ethnography

When UCLA announced on March 13 that we would transition to remote instruction for the entirety of spring quarter, I had to quickly reconceptualize my graduate seminar. Like so many other instructors at my institution and elsewhere, I needed a crash course in the mechanics of online teaching.

Christopher Kirkley is an archivist, artist, curator, and occasional DJ who runs the project Sahel Sounds.

On one particularly hot week this past July during the two-week stretch of time I planned to spend at Windham Tolland 4-H Camp, Connecticut experienced a series of hot, muggy, and exhausting days. A storm was scheduled to roll in and, accordingly, rest hour was extended to protect the campers in case of thunder or lightning. Lightning indeed struck, and not just from the sky.

In June of 1944, U.S. researcher Henrietta Yurchenco and a team of Mexican government workers set out on a multi-day journey from the old mining town of Bolaños in northern Jalisco. The team, aided by donkeys carrying supplies and audio recording equipment, were on a mission—funded by the U.S.