ANTH 3470 Archaeological Field School, Summer 2018

Poster for ANTH 3470 Archaeological Field School

Urban Anthropology Project
Lower East Side, New York City

June 4–29, 2018
Summer Session I
Monday–Friday: 9 a.m.–3 p.m.
6 credits

The Lower East Side is in the midst of a major new wave of gentrification and waterfront development. How do class, race, gender, and migration status intersect to shape the way that residents approach the threat of extreme weather and rising seas? How do residents, planners, and policy makers understand the relationship between human action, gentrification, and climate change and how do they work to influence development to preempt weather related disasters that threaten both lower and upper income residents? How has the historical development of this section of New York City, shaped the way people respond to climate change? What can it we learn from the material culture people left behind? These questions will be at the heart of exploration of this urban anthropology field school, which will combine both ethnography and archaeological field methods.

The course will prepare students with foundational ethnographic and archaeological methods. Students will explore the history and contemporary struggle for space and survival through a variety of modes of engagement such as films, walking tours, museum visits, community board meetings, and archaeological collection analysis. By end of course students will have a grounding in the following topics: