It鈥檚 mid-June and a lively discussion is in progress among 可乐视频 undergraduate students in a sunny conference room at CUNY鈥檚 Center for Worker Education at 25 Broadway. The room has been given over to an urban anthropological field school. The subject is gated communities鈥攚alled and guarded鈥攁nd their effects on an increasingly polarized American public. But instead of suburban enclaves far outside of New York City limits, the students are talking about recently gated co-ops on Manhattan鈥檚 Lower East Side.
After an hour鈥檚 talk dissecting the concepts of urban fear, security, class division, and gentrification, the class, with anthropology professors Naomi Schiller and Kelly Britt, walk more than two miles to the Masaryk Towers. A subsidized middle-income housing complex, the towers had new gates installed, cutting off a shortcut through the complex that until very recently was open to the public, particularly the residents of the Baruch and Gompers Houses across the street. The classroom discussion is now playing out in living color, as a guard barks at the students for proof that they have legal access to the property. 鈥淚t鈥檚 okay, I live here,鈥� says one of the students flashing her ID. 鈥淭hese people are my guests.鈥�
For Schiller and Britt, the summer course called The Urban Anthropology Project is a bit of an experiment. To begin, this type of cultural anthropology and archaeology field school鈥攁n immersion in the Lower East Side鈥攈as never been taught at 可乐视频. 鈥淭he neighborhood is in the midst of a major new wave of gentrification and waterfront development,鈥� says Schiller. 鈥淲e鈥檙e asking the students to explore how class, race, gender, and migration status intersect to shape the ways that residents approach the contemporary threat of extreme weather and rising seas. But we鈥檙e starting way back鈥攂efore European settlement鈥攖o think about land use, social relationships, and the changing built environment over time鈥�
The class is also unique in that Schiller and Britt have teamed up to combine their subfields, cultural anthropology and archaeology.
Walking tours are just one of the ways Britt and Schiller are helping their students explore the history and contemporary struggle for space and survival on the Lower East Side. The professors also scheduled films, museum visits, trips to observe community board meetings, visits from experts, interviews with local residents, and archaeological artifact analysis.
鈥淲hat鈥檚 different is that we鈥檙e teaching archaeological and ethnographic methods in the same course. That鈥檚 not been done here before,鈥� says Britt. 鈥淲e鈥檙e helping students develop essential skills such as recording field notes and interviewing as they study resiliency, gentrification, urban planning, community organizing, sea-level rise, and climate change.鈥�
鈥淎nd we鈥檙e co-teaching,鈥� Schiller and Britt say almost together. 鈥淲e volunteered to split the salary between us because we wanted to teach this new course and learn from each other,鈥� says Schiller. 鈥淲e are aiming to give future anthropologists the tools to approach the field in a more ethical, holistic manner than traditionally taught in many anthropology departments.
The courses of the Department of Anthropology and Archaeology present the richness in human variation and cultural diversity, and offer the anthropological perspective as a way of thinking, a way of problem solving, and as a model for future learning. Field schools usually occur during the summer sessions or the winter intersession. To learn more, visit the Department of Anthropology and Archaeology.
