This semester I want my field site to be at the Trident Literacy Association’s downtown location, also known as the TC Drayton Center.  It is located on Meeting Street across from the Piggly Wiggly and next to the Sherwin Williams paint store.  The center is a non-profit that works with adults in the downtown area who are illiterate, functionally illiterate (have basic reading skills but not enough to perform everyday tasks effectively), or learning English as a second language.  The students range from 18 to as old as 83.  Most of the people who attend the center are black and live in the surrounding government housing.  The younger students usually come to prepare for the GED, while the older students usually want to learn to use computers.

I must disclose that this site is also my internship location this semester.  I am required to work there 9 hours a week.  I go on Mondays and Wednesdays from 9am to 2pm.  I spoke to my internship supervisor about the possibility of me using this as my research methods field site as well.  She has some reservations about making sure the students’ identities are protected.  I’ve promised her to run any paperwork or updates with my project by her first.

I think this field site is a good pick because I will gain a new perspective on the disadvantaged in the downtown area.  The students who come to the center are people our school system (and society to a certain extent) has failed.  But at the same time, these are people who are striving to improve themselves.  I think I’d like to look at the motivating factors that keep young students (18-22) coming in regularly as opposed to students who rarely come in or stop altogether.  I’d also like to learn why they dropped out of high school in the first place.  This is often boiled down to pregnancy, poor grades, bad teachers, etc.  However, this happens in all communities, and there are not nearly the same number of high school dropouts in white communities in the U.S.  I know this is broad right now, but I think as I start looking with my “anthropological eye” I’ll be able to narrow my focus.

I plan on making a short film.