LAFAYETTE TODAY
Eye on Communities
Illustration By Alisson Browne '06
“It was easy to decide what area I wanted to study for our qualitative ethnography,” says Nicole Parillo ’06, who teamed with three other students to produce a documentary
on Italian enclaves in the borough of Roseto, located up the line from the College in Easton’s county, Northampton.
“My father and his side of the family are from Roseto,” says Parillo, of Holliston, Mass., an A.B. graduate who majored in government
& law and anthropology & sociology. “I have gained a better understanding of my family heritage.”
Dan Bauer, professor of anthropology, teaches the course Qualitative Methods of Research. Ethnography is the branch of anthropology that deals with the scientific description of human cultures. The students “learn ethnography by doing it, reaching out into communities and exploring their inner workings,” Bauer says.
Six other teams produced documentaries on Easton’s Rotary Club, the people who navigate in and around Easton’s Centre Square, a homeless shelter in Bethlehem, the College’s International Students Association, football fans, and Chi Phi fraternity.
Parillo’s team compared Roseto with Boston’s North End. While there are obvious differences, she notes, they share similar practices and strive to keep traditions alive. “Rosetans have been found to live longer since they engage in a great deal of community interaction,”
she says. “Authors call it a ‘modern medical wonder.’”
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