Hello!

            I am a senior at Tufts University majoring in Anthropology, Environmental Studies and Community Health.  My first experience doing anthropological fieldwork was for a project titled “The Lost Theatres of Somerville.”  Over the course of a semester I interviewed a number of former Somerville residents about their experiences attending any of the fourteen neighborhood theatres that were once located in the city.  We discussed such issues as the role of movie theatres in building communities for newly arrived immigrants at the turn of the century, as well as the role of movies in helping children learn about the world outside of their home-life.  I thoroughly enjoyed the experience, and the next summer was lucky enough to be offered an internship that combined fieldwork, community building and environmental health issues.  For three months I was working for the Boston Public Health Commision’s Environmental Health Office on a community driven redevelopment project of vacant land in Jamaica Plain.  I attended community meetings and became familiar with the different active community organizations.  My main purpose was to interview representatives from different community groups about their relationship with the Jamaica Plain community in order to develop a context for their work on the specific redevelopment project.  In addition, I would introduce environmental health issues related to redevelopment, and gather support among the community groups so that in their guidelines for developers there would be regulations addressing such issues as waste management, energy efficiency and so on.  Overall it was a wonderful experience.  I am currently working on a project with Latinos in Somerville about the significance of Latino soccer leagues to the community.  I am very excited to learn and get involved with such a culturally rich microcosm of the larger Somerville community, as well as to continue my experiences in the field.  I hope to come out of this with a body of work that is both useful and relevant to the Latino community, and helps me to better understand the Somerville community within which I live.