One of the most interesting aspects of the course (one that we truly did not have enough time to explore further) was our trip to LaVilla Museum in Downtown Jacksonville. We had the honor of having distinguished local historian, Dr. Carolyn Williams, as our tour guide, and that single aspect illuminated all the intersecting issues between Charleston SC and Jacksonville (as urban black communities negotiating an ongoing resistance against urban renewal and erasure. We also learned about the "shotgun" houses located in the area that represent the beginnings of a preservation effort- definitely situating the communities in the area as connected to their coastal kin up and down the SE Coast
Engaging the Ethnographic Imagination: Anthropology of Gullah/Geechee
Dr. Melissa D. Hargrove
University of North Florida, Spring 2010
In 2008, I applied for a University TLO (Transformational Learning Opportunity) Grant to fund community engagement activities for a select group of students -- in order to share a handful of my own transformative experiences conducting anthropological research among the Gullah/Geechee. Join us as we visit:
CHARLESTON, SC to see first-hand how heritage politics and tourism agendas shape our common sense notions of history at the intersection of race and space;
KINGSLEY PLANTATION in Duval County FL, to vocalize the muted significance of Gullah/Geechee ancestors as the builders, creators, and repositories of knowledge that made the region rich-- using anthropological puzzle pieces to firmly situate Northeast Florida as the anchor of the Gullah/Geechee Cultural Heritage Corridor;
ST. HELENA ISLAND, SC, just off the coast of Beaufort, to engage in dialogue and educational workshops with community leaders, elders, artisans, entrepreneurs, and musicians (and maybe even a few deer during our camping trip to Hunting Island); and
DOWNTOWN JACKSONVILLE-- into the heart of our fair city of the New South... to discover a majestic black world that only remains in pictures, songs, and scattered memories-- yet offers a fertile and deserving landscape right at our backdoor where the lessons of this journey may be of use in our efforts to learn from the past and create a better future for us all.
One of the most interesting aspects of the course (one that we truly did not have enough time to explore further) was our trip to LaVilla Museum in Downtown Jacksonville. We had the honor of having distinguished local historian, Dr. Carolyn Williams, as our tour guide, and that single aspect illuminated all the intersecting issues between Charleston SC and Jacksonville (as urban black communities negotiating an ongoing resistance against urban renewal and erasure. We also learned about the "shotgun" houses located in the area that represent the beginnings of a preservation effort- definitely situating the communities in the area as connected to their coastal kin up and down the SE Coast
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