Research Blog

4/9

I have been thinking a lot about what I am going to research for the big research paper this quarter. I am very interested in music and want to write and produce a song. I am thinking that it would be really fun to write a song in the style of those of the 1970s regarding empire or something happening at this time in America. I am going to sing, play the ukulele, and attempt to play the digeridoo, an African instrument, and the Native American flute as best I can. By incorporating these instruments into the song I will create a window to analyze the place of these marginalized people during this time period. It will be somewhat difficult to get this all produced and edited into a song, but I will do my best to make it sound pleasant and mean something in terms of empire. I absolutely love music and the stories you can tell with it. Music is so important to the cultures of different societies. Some music is religious. Some music is used to bring people together for a cause or in times of trouble. And some music is written to make the listeners feel what the writer felt when they wrote it. Music is one of the most beautiful and powerful things that this world has to offer. I think that music is a big part of what makes us human, and since this is a research project for Humanities Core I think that it is a very important and relevant point of research. I am looking forward to seeing where my research will take me and how my argument will develop throughout the quarter.

4/23

I have decided that I will do my research project on the Ground Zero 9/11 Memorial in New York. I chose this as my artifact because I visited it a few years back and it brought tears to my eyes to read the names of all the lives lost that day, especially those of women’s name with “and unborn child” written below.

9/11 was one of the most traumatic events in US history, thousands of people died and have died since as consequence. This memorial, it’s vastness, and all that has gone into it and its design shows just how important this event is to America’s history.

I am looking into Langer’s work about memorialization and am interested in implementing his work into my paper.

I am planning on connecting the memorial to empire in multiple ways. I will connect how memorialization influences empire and why we remember certain events more than others. I will also be looking at the impact of the actual events of 9/11 and how this memorial and the freedom tower are important to our conceptualization of the events and the ongoing war in Afghanistan.

As time goes on and there are eventually very few or no people around who remember 9/11, they will be able to look back on footage and see the huge memorial and they will be able to better understand how important this event is in our history. It has led to the longest war in US history that is still not over. The memorial and it’s immense size conveys an accurate representation of the impact that 9/11 has had on our country.

I am excited about my topic because I have a personal connection to it and I believe it will be easy to stay interested throughout the duration of the quarter.

5/21

At this point in my research I am really starting to see the true significance of memorialization and how it is done. Memorials of the past are large and white and don’t really mean anything, they are biased and try to make you feel a certain way. The 9/11 memorial is similar to the Vietnam memorial in that it is an abstract memorial and allows people to really feel however they need to about the event, they are not guided into feeling one way or another.

The memorial is made up of 2 giant voids in the “footprints” of the twin towers symbolizing the great loss brought on by the events of 9/11. These are accompanied by many trees symbolizing rebirth and hope for the nation.

One thing that was not planned by the designer, but works out well is that the freedom tower that replaced the world trade center is located across the street, bringing an even greater sense of hope.

I am excited to see my research come together. Having just written a preliminary thesis I already know that my ideas will evolve throughout the rest of my research and drafting. This paper is a great culmination of the year, allowing us to study empire in whatever way we choose.  I’m not sure at this point where my paper will go or end up by the end of the process, but it will be interesting to find out.

9/11 is an extremely important moment in American History. We have been at war for more than a decade because of these events and will continue to lose American lives until who know when due to this controversial war.

This powerful catalyst brought American’s together to look inward and support one another in going through the loss of these lives and has changed the nation forever. It has created paranoia and grief. And this memorial is meant to bring those who have experienced this void created by 9/11 and show them that they are not alone and they are entitled to feel however they do about the events of that tragic day.