Seminar 2 Encyclopedia

Contested New York

Professor: Peter Vellon
ITF: Amanda Matles
Campus: Queens College
URL: https://eportfolios.macaulay.cuny.edu/vellon17/

This website is the hub for a collection of six digital projects that focus on several key points of socio-economic conflict, struggle, and tension in New York City from the post World War II period to the present.

It would have been great to coordinate link-backs to the hub site from each of the group project sites, but not all of the groups included one.

Storefront Survivors

Professor: Mike Benediktsson
ITF: Christina Nadler
Campus: Hunter College
URL: https://eportfolios.macaulay.cuny.edu/storefrontsurvivors

This website is the result of a unique research project undertaken by first year Macaulay Honors students at Hunter College, City University of New York (CUNY) under the supervision of Mike Owen Benediktsson, Marnie Brady, Caroline Loomis, Christina Nadler, and Tommy Wu. The interviews, images, and research collected here were collected entirely by students, as part of their coursework for the People of New York City seminar, or Seminar II, an interdisciplinary class on the past and present of the city’s neighborhoods, with a focus on migration and immigration. In the last few years, elected officials and the media have begun to acknowledge the plight of small, independent businesses in the city. Blogs like Jeremiah’s Vanishing New York have called attention to the loss of valuable landmark institutions due to unregulated commercial rent markets and municipal rezoning. Local elected officials, including Manhattan Borough President Gale Brewer, have put forth competing legislative measures that would seek to relieve some of the economic pressure faced by small business owners in the city. Attention to the precarious position of small business is growing. But is it enough? Explore our website to find profiles of small business owners across the city who are conducting their own individual struggles against the crosscurrents of economic, social, and policy change in the city.

Cornucopia of Cultures: Welcome to New York City

Professor: Jessica Siegel
ITF: Maggie Galvan
Campus: Brooklyn College
URL: http://eportfolios.macaulay.cuny.edu/siegel2014/

In this course, students investigated certain neighborhoods and ethnic groups with a journalistic eye. Over the course of the semester, they wrote about their own immigration narratives and completed walking tours, interviews, and worker profiles that drew from their chosen neighborhoods and ethnic groups.

The following groups and neighborhoods were the objects of focus in this class:
Pakistanis/Bangladeshis in Kensington, Brooklyn
Jamaicans/Caribbeans in Crown Heights, Brooklyn
Russians in Brighton Beach, Brooklyn
Mexicans in Corona, Queens
Ecuadorians in Jackson Heights, Queens
Chinese in Sunset Park, Brooklyn
Haitians in Flatbush, Brooklyn

Food and Immigration in NYC

Professor: Kim Libman
ITF: Maggie Dickinson
Campus: Queens College
URL: http://eportfolios.macaulay.cuny.edu/libman2014/

Our Peopling of New York Seminar looked at the issue of immigration in New York City through the lens of food and foodways. Each group focused on a particular neighborhood, researching the local history and culture by collecting both qualitative and quantitive data. We also produced menus featuring typical, culturally appropriate foods for each neighborhood based on our research. Each neighborhood group produced their own website, showcased on our collective class site. Take a look at our neighborhood websites to learn more!

Peopling of New York

Professor: Michael Batson
ITF: Stephen Boatright
Campus: College of Staten Island
URL: http://eportfolios.macaulay.cuny.edu/batson14/

During the Spring 2014 semester, the students in Professor Michael Batson’s course researched the diverse ethnicities that call Staten Island home. They visited cultural institutions, studied census data, and used online mapping applications to graphically portray the location of ethnic enclaves. The students also looked at different public schools across the borough sought to see how well the schools reflected its demographic diversity.

The Peopling of NYC

Professor: Omri Elisha
ITF: Maggie Dickinson
Campus: Queens College
URL: http://eportfolios.macaulay.cuny.edu/elisha2013/

This course site is a showcase of each five individual group projects. Each group picked an organization to study that mediates the cultural politics of difference in some way. The group projects include a look at the role of the New York City Tenement Museum in historicizing poverty, a Polish neighborhood association, the role of Women for Afghan Women in the Afghani community in NYC, an education non-profit called the All Stars project, and Restore NYC, which works to end human trafficking. Together, all of these projects made efforts to move away from simplistic narratives of “melting pots” and multiculturalism, to take in a more nuanced and complex view of New York City. Each group used various methods of data collection including web research, scholarly literature reviews, interviews, and fieldwork.

Exploring Diversity in Jackson Heights

JacksonSights compiles historical and empirical studies of Jackson Heights in Queens. Aiming at providing an overview of the diversity found within Jackson Heights, the site is divided into four different sections: history, religion, food, and fashion. Information has been gleaned from on-site excursions, personal interviews, mini-ethnographic studies, and scholarly research materials. In addition to representing the culmination of the class’s exploration, this site hopes to share gained insights and to transform into learning to appreciate the hardships, the triumphs, and the rich heritages offered by the people of New York City.