by Erin | May 11, 2016 | Blog
Starting with a wee note from Erin: I’ve asked the students to write blog posts again. While some will post their own, I will also post a few of them on behalf of the students. This first post comes from Ally, who wrote about the first day of our course. Walking...
by Erin | Apr 16, 2016 | Blog
It’s almost time for our second season at the cemetery. This year, we thought we might make things interesting by opening up the course to students from other institutions. So… Dr Erin McGuire would like to invite interested students to apply to UVic Anth...
by Brittany Walker | Jul 3, 2015 | Blog
I often found myself to be the first to arrive at the Emanu-el cemetery during our field school sessions. There are no walls that separate this space from the busy city streets outside yet I found it strangely quiet within the cemetery. I knew no one buried there but...
by Melanie Heizer | Jun 25, 2015 | Blog
I find death to be a morbidly fascinating part of the human experience. It is something that we experience on a daily basis, whether it comes in the form of reading about it in a news article, walking past a cemetery or dealing with the loss of a loved one. I was 16...
by Steven Dawson | Jun 21, 2015 | Blog
http://www.jewishgen.org/infofiles/tombstones.html This site was compiled by the Museum of Jewish Heritage and aims to introduce common epitaphs and motifs found on Jewish grave monuments. It is considerably accessible to those with little to no experience with the...
by Steven Dawson | Jun 16, 2015 | Blog
Throughout the cemetery one can find a variety of monuments. Each displays a concise epitaph, often adorned with a traditional or personalized motif, aiming to provide a glimpse into the life of those buried before it. Some are clear, fresh, and legible; others,...
by Erin | Jun 13, 2015 | Blog
A brief review of: Reimers, Eva (1999) Death and Identity: Graves and Funerals as Cultural Communication. Mortality 4(2): 147–166. By looking at a multicultural cemetery in Sweden, Reimers looks at the connection between immigration and the preservation of culture....
by Nicole Smirl | Jun 13, 2015 | Blog
It has been an insightful and fulfilling few weeks working in the Jewish Cemetery. Having never worked in the field or done any archival work, I really didn’t know what to expect from this project or what I might learn. I’ve taken great interest in learning more about...
by Renee Adams | Jun 12, 2015 | Blog
Working in the Jewish Cemetery has been a wonderful experience. Every person that’s stopped by to say ‘hi’ has been so kind and welcoming. Rabbi Brechner invited us to the synagogue for a casual lecture about Judaism and the Victoria community that...
by Emily Hounsome | Jun 10, 2015 | Blog
Fieldwork is something that is new to me, and it has been necessary to learn many new skills to be able to accurately produce a record of this cemetery. Some skills we have learned include: how to take photographs of grave markers in ways that bring out the...
