I didn’t expect the museum to be so small. To me, such a tragic site deserved much more. And yet, the size was perfect. It was intimate. The exhibition was not about slavery alone, but about people. This is made clear when one sees the central display: models of a family gather around to coffins, […]
The African Burial Ground Memorial visit was mind opening. The memorial was small but it’s significance was far greater. It’s tribute to the real colony builders that sacrificed their flesh and bones for the foundation of New York was touching. The movie that was shown stated that the way we treat our dead is a signifier […]
by Daniel Cohen The African Burial Ground is quiet and peaceful, but it is still in Manhattan. And Manhattan is a very, very noisy place. The burial ground is near the intersection of Lafayette and Centre Streets, not to mention right near Broadway, resulting in the serenity of the memorial sharply interspersed with the noise […]
The African Burial Ground was something I had neither seen nor ever heard of before prior to our trip. The fact that it had never made its way into any of my classrooms before this semester, despite twelve long school years. I found it interesting that I had been to museums and monuments, such as […]
At around 1:30pm, I stepped off the subway stairs, leading me to a bright and vibrant Manhattan intersection. The sunlight offered a stark contrast to the dark, artificially lit subway platforms. Screeching, discordant sounds of the subway was replaced by a multitude of indistinguishable voices from people around me. People crowded together in what looked […]
The first thing that struck me about the outdoor monument was the scale. I’ve placed a picture of my friend Alice above to indicate the scale of the triangular prism structure at the far end of the monument. This monument really does a good job of impressing the gravity of the site onto visitors. The […]
We set off for the African Burial Ground at around 12:30. The commute was fairly easy. We took the Q train straight to Canal Street where we got off and walked for a dew minutes. Overa
Around noon on Wednesday, March 30th, I embarked on a trip to African Burial Ground. The weather was sunny and around 50 degrees Fahrenheit. I arrived at the location around 1:30pm via the 5 train from Brooklyn College to City Hall. The area surrounding was an urban district of federal buildings, including the New York […]
Shallow to pensive. The trip to the African Burial Ground completely transformed my mood. “Okay guys, you are about to enter a Federal Building, so this will be a lot like the security check at the airport.” Huh? Where am I? Laughter dominated my experience at the security checkpoint. From the secondary screening to the […]
On Wednesday, Mark, Mitch, Robin, and I went to the African Burial Ground, separately from the rest of the class because of our biology lecture exam at 3:40. We left right after our English class and arrived at the burial ground a bit before noon. My first impressions of the burial ground and the museum […]
On the 30th of March, at approximately 11:45 AM, our small group consisting of Mark Rayev, Mitch Vutrapongvatana, Sandy Mui, and myself found ourselves at the doors of the African Burial Ground Memorial Museum. The weather was surprisingly pleasant: temperatures fluctuated between 50 and 56 degrees, wind chill was little more than a gentle breeze, […]
Any emotional significance attached to the burial grounds did not affect me until I found myself standing in the small gift shop tucked away to one side of the exhibits, examining a handmade African bracelet. Memories hit me furiously, awakened from slumber: snippets of Afrikaans thrown between merchant and consumer haggling over goods, thumbing through […]
On Wednesday, March 30th, Mark, Sandy, Robin, and I left Brooklyn College to head to the African Burial Ground in Manhattan. We left immediately (by immediately, I meant we stopped by Burger King and bought food; we had coupons yaaas!) after English class at approximately 11:00 am. We went ahead of the rest of the […]
Wednesday, March 30, 2016 As I walk into the African Burial Ground, I am scanned by security. I understand that I am walking into a government building that holds great significance. The first thing I notice is the timeline of the creation of the burial ground. It was a long process creating this building that […]
Ethnography begs the begs the question, can we ever approach objectivity? And if not, are subjective observations still of worth? Even something as simple as what the ethnographer pays attention to– even ignoring their preconceived ideas about the things they see– completely changes the tone and content of a report. But does it change the […]
On the tenth of February, our small group, consisting of Mark Rayev, Sandy Mui, Mitch Vutrapongvatana, and myself, sojourned to Manhattan’s West Side in search of New York City’s prolific High Line. The weather experienced throughout this trip was rather relentless, unifying high winds speeds with temperatures fluctuating between 18 and 25 degrees Fahrenheit. This […]
Location: 2:00 far west side, Chelsea/Meatpacking District only close to A, C, E trains, but E doesn’t go to Brooklyn and the A and C don’t go to my area. Now there’s also the 7 at Hudson Yards, but only at 34th and 12th ave. former industrial rail line Neighborhood: transitioning industrial to commercial, mixed […]
Field Notes: The Highline I visited the Highline at around two o’clock in the afternoon. It was relatively bright outside and the sky was clear. The weather however wasn’t as forgiving. It was freezing cold. The type of cold that forces your hands into your pockets even with gloves on in fear that your fingers […]
As I walked up the steep, concrete steps with Professor Williams, I felt like I was climbing Mount Everest. It required a constant effort since there were so many steps and I would be doomed if I didn’t reach the top before I became exhausted. It was very busy near 16 on 10th, or High […]
As I walked up the High line the icy cold wind passed through my body piercing every inch of my insides. Despite the fact that it was 2:13 pm near the Hudson river it was relatively gray because the sky had hints of clouds. The High line is located in an area of the city […]
Right off the bat, I have already lied to you. The title of this post says that I took “a little walk” to the High Line. And right off the bat, I have failed in properly being an ethnographer due to this lack of retelling with accuracy. The truth is that it was not a […]
It is February 10, 2016 at 2pm. I set off toward the Highline with Melissa, Jannat, and Batsheva, bracing myself against the bitter wind blowing through four layers of clothing. I wonder how long it will be before I can no longer manipulate my numb fingers to form letters on the page. We walk through […]
No field notes here, sorry, but here are the instructions for adding your field notes to the site. The process for adding your field notes to the eportfolio site is very similar to the process for posting your discussion posts. Log in to the course site > Dashboard > Posts > Add New Write your field notes […]
