Protecting a Sanctuary: The Cle Elum Seven.
Document Type
Oral Presentation
Campus where you would like to present
SURC 135
Start Date
16-5-2013
End Date
16-5-2013
Abstract
In August 2012, the Taylor Bridge Fire raged through 36 square miles of dry grassland northeast of Ellensburg, destroying 61 homes and hundreds of outbuildings. How communities and individuals deal with disasters is an area of growing interest for researchers. As the instructors of the Professional Writing and Visual Anthropology classes, we combined the approaches of our disciplines, to have our students work on joint projects to gain insight into the experiences of people affected by the Taylor Bridge Fire--be they people who were threatened by or suffered losses to the fire, or members of the community who worked on rescue or helped report the course of events to the public. The students collaborated with each other and with their subjects, many of whom were tired of dealing with news media but remained open to exploring their experience more on their own terms. These shared projects, combining words and images, create a vehicle for conveying lived realities of the Taylor Creek Fire. Here we present a selection of the projects, individual portraits which collectively cast light on broader issues of threat, loss, community and recovery in the context of disaster.
Recommended Citation
Woodhouse, Brea and Newbury, Nichole, "Protecting a Sanctuary: The Cle Elum Seven." (2013). Symposium Of University Research and Creative Expression (SOURCE). 29.
https://digitalcommons.cwu.edu/source/2013/creativeexpression/29
Additional Mentoring Department
Anthropology
Additional Mentoring Department
English
Protecting a Sanctuary: The Cle Elum Seven.
SURC 135
In August 2012, the Taylor Bridge Fire raged through 36 square miles of dry grassland northeast of Ellensburg, destroying 61 homes and hundreds of outbuildings. How communities and individuals deal with disasters is an area of growing interest for researchers. As the instructors of the Professional Writing and Visual Anthropology classes, we combined the approaches of our disciplines, to have our students work on joint projects to gain insight into the experiences of people affected by the Taylor Bridge Fire--be they people who were threatened by or suffered losses to the fire, or members of the community who worked on rescue or helped report the course of events to the public. The students collaborated with each other and with their subjects, many of whom were tired of dealing with news media but remained open to exploring their experience more on their own terms. These shared projects, combining words and images, create a vehicle for conveying lived realities of the Taylor Creek Fire. Here we present a selection of the projects, individual portraits which collectively cast light on broader issues of threat, loss, community and recovery in the context of disaster.
Faculty Mentor(s)
Lene Pedersen, Katharine Whitcomb