THE PEOPLING OF NEW YORK: MHC @ Lehman

MHC Seminar 2 – The Peopling of New York City / Food Communities in NYC

Group Project — description

The major assignment in MHC Seminar 2 is to build a course website / wiki that explores a NYC neighborhood or community in depth.  Our wiki will examine the idea of food communities in New York City.  Students will work in groups, each organized around a particular New York neighborhood to build a “page” of our wiki, a sort of digital essay in which you explore the role of food in community building / immigrant life and daily life in your particular neighborhood.  Students will present their essays to the class on May 4.

I encourage you to be as creative as you would like with your digital essays, including text, images, video clips, interactive maps, blog links to articles / websites of interest, etc.  The only absolute requirements are that your digital essays include:

1. An introduction to the neighborhood you are studying.  It should identify where the neighborhood is, how to get there, its current ethnic makeup, and any important institutions or landmarks included in the neighborhood.
2. A brief history of your neighborhood as an immigrant / migrant neighborhood.  You do not need to provide a comprehensive history, just the development of the neighborhood as a (multi)ethnic community and the different groups that have called it home over its history.
3. The current demographic makeup of your neighborhood (boundaries, population size and makeup, housing stock, income, etc.  You can use census reports and Joe Salvo’s website to compile this information).  Feel free to include charts.
4. A description of the major institutions that serve the population of your neighborhood (religious institutions, stores, fraternal and non-profit organizations, government services, cultural institutions, etc.)
5. An exploration of 4-6 food stops (restaurants, groceries, food carts, etc.) that showcase the neighborhood as a food community.  You will need to explore the neighborhood as a group in order to identify and research these food stops.  Each group member is responsible for writing up an essay for each food stop.  The essay, of at least 500 words, should describe the food stop and a bit of its history / development and consider the role it plays within the community.  You may want to interview (informally) the workers / managers / owners / customers of the food stops you explore.
6. Your wiki page should also include a virtual tour of the neighborhood, featuring food stops.  You can (in fact, you probably should) build the tour around the above components.

Each group member will be responsible for researching one of the above topics (from 1-4) in a 500-word essay (due dates for these assignments will be distributed separately).   The fifth group member will explore a topic of the group’s choice, something that you find particular / interesting / unique about your neighborhood.   In addition, each group member will write a 500-word exploration of a food stop (see #5 above).   Finally, each group will submit the results of a photo scavenger hunt in their neighborhood.

Be sure to cite any sources you consult, using either MLA or Chicago style citation format.

MHC Seminar 2 – The Peopling of New York / Food Communities in NYC

Group Projects – assignment due dates  (each group should let me know in advance which member is responsible for which essay)

March 16 — Essay 1 (introduction to neighborhood) due

March 23  — Essay 2 (Brief history of your neighborhood) due

April 6 –  Essay 3 (Demographic makeup of your neighborhood) due

April 13 – Essay 4 (Institutions) due

Photo scavenger hunt due

April 20 – Essay 5 (group’s choice – something interesting / unique / particular about your neighborhood) due

** May 4 – food stop essays due

** May 11 – Food site review due (we’ll discuss this assignment in more detail)

** All students will turn in this assignment