The Kensington Market Research Project is hosting a reception and Scan-a-thon event!
The University of Toronto Ethnography Lab, based in the Department of Anthropology, will be hosting an end-of-the-year reception to showcase the recent results of the Kensington Market Research Project. As part of the “ANTH447H1 Ethnographic Practicum: Metropolis” course directed by Dr. Joshua Barker, Associate Professor of Anthropology, eleven undergraduate students and four graduate students have been working together to conduct in-depth research about life in one of Toronto’s most celebrated neighbourhoods: Kensington Market.
Funded by the Advanced Teaching and Learning in Arts and Science (ATLAS) fund and by the Department of Anthropology, this project is in the first stages of what is anticipated to be a long-term endeavor to build an extensive digital archive about the market and the surrounding community.
For twelve weeks, from January to April 2015, students have been conducting recorded interviews and writing extensive field notes about Kensington Market residents, business owners, institutions, and street-life. The intensive, hands-on nature of the research project has given many of the students their first opportunity to practice the research methods they have learned over the course of their studies in anthropology.
The reception, which is open to the public, will serve as an opportunity for them to share their findings with the Kensington Market community, and with their fellow students and scholars. Come in anytime during the scheduled event to have a look at student posters, slide-shows, and videos, chat with them about their research, and interact with community members.
Students, faculty, and public welcome!
During the reception, the Ethnography Lab, in cooperation with the Kensington Market Action Committee (KMAC), and Friends of Kensington Market (FoKM) will be hosting a scan-a-thon event. Modeled on Professor Susan Hyatt’s historical and archival study of a unique cultural neighbourhood in Indianapolis, the scan-a-thon will offer residents and former residents of Kensington Market to share their photographs and other documents with the Ethnography Lab archive.
Students will be stationed at computers equipped with scanners, ready to upload your favourite photographs, certificates, newspaper clippings, brochures, leaflets, and other documents related to life in Kensington Market, both past and present. With your permission, these may be uploaded to the digital archive for posterity, shared on the Ethnography Lab website, or included in future publications.
As anthropologists and ethnographers, we believe it’s just as important to include evidence of the “everyday” in the historical record as it is to cherish “official” records.
We encourage anyone who has lived, worked, or played in Kensington Market to come with hard or digital copies of documents having to do with historical or contemporary aspects of the market. The top twenty or so submissions will come away with a digital copy of their scans on a personalized USB key.
I look forward to know more of what you are doing and will contribute what I can.
Great! We appreciate your interest. You can contact ethnography.lab@utoronto.ca for more info.