Open Educational Resources
Document Type
Activity or Lab
Publication Date
Fall 11-20-2025
Abstract
Description
Walk or otherwise move through physical space ten blocks (or its equivalent) in any direction from wherever you call home. Take note of the component parts that make up your locality, including the weekly topics on our syllabus (nature, parks, cemeteries, burial grounds, buildings, restaurants, bars, theaters, temples, schools, and governance). Make a list of the histories of these components that you know, and a list of the histories that you wish you knew more about.
Where I plan to use this resource
In my LBSCI class Local and Community History Methods. This will be the first assignment of the semester, followed by other creative writing and creative research prompts throughout the semester that build on this initial surveying of students’ locality.
Goals and/or learning outcomes
Synthesize comprehension of the syllabus and course objectives; Establish student research and writing agenda for the semester; Report back to class to create place-based learning community.
How this project/resource engages Queens/place
This assignment engages place, including Queens for those who live in the borough, by requiring students to engage with their locality in a structured way according to themes represented in the class syllabus: locality, community, displacement, diaspora, maps, parks, burial grounds, buildings, restaurants, bars, theaters, temples, schools, governance, digital spaces, and local literature.
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 4.0 License.
CUNY OER Funding
CUNY OER Initiative
