Oviya Govindan Annotations

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What kind of image is this? Is it a found image or created by the ethnographer (or a combination)? What is notable about its composition | scale of attention | aesthetic?

Monday, March 2, 2020 - 6:12pm

The image is created by the ethnographer through juxtaposing two different images. The striking aspect of this visualization is that the unity sculpture seems like it is under construction, which lends itself to the argument that the unity itself is a construction.

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How does this visualization (including caption) advance ethnographic insight? What message | argument | sentiment | etc. does this visualization communicate or represent?

Monday, March 2, 2020 - 6:10pm

This visualization argues that the unity sculpture and the comeback of Muskegon's downtown brackets out the racial segregation in this region.

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Can you suggest ways to enrich this image to extend its ethnographic import?

Monday, March 2, 2020 - 3:19pm

I liked the argument that the visualization is trying to make. The visualization could be clearer to highlight the spatial distribution of where exactly the new symbol being built will be placed and how it is located with respect to the census distribution along racial lines. For example could you make the map into an actual boundary map and show with contrasting colors the census distribution, and then insert the image in the middle? And what do you mean when you ask for who is this a comeback--is this something you can show visually as well? Instead of a juxtaposition, how about two maps--one of the racial distribution, and one which is an imaged map of Muskegon as envisioned by the "pure muskegon" people?

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What does this visualization (including caption) say about toxics?

Monday, March 2, 2020 - 3:14pm

Two registers of toxicity emerge from this visualization--one, the idea of "pure Muskegon" which is tied to a comeback and revival of the area, which seems to be a form of toxicity by itself in that it enacts a particular visualization about pureness and futurity. The image itself wasn't clear but it seems to be an image of the unity symbol "under construction", which highlights how futurity and pureness is also under construction. the second, is about historical racial divide which is a sort of toxicity that is visible through the map.

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