Who we are
The Buildings-Landscapes-Cultures (BLC) collaborative project at UW Milwaukee and Madison is an interdisciplinary research track concentrating on the examination of the physical, cultural and social aspects of our built environment. Fieldwork plays an important role in this program and a cross-campus fieldwork school is a special offering of this project. Buildings-Landscapes-Cultures field schools provide students with an immersive experience in the field recording of the built environment and cultural landscapes and an opportunity to learn how to write history literally “from the ground up.” At BLC we write about stuff - cities, forests, buildings and objects – just about anything we can touch and hold. Material objects are powerful not only because they fill up our world, our homes and ultimately our landfills, but also because we desire and reproduce them incessantly, creatively and carefully. Of all objects we love, places hold special significance for us because we inhabit and occupy them. Places are also repositories of stories, dreams, memories and feelings – all those complex intangibles that make us who we are. Our identity and histories are place-based. Our bodies move in and occupy place. Our actions take place in a location and during such action-filled moments we become who we are.
Project Team:
Arijit Sen (UWM), Chelsea Wait (UWM), Grace Fuhr (HMI), Tanya Fonseca (Agape Community Center) Kelly Jo Noack, History Lucas John Wolff, History Megan Elizabeth Shuemate, History Monica Margaret Drake, History Niles William Niemuth, History Cynthia Anderson, Architecture Nathan Robert Beyer, Architecture Stephanie L Jones De Palma, Architecture Elizabeth Jean Leabru, Architecture Graham David Caflisch, Architecture Ariel Gonzalez Milan, Architecture Abida Bibi, Academic Opportunity Center Ching-In Chen, English Patricia Torres Najera, Education Nirmal Raja, Arts Geoff Grohowski, Community member Chad Allen Johnson, Community member Monica Frost, MArch 2012 Community Scholars and Collaborators Project Consultants: Jasmine Alinder (UWM) Michael Frisch and Judith Weiland (Randforce Associates), Michael Gordon (UWM) Jeffrey Klee (Colonial Williamsburg Foundation), Erin Dorbin (Hey Man Cool! Digital History Productions) |