The Memories of War Mapping Project
ARCHY/ANTH 101: Anthropology of War
University of Washington—Spring 2008
Project summary:
Our
goal is to create an interactive memory map of Seattle which charts how the
material and social landscapes of Seattle are the legacies of wars marked and
unmarked, local and elsewhere. The collective efforts of the class will be
placed on a central, virtual map. Our quarter will be divided into three
project segments, described below.
Click here to view the course Memory Map
Part 1: Mapping the physical remains and memories of
war in Seattle
Overview:
Maps
are abstractions of space and like other abstractions, are created and used by
people tell stories. Maps are also tools of war itself. Most innovations in
mapping (from compasses to Global Positioning Systems) are the products of
military innovation. This project will give you experience in archaeological
survey and mapping techniques by creating a map of the material remains of war
and war memorials in Seattle. Seattle has been the site of many group conflicts
in the past. These include pre-1850 battles between different Native American
groups, post 1850 conflicts between Euro-American settlers and Native American
groups (including the 1851 “Battle of Seattle”), anti Chinese riots and attacks
in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, labor
conflicts in the 1920s and 30s, the industrial growth and new immigration to
Seattle during WWII, and more recent anti-war and anti-WTO battles, among
others. Seattle also has many war memorials (both intentional and accidental),
physical reminders of wars fought here and elsewhere. Some of these places may
be buried under new development, others may have been destroyed and exist only
in memory or the archives.
Tasks:
For
this part of the class project, you will
1)
Through your own research, you will find at least one site of a physical remain
or memorial to war in Seattle and visit it in person. This site could be one of
the historical categories above, or perhaps some other way of grouping: “street
battles in the WTO protest”, or “local responses to global war”, “memorials of
obscure and forgotten wars”, etc. We will spend one section meeting
brainstorming possible ideas for these.
2)
You will visit your site and make an archaeological sketch map of it. You will
use our Google
Map based data entry tool to find the exact location of your site and get
its latitude and longitude coordinates.
3)
You will create an electronic image file of your sketch map (in jpeg format)
and email that file, along with the latitude and longitude coordinates of your
site and a short written description to your TA. Your TA will upload your files
to a course Memory Map, where your sketch map and description will be viewable
by other students in the course. Your goal is to allow people who have not
physically visited your site to see a description of it, including what it
looks like, how big it is, and how it relates to the landscape around it.
Another student will use your map for an analysis in Part 3 of this project
(see below).
Training:
We
will provide all training in how to make an archaeological field sketch map. We
will cover this in more detail in class and in sections. You will not need any
specialized equipment.
Detailed instructions:
Click here for details on creating your
sketch map and other details about completing and submitting this project
assignment.
Map Data
Entry Page (use to find the latitude and longitude of your site)
Evaluation:
Click here for details on how the instructors
will grade this assignment.
Part 2: Interviews about war
Overview:
What
most people know about war they know through storytelling. This is true not only for those far from the
battlefront, but even for those with firsthand experience of violent
conflict. Storytelling is the medium by
which combatants, witnesses, survivors, their friends and families all come to
terms with violence and create memories from it. What can, and what cannot, be told about
histories of violence shape who we are and how we think about the world around
us.
This
project invites you to engage with the complexities of memory making by
recording oral histories from Seattle area residents with stories to tell about
war. Our goal is to trace how these narratives
shape the identities and everyday experiences of people in our community – and
how those stories work to shape our
community. Wars in Europe, Latin
America, Asia and Africa were important catalysts to various waves of
immigration to the Pacific Northwest.
The continuing violence in parts of East Africa directly impact how many
Seattleites interact with one another and narrate their understandings of home,
culture, and history. The histories of
wars fought in the Seattle area are often untold or “under-heard,” but are
nevertheless critical to how we live in and experience the city. The way memories of wars in Southeast Asia
intersect with the on-going wars in Iraq and Afghanistan structure the way many
of us – especially young people – feel about our families and friends, our
nation, and our future. By placing these
interviews on our map, along with the visual archives of wars on the Seattle
landscape, we are exploring the ways in which the material and narrative
environments overlap to create a “war-scape” that
connects seemingly disparate locations in space and in time.
Tasks:
1)
Identify one person you would like to be the focus of an ethnographic interview
about war memories. How you define what
constitutes a war memory and why you choose to work with this person is up to
you, but be prepared to talk about those choices in
the terms we have been working with in this class. You will obviously need to ask permission to
do this, so be sure you outline in detail
what you would like to interview this person about and receive written
consent to conduct your interview. (A consent form is
available here)
2)
Decide how the interview will be archived.
Your end result needs to be an MP3 file, 3-5 minutes long. You may do any one of a number of things
including:
Included
in your recording needs to be a short introduction with your name and a brief
statement regarding who you are talking to and what
you are talking about. Please note that
it is OK if your interviewees prefer to remain anonymous. If that is the case, please work with the
person to find a language for describing the subject of the interview in a way
that makes them comfortable.
