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(Return to the CUST 2370 Home Page) . Course Projects and Activities . . The Genealogy Project Students select two Latino citizens of Oak Cliff as the focus of the genealogy project.  Like
Beverly Pratt in the photograph, students spend hours in several
sessions,
interviewing each subject regarding his or her family and extended
family.
The results is often a striking revelation of familial lines that
become
one of the most important bodies of research, both in service to the
ethnographic
studies of the community, but certainly as a very personal profile for
the subject and his or her respective relatives who might not otherwise
have ever taken the time to complete a "family tree."
.  Students
in the class, then, present their genealogies and related observations
before the entire class and invited guests that include the subjects,
their
relatives, community and academic leaders, and members of the Oak Cliff
community.
. At these public and academic meetings, students have the opportunity to meet community leaders informally and to get to know people in the neighborhood of the field house, "La Casa 'Angel Palerm.'" They also have the chance to meet members of the senior faculty and administration of The School of Social Science at the University of Texas at Dallas. Such meetings have led to four internships for members of the first two Cultural Studies classes. .. The Academic Journal The journal project is the result of specialized training in field observations introduced in both the course readings and in class lectures. Each student conducts several hours of observations in Latino subjects in the Oak Cliff community and records each hour's observations in formal journals. Following the collection of data, each student creates a summary of his or her findings and makes a formal presentation to the other members of the class at the end of the semester. . Subjects addressed in the journals may include such varied targets as patterns of worship in area churches, informal gatherings such as parties in restaurants or recreational centers, people shopping or even waiting on corners for bus or train rides. . The purpose of both projects is to train students to be objective observers and to recognize their own biases while avoiding stereotypes. . Field Trips During excursions into Oak Cliff, students become better aquainted with the history of the community and the rich variety of its many resources. Some select houses of worship while others patronize shops and restaurants. They visit galleries and museums and attend seasonal festivals. Afterwards, they record their observations and experiences in their academic journals. . and is maintained by Dr. Geoffrey Grimes. .  . . |