to continue our work on our projects-(bring your laptops since this room is NOT a multi-media room).  With that, please use this reflection time to share your thoughts on the interview process, experience and information gathering with one of the United…[Read more]

Reflection # 13

These readings explore the various ways studying graffiti can help understand contemporary or historical landscapes. Compare and contrast these article with at least one other article we read this semester that explores the types of information that can be gained by using archaeological method and theory in a contemporary context.…[Read more]

Reflection #12

From the articles you read for today and the garbage study you conducted over the weekend. What kind of information can be gleamed about garbage? What are the limitations? Use your own garbage collection experience to provide examples if needed.

The name of the first article is “Exploring a Hidden Archive of New York City’s His…[Read more]

Reflections #11:

The three articles we read for this week, take three different approaches of using archaeology post-disaster. Compare and contrast these approaches and the different types of analysis that can be done with each.

The three articles are basically looking at disasters and how parts of society change after the disaster. The author…[Read more]

Reflection #10:

Compare and contrast the articles for this week’s readings.

The first article, by Gayle Rubin, is “Sites, Settlements and Urban Sex: Archaeology and the Study of Gay Leathermen in San Francisco, 1955-1995.” It is an ethnographic of study a subculture of gay men known as leathermen because of the group’s penchant for wearing…[Read more]

Reflection—Weeksville Fieldtrip

For those attending the Weeksville field trip, write a response from your field trip highlighting one aspect of trip that ties into a reading or topic we have discussed this semester.

On Tuesday, October 29, I and a few of my classmates went on a fieldtrip to the Weeksville Heritage Center located in Brooklyn, N…[Read more]

Reflection #9

These three articles look at gender in urban spaces. Compare the types of data that was used in analysis for the readings and the type of analysis that could be gathered from this data. On one side-What are the limitations to the data? On the other-What are the deep insights that can be gleamed from them?

The first article is…[Read more]

Reflection #8

Two of the three readings for this week (Gehl and Svarre and Weiss) focus on more traditional ethnographic methodologies used to study urban space such as interviewing, mapping, tracing, etc. and Silberman and Purser’s piece focuses on the more current methods of culminated through social media and digital heritage. Discuss the v…[Read more]

Reflection #7

The three readings for this week focus on ethnic and racial identity seen in the archaeological record in the US. Compare and contrast the three articles and offer your own critique on the authors’ analysis on these three papers.

The first article by Mullins and Jones, called “Archaeologies of Race and Urban Poverty,” discu…[Read more]

The indigenous rights lecture that I went to yesterday greatly reminds me of My Brooklyn, a documentary that we watched in class about the gentrification of the Brooklyn neighborhood near the Fulton Mall. Both the documentary and the lecture discussed the various resistance techniques against suppression/displacement of disenfranchised groups. The…[Read more]

Reflections #5

This week’s readings discusses more of the technological aspects of studying the built environment based off US Cultural Resource Management (CRM) practice which is routed in US policy and law. While Kuranda’s piece details how US professionals study the built environment primarily based on the National Historic Preservation Act…[Read more]

Reflections #4

The two readings for this week focus on the panopticon of Jeremy Bentham used as a method of self-policing and a way to control space and action within that space-surveillance. Compare the two readings discussions on this form of power and control and explore the idea of the panopticon or legacy of this form of surveillance and…[Read more]

For this week’s reflection, I read three articles. The first was a study of the Puerto Rican yard complexes of Lorain, Ohio, which to determine if Puerto Ricans express their cultural identity through their use of the urban landscape. The second article seemed to be about how women use fashion and especially so-called fetish fashion to have a b…[Read more]