3) Research the topic about which you hope to
speak with this person. You will be
asking someone to share what might be very personal, perhaps even painful
memories. You need to honor your interviewee’s
time and their story by being as prepared as possible. Even if you are conducting the most open
ended of interviews, you need to be able to follow the thread of the narrative
and engage the person you are speaking with in a meaningful way.
4) Design the interview. We will go over some of the varieties of
interviews in class, and there are many possibilities. But you need to decide in advance whether you
will, for example, read from a list of prepared questions or whether you will
take a more open ended, conversational approach. You will need to choose a location to conduct
the interview and think through the implications of doing the interview in one
space as opposed to another. Whatever
format you choose, you will need to do some preparation. There is no fixed time
for how long these interviews need to be.
That will be up to you and your collaborator. They do, however, need to be longer than the
3-5 minutes of the final version. If you
need a rough guide, you might consider that 45 minutes to an hour is about the
average attention span for something like this – but that is only a rough
guide. Interviewing is an art, not a
science.
5)
Establish in advance with your interviewee what role she or he would like to
play in the editing process of the interview.
It may be that you edit the narrative together. Interviewees may simply request the chance to
hear your selections before you submit them for the class, or may not care what
you do with the material. But you need
to be sure to establish in advance what role each of you will have in cutting
down the interview.
6)
Edit the interview or narrative you are working with into a 3-5 minute segment
mp3 file.
7)
Use our Google
Map based data entry tool to find the exact location of your site and get
its latitude and longitude coordinates.
8)
Email the lat/lon coordinates, a descriptive title
for your interview, and the mp3 file (as an attachment) to your TA by Friday,
May 16, 5PM
Training:
We
will teach you basic interview skills and procedures, how to use digital
recorders, create and edit the MP3 files.
Detailed instructions:
Detailed instructions for finding
audio recording equipment on campus and creating MP3 files
How to use the Difficult Dialogues
recording equipment
Map Data
Entry Page (use to find the latitude and longitude of your site)
Cheryll Alipio's Step By Step
Guide to Interviewing
Online tutorial for
editing with Audacity
Evaluation:
Click here for details on how the
instructors will grade this assignment.
Part 3: Map reflections, analysis and dialogue
Overview:
This
course is, in some ways, a map in itself.
While we have elaborated a number of themes, ideas, histories and
questions, our real work has been to position these in relation to one another
and to position ourselves within them.
We have been mapping a warscape. This final assignment is an opportunity to
make that (re)positioning explicit.
Task:
1)
For this part of the project we ask you to select two survey points on our
collective map. One of these should be
the result of Part 1 (“Mapping the Physical Remains and Memories of War in
Seattle”) and one should be the result of Part 2 (“Interviews about War”). Neither of these can be your own project
submission. We want you to work with
someone else’s material. You should also avoid someone else’s work on a site
that you worked on. Choose two entirely new sites from the map.
2)
Plot a virtual line between these two sites on the map. This will mean writing a short paper (4 - 5.5
full double-spaced pages not including
title page or bibliography, 12 point font, 1 inch margins) that analyzes the
connection between these two points.
There are, of course, many ways in which this can be done. You might compare and contrast these two
points, examining common conceptual and historical threads or points of
divergence. You might ask what
historical forces have led to one of these sites being “memorialized” in one
way and the other forgotten, ignored, or resisted. The important thing to remember is that your
job is to map these sites in relation to one another and (as in all maps) to
the context that surrounds them. You should relate your essay to themes
presented in the class (in lectures, sections, readings, etc.). Be sure to
properly cite other people’s ideas and include a bibliography. You may use any
style of citation you’d like, but be consistent throughout your paper. For more
information about how to reference other’s work, see http://lib.washington.edu/research/wri.html
3)
Your paper should include a separate title page, including ALL of the following
information:
1. Your Essay Title:
2. Your Name:
3. Your section number:
4. Name and author of the two
sites you analyze:
a. Project part 1 (map) title:
b. Author of project part 1:
c. Project part 2 (interview)
title:
d. Author of project part 2:
4)
Save your paper as a Word document (.doc file), titled with your UW Net ID (file
should be named “xxxx.doc” where “xxxx”= your UW Net ID. If you are using Word
2007, save as “Word 97-2003 document”. Do not send a “.docx” format that Word
2007 defaults to.
5)
Email your paper to your TA by Wednesday, June 11 at 5 PM.
6) in your email text, indicate whether or not you give the
Difficult Dialogues Project Staff permission to use your paper in the Difficult
Dialogues website and report. Please use the following wording: “I do/do not
(use one) give permission to the Difficult Dialogues Project Staff to use my
paper in the Difficult Dialogues website and report”
Please
note that the paper is the default option for this assignment. With the prior permission of your TA, you may
select another genre (a film, audio file, prose piece) in which to complete
this assignment. But you MUST discuss
this with your TA in advance. Otherwise
you will be expected to turn in a paper.
Evaluation:
Click here for details on how the
instructors will grade this assignment.