Name of Project Members
Stephanie McNeal and Ariella Scott
Unifying Biological Concept /Theme –
Noses... the big, the strange, the kinda ugly... Our wunderkammer will look at the noses of the creatures of field museum, as well as the noses of the humans, like those who come to visit the field museum. We plan to use noses as an interesting way to look at ourselves as well as the creatures in the museum. Some of the questions posed are:
Does form always follow function when it comes to noses? How or how not?
What is considered big, strange or ugly? Why?
Possibly touch on subjects of nose acceptance, nose alterations, and the purpose of our noses in breathing practices.
Rationale for this Concept /Theme –
We are interested in this theme because we both have big noses and have immediate attraction to big noses (personal preference or genetics?? IDK) Ariella wasn't in class the first week of class when I got originally got the idea for the project, but after telling her about my idea - she was in! We are close friends - and our German/Jewish noses have become topic of conversation more than once amongst others. It doesn't make us uncomfortable now, but at least in my case, I was insecure about my big German nose for many years. So I suppose this subject is a little self-indulgent for me, but mostly I would like to shed light on nose acceptance and educate the reader about why a nose may need to be the size and shape it is. I feel like a close read of noses will shed light on the way we view natural history collections - making one critically think about the creatures in the collection they like/dislike or label cute/attractive/aesthetically pleasing/strange/ugly/gross/beautiful.... and so on...
A discussion board, I stumbled upon today, Big Nose Appreciation Discussion Board, fleshed out some of the form and functions of specific sorts of human noses and brought in some concepts discussed in class. Page one is pictures of a famous German woman... so skip that if you don't want to see a bunch of pictures.
Media format of the project
I want to keep it simple this time, NOT THAT I DIDN'T LOVE everything that comes with shooting a video for the first project. I did. I just wish I had more time to do the fine tuning and additional research that I wanted to do. I feel like this time if I keep the format of my project simple and familiar I will have the time to do the research I want to do. I am thinking .pdf featuring 8-12 kinds of unique noses would be an effective way to present.
Possible, specific items or components to include in your wunderkammer (so far)
I want to include as many items from the field museum as possible... so I suppose I need to roam a little bit more to get a sense of the great variety of noses to choose
As of right now I have documented and had on my mind the following...
Neanderthal
Saiga
Long-Nosed Bandicoot
Southern Tamandua
Short Beaked Echidna
Human
Hi Stephanie,
ReplyDeletePlease see my comments of Ariella's post.
I think having a PDF downloadable pamphlet guide to noses in the Field could be great. I think if you couple it with a podcast that would also be really good, especially since you r dealing with a sensory organ, having the more senses engaged, the better?
Your initial list of organisms is good. I would hope that elephants would be a part of the discussion? You may also want to do some research on T rex's sense of smell. I think anteaters might also be in the mix. I think there is also something about noses in the Egyptian section? Might want to check it out.
Some first thouhts,
best,
ay
Thanks Andy! Excited to start research and will use you examples!
Deletehey
ReplyDeleteI like this idea of following the form/function of the animals with such a specific feature and especially one that I'm sure most people don't consider when looking at animals besides elephants. To consider the "attractiveness" of this feature among species would be pretty interesting, along with how strong their sense of smell is, and how vital is it for their survival.
Could be interesting on some of those animals, to find close relatives that maybe don't share their distinctive noses, and talk about why they have evolved differently.
-guille
Thanks for the response!
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