Hi everyone, my name is Anne and I’m an
undergraduate student at Western Michigan University, majoring in Anthropology.
I am currently enrolled in Dr. Nassaney’s class, Anthropology in the Community
and completing independent study under his supervision. I plan to attend the
Fort St. Joseph Archaeological field school in the summer, but until then this
class will be the next best thing!
In this class, we are partnering with the Fort
St. Joseph Archaeological Project and will be providing it with informational
panels regarding rivers and waterways for its open house this upcoming summer.
The St. Joseph River, as I’m sure you all know, HUGELY impacts the excavation
of Fort St. Joseph and it will be the focus of our research. We will be
exploring various aspects of this waterway, and deciding upon specific themes
for our panels. Some different ideas that we have tossed around so far have
included river resources, transportation along the river, recreation, industry,
and daily life (among others). For some of these theme ideas, we have discussed
focusing on the past and present ways in which the river was/is playing a role.
One thing that I think will be very interesting to learn is how river resources
were manipulated around the time of the fort’s occupation compared to how they
are now, as well as how access to certain resources has changed over time!
In applying anthropological methods to our
research, we are hoping to better understand how anthropology can be useful in
communities. In collaborating with community members of Niles, we will gain important
knowledge of the area that one cannot just access on the Internet, as well as
tighten the bonds that the fort already maintains with the community! We will
all benefit greatly from this experience in various ways and gain a deeper understanding
of the local history. We will keep you all posted as we progress with this
project and can’t wait to learn more about the St. Joseph River!
-Anne Volpe
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