Local Latinx Histories and Geographies

For this community engaged research project, GEOG 4100 Directed Applied Research (DAR) students (geography and geographic information science majors) are working with Dr. Paul McDaniel and Prof. Uli Ingram in partnership with English 1102 Honors class with Dr. Rochelle Harris-Cox (a portion of the information below is adapted from the project overview document for her class) to design and conduct an inquiry into local Latinx histories and geographies in Cobb County and Marietta in partnership with the Marietta Museum of History. The museum has identified an area of research need for this local community. This research material will assist the museum curator, Amy Reed, and museum staff in assisting visitors and residents as well as allow for future exhibit material. This research material will be collected in the museum archive, which both museum staff and museum visitors can access.

A primary goal of the project is to conduct research on local Latinx histories and geographies to contribute to an institutional archive designed to serve Cobb County and Marietta residents. A second key goal is to engage high quality primary and secondary research and analysis that are developed into thoughtful outputs with an attention to genre and audience. Lastly, a goal is to experience interesting, engaging, and fun materials that, hopefully, are interesting, engaging, and fun to research and create.

• Engage with national, state, and local Latinx histories and geographies by drawing on a variety of primary and secondary sources. These sources may include exhibits, digital archives, physical archives, community and university libraries, primary sources, census data, other secondary data sources, spatial data, GIS data, scholarly literature and other readings.
• Design and implement a research project about the geography of Latinx settlement in Cobb County. This will contribute to and complement the materials and historical compositions that will be created by the students in the English 1101 Honors course section, which will lead to a broad base of materials for this project for the museum. This will involve:
  • Selecting inquiry questions that guide the project.
  • Selecting topics and methodologies for the research (will at least need to include the collection, analysis, and spatial GIS visualization of census data about the geography of Latinx settlement in Cobb County.
  • Meeting and working with the professor and occasionally meeting with other students and professors, and museum staff, who may also be involved with this project.
  • Documenting individual and collaborative work on the project.
  • Considering the needs, interests, and goals of the community partner (Marietta Museum of History).

• Develop deliverables for the museum that include:
  • Bibliographic material representing secondary sources (scholarly literature about the topic and study area).
  • Databases and data visualizations based on secondary data sources (such as census data) about the geography of Latinx population in Cobb County.
  • Maps representing the geography of Latinx population in Cobb County over time.
  • A research paper about your findings from this project.
  • A finished, complete set of materials to the museum site in an accessible format that archives and organizes the results of the project inquiry.
• Participate thoughtfully, equitably, and effectively in a collaborative environment.
  • As this is a community partner collaboration, the project will need to be flexible and responsive to feedback from other project partners and community collaborators. In a community engagement partnership project such as this one, the actual data discovered, scheduling conflicts, and other issues may require changes along the way.
• Reflect on the experiences with and learning during this project.

To be successful in this project you will need a familiarity with and understanding of: acquiring peer-reviewed and other reference sources; how to access, acquire, and analyze secondary quantitative data from the U.S. Census Bureau and other data sources; creating visuals (i.e. graphs, charts, tables) from secondary data such as census data; GIS mapping software to create maps based on secondary quantitative data such as census data.

Dr. Rochelle Harris-Cox, Department of English

Dr. Paul McDaniel, Department of Geography and Anthropology

Prof. Uli Ingram, Department of Geography and Anthropology

Undergraduate researchers presented their applied research at the virtual KSU Symposium of Student Scholars on April 16, 2020:

• Brittney Brown (geography major in GEOG 4100 supervised by Dr. McDaniel) presented her research, "Geographic Study of Latinx Immigrant-Owned Markets in Cobb County, Georgia." 
• Cole Thompson (GIS major in GEOG 4100 supervised by Prof. Ingram) presented his research, "Hispanic Demographics in Cobb County."
• Tim Willson (GIS major in GEOG 4100 supervised by Prof. Ingram) presented his research, "Cobb County: A Tapestry of Diversity."

Geography 4100 Directed Applied Research students and English 1101 Honors students prepared applied deliverables to the Marietta Museum of History for general audience use.