Playful and multi-sensory fieldwork: seeing,hearing and touching New York

Geographical fieldwork is being reinvigorated through pedagogical and methodological innovations. Yet, while there are many good ideas in circulation, there is less evidence of where these ideas are taking us: what students are getting out of them, and what significance they may have for the discipline. These questions are explored through case studies involving playful and multi-sensory fieldwork: collecting sounds, urban climbing, finding “accidental art” and getting lost. Students tend enjoy this approach to fieldwork, which inspires them to learn actively and creatively, fosters the acquisition of new skills and explores the broader possibilities of playful and multi-sensory geographies.     

Blood,Justice, and American Citizenship: An Interpretation of Gangs of New York

An ironic exploration of Aristophanes' anticipation of many of the doctrines of postmodernism including the notions that social conventions can be deconstructed, that speech constructs reality, and that poets, or writers, are the creators of human horizons. Despite his seeming agreement with postmodernists, Aristophanes comes to quite different conclusions about how readily the "truth" of postmodern ideas should be disseminated. Aristophanes' Clouds is examined as a postmodern text.     

闹市中的绿洲 纽约中央公园

正乘飞机在纽约上空飞过,楼群的顶端像陡峭的山峰,高低起伏、错落有致,这是纽约上空特有的情调。一片绿洲映入眼帘,好似一张台球桌,安置在城市纵横交错的街道网络的怀抱中。这就是纽约的中央公园(Central Park),它是纽约的骄傲,与自由女神、帝国大厦等同为纽约乃至美国的象征。纽约中央公园是纽约最大的公园,     

纽约新唐人

屋子的墙上歪七扭八地挂着几张一个老男人的画像.马文翰斜睨了几眼画像上的男人,就把墙上的画挨张撕下来,扯碎了.他心里无比地厌恶画上的老男人,那是一个来美国已经二十多年的福建人,如今,福建人已经拥有一家餐馆.马文翰在他那里打工.但是就在昨天,福建人当着那么多客人的面,冲着马文翰吼道:"你真的以为美国的盘子比国内好刷?"然后甩过几十块钱来.鱿鱼就是在这短短的几分钟内炒就的,可马文翰现在也不明白到底是什么原因.画都撕完了,但他重新陷入焦虑之中:明天怎么办呢?     

Reconstructing the massacre at Fort William Henry,New York

Fort William Henry, in upstate New York, was the site of a legendary siege and massacre in 1757 during the French and Indian War. As part of the terms of surrender, the British garrison was to retreat with all their arms and possessions, thus denying the Indian allies of the French their spoils of war. Contemporaneous and fictionalized accounts of the resulting massacre have often been regarded as exaggerations of actual events. Five men buried in a mass grave within the fort, known as the crypt, however, were clearly victims of the massacre. These men were among the sick and wounded who were unable to make the 15 mile (24 km) journey to Fort Edward and were left in the care of the French. Four of the five men sustained pre-mortem leg trauma that would have resulted in their hospitalization and prevented them from walking. The other massive perimortem trauma on these remains vividly depicts the results of the massacre. Three of the five men were shot in the knee; two of these three were shot elsewhere as well. One man was decapitated. Both the front and back of all the bodies bear cut marks, probably from the use of both axes and long-bladed knives as weapons. The numerous gashes in the thoracic and pelvic regions indicate the men were mutilated. Our analysis of the remains from this mass grave confirms and enhances the historical accounts of the massacre at Fort William Henry. The skeletons of these five men provide gruesome testimony of the assault to which they were subjected.