The last I was aware, this listserv, nor any other for that matter,
required a person to give a justification for their research question
to you or anyone else.  I'm sure that any researcher has already asked
the questions you have asked and come up with a research plan but
stating the research plan in an email is not required nor wanted.  So
you want to play devil's advocate. OK.  Here's a question:  Why study
anything at all.  What do we hope to gain?  Why not let things just go
on as they have been and never look at the cultures that came before
us?  After all, all that is behind us now.
 
emily
 
 
 
---"Mark C. Branstner" <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>
> Alright folks, this query has prompted me to play devil's advocate
for a
> moment...  No offense intended to Debbie or anyone else!
>
> What the heck's the deal with Underground Railroad sites?  What are
you (we)
> expecting to find at these sites? What are the research questions
that are
> being asked or potentially answered?  What are the potential
archaeological
> contributions to these questions?
>
> Too oversimplify the issue (for arguments sake)...  How would one
recognize an
> underground railroad site without documentary evidence?  After all,
these
> "stations" are for the most part just white folks basements and/or
barns,
> where transients with virtually no personal possessions stayed on a
very
> temporary basis...  What exactly is it that you hope to find that
would
> distinguish such a temporary presence from a normative
mid-nineteenth century
> domestic assemblage?
>
> I just don't get it...  Do you expect to uncover smashed leg irons and
> abolitionist literature?  And if you don't find something that
obvious, what
> exactly do you hope to find...  And if you do find something, what
> significance would it have other than particularistic historic data
for
> display in a local museum?
>
> Yes, it sounds pretty cool (and very PC) to say you're working on an
UGRR
> site, but if we're gonna do archaeology, it better be for a reason...
>
> Mark Branstner
> Great Lakes Research Associates, Inc.
>
 
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