What is an empire? How do empires shape everyday life? Can ordinary people change the course of empires?
The StoryMaps presentations created for this class draw from the full suite of methods and theories normally reserved for the study of ancient empires—namely archaeological, material, visual, documentary, and spatial studies—in order to answer these questions and explore the inner workings of imperial formations. In particular, we focus on the people inhabiting the imperial spaces of New York City. Over the course of the semester, the class analyzed comparative case studies, objects, documents, visual sources, and the built environment in order to understand how empires shaped the ways that ordinary people made their homes and livelihoods as well as how they thought about themselves within imperial frameworks. In the process, we also considered how these same sources reveal the power of everyday activities to transform imperial formations from the bottom up. Finally, we considered how these earlier imperial formations live on and structure life in the present.
The fifteen student projects created for this class bring together a wide range of case studies from New York City. These sites include Seneca Village, the African Burial Ground, Governor’s Island, Ellis Island, various streets and locations in Lower Manhattan, as well as Wallabout Bay and the subsequent Navy Yard. Each project explores the lived experiences of imperial occupation and their impact upon the present-day composition and structure of the city. The creators have approached these sites creatively, attentive to the multisensory, embodied, and intersectional ways that people experienced imperialism. For this reason, the authors have explored these sites through media such as soundscapes, poetry, artwork, fiction, and other multimedia presentations.
- Caitlin Cacciatore, The African Burial Grounds: A Journey
- Ashley Chen, Reclaiming Indigenous Power on Ellis Island
- Yasmeen Abuhammoud, Stories of the Silenced
- Stephanie Eisenberg, Seneca Stories
- Caspar Gajewski, Seneca Village
- Ingrid Gendler, Mapping NYC | Pearl Street
- Christine Go, When Trade Took Over
- Victor Guindi, Wallabout Bay and Navy Yard
- Ursula Hansberry, The Remnants of Seneca Village
- Julia Hunt, The Seaport District
- Ethan Kalaty, Alfonso’s Journey
- Christian Lemus, Lenape Cultural Restoration
- Adhokshaya (AD) Malhotra, The Wall and Water Streets: An Unknown Reality
- Hajra Shaukat, The African Burial Ground
- Christina Xia, Humble Beginnings of South Street Seaport