The tragic events of September 11, 2001 at the New York City, Pentagon and Shanksville, PA Flight 93 site locations was a defining day in the history of the United States and the contemporary world. The three September 11, 2001 sites, referred to as 9/11 sites, were selected for the Hit the Field assignment because these 9/11 memorial sites are at the nexus of passionate interests, career experience and global relevance, as further described below and shown in Figure 1.
First, the 9/11 sites were chosen because of my passionate interest in the topic of terrorism and the associated consequences. Research and fieldwork is hard work and time consuming, especially when you are balancing career, family and academic studies. Therefore, selecting a topic that motivates, inspires and stimulates you is paramount. Second, the war on terrorism has been an integral part of my career experience for decades from being attacked by pirates in Sierra Leone in 1982 to leading a large global organization in support of the war on modern terrorism. Finally, the 9/11 sites were chosen for this assignment because terrorism is a growing real world crisis with global relevance. A Gallup Survey of December 2015, that followed the terrorist attacks in Paris and San Bernardino, California, named terrorism as the top problem confronting Americans (Gallup.com, 2015). The 9/11 sites are symbolic of the consequences of terrorism are worthy of participant observation and qualitative analysis. 2) What was Learned at the Sites A holistic perspective learned from visiting each of the three 9/11 memorials over the course of 17 days was the level of intimacy between the actors and the memorials varied across the three 9/11 sites. The level of intimacy is defined as the emotional connection and understanding between the actors at the site and the specific site memorial. Since the three 9/11 sites shared so much in the common, such as the evil cause of terrorism and similar unthinkable horrific consequences on the same day, a quantitative based expectation was the intimacy of the actors across the three sites would not differ. In contrast, participant observation, field work (Myers, 2013), responsive interviews and reflective analysis across the three sites revealed differences in the level of intimacy, as shown in Figure 2. Coincidently, the level of intimacy increased with the sequence of my visits to each of the three memorials. The first site visited of the three memorial sites was the NYC 9/11 site. …show more content…
Although the NYC 9/11 setting and physical memorial is incredibly meaningful, many of the primary actors at the NYC 9/11 memorial were tourists who seemingly viewed the NYC 9/11 memorial like any other NYC tourist landmark. For example, numerous observers at the South Pool were taking selfies with their iPhones. Selfies are appropriate at the Statue of Liberty but taking selfies at the NYC 9/11 site seemed inappropriate behavior.
The observers at the Pentagon 9/11 site were primarily visitors who showed a higher level of intimacy with the individual nature of Pentagon 9/11 memorial. The NYC 9/11 memorial is dedicated to the remembrance of all the 9/11 victims at the three sites, whereas, the Pentagon 9/11 memorial is dedicated to the memory of the 184 individuals who perished at the Pentagon site. Finally, the actors at the Shanksville, PA site, where Flight 93 crashed into a rolling field, showed the highest level of intimacy with the PA 9/11 memorial, as shown in Figure 2. The actors at the Shanksville, PA site were more devotees who drove hours out of their way on a pilgrimage to visit a farm in the middle of nowhere in devotion to the brave passengers on Flight 93. The devotees at the PA 9/11 site interacted and bonded with each other sharing emotions and remembering sacrifices. The actors at PA 9/11 site, including the Pittsburgh Grandfather, the Chicago dad and the enlisted Army Reserve soldier did not just stop by a tourist attraction, they pre-planned a journey to a field of honor for a very distinct purpose to pay homage. A second significant perspective learned at the 9/11 sites was the individualist nature of the memorials. Increases in terrorism may result in an unfortunate categorization of lost victims into groups, events or
First, the 9/11 sites were chosen because of my passionate interest in the topic of terrorism and the associated consequences. Research and fieldwork is hard work and time consuming, especially when you are balancing career, family and academic studies. Therefore, selecting a topic that motivates, inspires and stimulates you is paramount. Second, the war on terrorism has been an integral part of my career experience for decades from being attacked by pirates in Sierra Leone in 1982 to leading a large global organization in support of the war on modern terrorism. Finally, the 9/11 sites were chosen for this assignment because terrorism is a growing real world crisis with global relevance. A Gallup Survey of December 2015, that followed the terrorist attacks in Paris and San Bernardino, California, named terrorism as the top problem confronting Americans (Gallup.com, 2015). The 9/11 sites are symbolic of the consequences of terrorism are worthy of participant observation and qualitative analysis. 2) What was Learned at the Sites A holistic perspective learned from visiting each of the three 9/11 memorials over the course of 17 days was the level of intimacy between the actors and the memorials varied across the three 9/11 sites. The level of intimacy is defined as the emotional connection and understanding between the actors at the site and the specific site memorial. Since the three 9/11 sites shared so much in the common, such as the evil cause of terrorism and similar unthinkable horrific consequences on the same day, a quantitative based expectation was the intimacy of the actors across the three sites would not differ. In contrast, participant observation, field work (Myers, 2013), responsive interviews and reflective analysis across the three sites revealed differences in the level of intimacy, as shown in Figure 2. Coincidently, the level of intimacy increased with the sequence of my visits to each of the three memorials. The first site visited of the three memorial sites was the NYC 9/11 site. …show more content…
Although the NYC 9/11 setting and physical memorial is incredibly meaningful, many of the primary actors at the NYC 9/11 memorial were tourists who seemingly viewed the NYC 9/11 memorial like any other NYC tourist landmark. For example, numerous observers at the South Pool were taking selfies with their iPhones. Selfies are appropriate at the Statue of Liberty but taking selfies at the NYC 9/11 site seemed inappropriate behavior.
The observers at the Pentagon 9/11 site were primarily visitors who showed a higher level of intimacy with the individual nature of Pentagon 9/11 memorial. The NYC 9/11 memorial is dedicated to the remembrance of all the 9/11 victims at the three sites, whereas, the Pentagon 9/11 memorial is dedicated to the memory of the 184 individuals who perished at the Pentagon site. Finally, the actors at the Shanksville, PA site, where Flight 93 crashed into a rolling field, showed the highest level of intimacy with the PA 9/11 memorial, as shown in Figure 2. The actors at the Shanksville, PA site were more devotees who drove hours out of their way on a pilgrimage to visit a farm in the middle of nowhere in devotion to the brave passengers on Flight 93. The devotees at the PA 9/11 site interacted and bonded with each other sharing emotions and remembering sacrifices. The actors at PA 9/11 site, including the Pittsburgh Grandfather, the Chicago dad and the enlisted Army Reserve soldier did not just stop by a tourist attraction, they pre-planned a journey to a field of honor for a very distinct purpose to pay homage. A second significant perspective learned at the 9/11 sites was the individualist nature of the memorials. Increases in terrorism may result in an unfortunate categorization of lost victims into groups, events or