This assignment is a hypothetical exercise. For this assignment, imagine you will suddenly need to leave the area you are currently living in and travel by foot (or wheel chair/other mobility aid if you normally use one, but not any vehicles) about 1,500 miles (about 2,400 km) (for example, if you are currently in Reno, Nevada this would put you in about Kansas City, Kansas if you traveled East, or around Edmonton, AB, Canada if you traveled North, etc.). You can pick any new destination that is roughly 1,500 miles away from your current location (as a note, this is about the distance many migrants travel to get to the United States).
For this assignment, please: Create a visual presentation with voice-over (a Power Point presentation with speech, Prezi, a video, uploaded images with voice-over, etc.). You can be creative with this assignment so long as there are both audio and visual elements. Make sure that you answer all of the 10 questions about in your presentation. OR You will need to write a 3-page (minimum) paper that includes at least 5 visual aids (such as pictures of maps, items, etc.). Make sure that you answer all of the 10 questions about in your paper. (Please note that large images will not count towards the total length of your paper.) This assignment was inspired, in part, by “The Social Life of Things Download The Social Life of Things” featured on page 476 of Chapter 13 in the textbook “Cultural Anthropology: A Toolkit for a Global Age” (Guest 2020)1.(I have linked that reading here Download here.) In that excerpt the discussion of what people carry, and discard, as they travel (often by foot) across borders is presented as a site for archaeological and material culture research. Additionally, in the video “The Trek: A Migrant Trail to America | The Whole Story with Anderson Cooper (CNN 2023)” (found within Chapter 8 Videos / Pre-Reading Links) the abandoned material objects were shown as sometimes the sole remaining evidence that a person existed, and passed through. This assignment is a hypothetical exercise. For this assignment, imagine you will suddenly need to leave the area you are currently living in and travel by foot (or wheel chair/other mobility aid if you normally use one, but not any vehicles) about 1,500 miles (about 2,400 km) (for example, if you are currently in Reno, Nevada this would put you in about Kansas City, Kansas if you traveled East, or around Edmonton, AB, Canada if you traveled North, etc.). You can pick any new destination that is roughly 1,500 miles away from your current location (as a note, this is about the distance many migrants travel to get to the United States). You can take whatever you want on your imaginary journey, so long as you could carry it. Also, consider that you would likely not be welcomed at borders, and consider the environment, season/s, and terrain of the distance you would, hypothetically, be traveling; along with how you would meet your basic needs along the way, and once you arrived at your destination. Cover these questions in your presentation: What are your starting and end points (e.g. Reno to Edmonton, etc.); what is the exact distance in miles or kilometers? Realistically, about how long would it take you to get there by foot (considering distance, your average rate of speed, rest time, overnight stops etc.). What are the various environments and terrains you would be passing through; include weather forecasts and what would be your plans for dealing with different weather during the different seasons. How would you plan to meet your basic human needs (food/water/shelter) while traveling. Describe the items you would, hypothetically, bring with you. You would be leaving everything else you own behind. Why would these items be useful, needed, and/or meaningful? Are any of these items culturally significant (not just basic human needs)? Which ones, how so? Now imagine you had to discard several items along the way (at least two or more items); which items would you discard? What would be the most likely reason you would have to discard these items, where would they mostly likely be discarded, and why did you choose those particular items to discard? What would be your plan once you arrived at your destination in terms of work, resources, contact, legal issues, etc.? You may add any other relevant details or ideas to this outline if you want, so long as you cover the basic 9 points above.
