student research around the world and in our community
Graffiti is a universal art form, as it is easy to produce and can be found almost anywhere. Paris is no exception, where graffiti in the form of etchings, spray-painted or handwritten messages, and large murals exists throughout the city. Throughout the culturally and socioeconomically diverse neighborhoods of Paris, it is evident that the role of graffiti differs.
This essay follows an anthropological observation made at the Holocaust Memorial in Paris, October 2016. Using the technique of mapping, what Paul Kutsche has deemed “the relationship between the sociocultural behavior one observes and the physical environment,” (Kawulich 2005), I examine how visitors to the memorial interact with the site, and more specifically, how memory constructs social behaviors within certain spaces at the memorial.
This project traces the ways in which tourism and death are entangled in Paris, France focusing specifically on the Cimetière Père Lachaise located on the East side of the city. Initial observations of the cemetery provoked questions about how death becomes something to be bought and sold, especially in a city with finite space as well as the links between celebrity and death.
While I was in Paris I was interested in studying the way metro users tend to read physical, paperback books instead of reading books from an e-reader, such as a Kindle or a Nook. I analyzed this while comparing the multitudes of small, independent bookstores in Paris to the near monopoly that corporate bookstores like Barnes and Noble have in the United States.
This research project examines the importance of green spaces in urban environments by exploring the historical and present day significance of parks and gardens throughout Paris. It first addresses the historical impact of green spaces during the 1800s for sanitation and environmental reasons.
Upon walking through the flea markets of Clignancourt in Paris, one can easily observe that these markets attract a plethora of venders as well as consumers. One might also observe the consumption of deception, as in a tool used to the advantage of venders to sell objects of no or little value to consumers that will fall into the trap, and sometimes willingly. For example, two identical maps of the United States, yet one is labeled as the US in 1860 priced at 40 euros, the other labeled as the US in 1891 priced at 30 euros. The map can very well be one of the US in the year 1891, but it is completely incorrect for the year 1860, funny enough that the one that claims to be ‘older’ is the one that defies historical facts.
France has a long religious history, notably Catholicism, and now Islam since the late 19th century and early 20th century when many Muslims immigrated from French colonies, and also a strong presence of secularism both legally and culturally. My question is how religious spaces function today, such as churches and mosques, and how that may be different from their original purpose.
In the city, nature is often difficult to find. One thinks of industry, of noise, of machines, and of concrete. The concrete jungle. Flora and fauna are not strongly associated with urban landscapes, but there is still a rather nuanced relationship between nature and the city, especially for those who live outside, exposed to the elements, like the homeless population.