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EthnoSketch: Peopling a Project

On the "peopling" sketch, "catalysts" are things (money, honorable reputation, etc) that enable that group of people to get what they want.

EthnoSketch: Historicizing a Project

This sketch should include at least ten events that had significance in the historical build up to your project space -- from your perspective, and from the perspective of people in your various “d

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michael.lee

The authors primarily rely on anecdotal evidence provided through interviews and testimonies presented by disaster survivors. They supplement this anecdotal evidence with data from analysis of the socioeconomic conditions following a disaster and from analysis of the mental health disorders suffered by patients who were affected by the disaster. 

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michael.lee

The author primarily discusses the disaster investigation surrounding the aftermath of the 9/11 World Trade Center disaster. Dr. Knowles presents the investigation as having been marred by jurisdictional conflicts, clashes of authority among powerful institutions, competition among experts, and political pressure from both the public and the government. He argues that this phenomenon is not unique to the World Trade Center collapse but has occurred throughout every major disaster investigation in the United States, including the burning of the US Capitol Building in 1814, the Hague Street boiler explosion and building collapse in New York in 1850, and the Iroquois Theater Fire in Chicago in 1903. He argues that disaster investigation is not the "dispassionate, scientific verdict of causality and blame" but is instead a "hard-fought contest to define the moment in politics and society, in technology and culture."