Maps, Films, and Research: Pacific Perspectives and American Presence
Clancy Wilmott, Professor
Geography
Applications for Fall 2024 are closed for this project.
In partnership with a wide range of Pacific-based organizations including Fåha’ Digital Media, Pacific Islanders in Communication, the Northern Marianas Humanities Council, and Blue Ocean Law, this wide-ranging research consists of two central projects:
- Researching, compiling and mapping films about Pacific Islander stories, made by or in partnership with Pacific Islander artists and communities.
- Researching and compiling information about the US military presence in the Marianas from WWII to the present, as well as its possible physical and mental ramifications among Marianas residents.
Role: This role involves researching, compiling, transcribing, and otherwise organizing footage and archival materials relating to the US’s presence (military and otherwise) in the Marianas. These research projects are hosted by studio.geo-? (studiogeo.berkeley.edu), an experimental cartographic design studio comprised of faculty, graduate and undergraduate students across Geography and the Berkeley Center for New Media. Some tasks may include working directly with the Critical Pacific Island Studies Collective, a coalition of Berkeley graduate students and Marianas community members interested in studying US military presence in the Marianas and greater Pacific.
This role is specifically designed for undergraduates who have or are seeking experience in research, GIS, archive management, and/or data management, and would like to contribute to impact-driven academic work.
You will gain experience in:
- collaboration with a team of faculty, graduate and undergraduate students
- independent film research
- working with archival collections and film footage
- knowledge transfer and community outreach
- Indigenous mapping critique, theory and practice
- spatial data archiving, practices and management
Day-to-day duties will include:
- compiling and organizing research materials
- military history research in online collections
- sorting and assigning keywords to interviews and historical documents
- Geo-data management
- working as part of a team
Qualifications: This position would suit an undergraduate student with an interest in film, research, archive management, Pacific Islander studies, environmental justice, and/or public health. We are not discipline-specific and welcome applications from undergraduates from across the spectrum of majors + minors.
Required:
- Goal-oriented, time management skills
- Ability to learn quickly and follow instructions
- Exceptional attention to detail
Desirable but not essential:
- Experience working with web mapping
- Filmmaking experience
Day-to-day supervisor for this project: Sophia Perez, Graduate Student
Hours: to be negotiated
Engineering, Design & Technologies Digital Humanities and Data Science