When attempting to apply the concept of a cosmopolitan canopy to Bowdoin College, it was evident the College intended to represent the concept from the exterior. When viewed from a student’s perspective, rather than a visitor’s [or anyone not familiar with Bowdoin], the class agreed that Bowdoin did not truly represent a cosmopolitan canopy. Bowdoin is an “imagined community” based on the shared experiences of going to the College; however, it may not be a cosmopolitan canopy even though the College hopes to cultivate itself into one.
As a class, we acknowledged Bowdoin as a product of the administration. Cosmetically, the College is increasingly diverse in the terms of characteristics that comprised a class of different people, from different backgrounds, with different ideas which play an integral part in the education and the growth of individuals within our community. This image, designed by the administration, intimated a cosmopolitan canopy; however, due to the barriers of entry (education, upbringing, and admissions criteria), Bowdoin lacked the ability to function as a cosmopolitan canopy. The College attempts to create a cosmopolitan canopy by admitting a diverse student body and by hiring a diverse faculty and staff, but as Anderson elaborates, although all racial groups may be present they may not be present proportionally (16). In relation to the College, this under representation of racial groups combined with the lack of neutral or commercial spaces within the campus perpetuates a large white space. Consequently, this negates any cosmopolitan canopy from occurring outside of a limited range of spaces on campus. The College does not adequately provide enough neutral spaces that would allow for a cosmopolitan canopy, although Bowdoin tries to promote this image through their media portrayal of HL, Smith Union, Buck Fitness Center, and the dining halls on campus.
Within these spaces, students tend to cluster in groups of similarity rather than engage in folk ethnography. This occurs because these places do not necessarily provide safe spaces for students (especially white, upper-middle-class, straight students) to test their assumptions and ideas about communities of color regarding aspects of the iconic ghetto. Likewise, this does not allow for students of color to map their prejudices to the white space on the white students regardless of economic background. Folk ethnography occurred on some level in these spaces, yet lacked proportionally when aligned to include racial groups.
Professor Greene discussed this idea in relation to Bowdoin’s homecoming on campus the prior week. He explained two events happened simultaneously (intentionally); first, a BBQ, held near the football game which consisted of a large mainly white group while the second group, the AFAM, hosted a similar event at 30 College Street. This represented a community of limited liability for returning alumni, free to enter and exit as they desired. It also displayed the concept of collective memory and its application on the campus. The alumni reclaimed and shared these spaces with current students. This shared experience that a reunion and a homecoming weekend offer is interesting because it shows even through time we are connected to these alumni through place. The spaces alumni have reclaimed seem to have taken on old and similar meaning to what is present today. This can be viewed as a perpetuating cycle that is demonstrated today through the large white space that encompasses Bowdoin. The smaller racial groups on campus are avoiding the large white spaces which negate any neutral or safe space to engage in folk ethnography.
Our discussion spurred two issues, the first is that Bowdoin (as an organization) attempts to promote the campus as a cosmopolitan canopy. The second issue is the notion of the imagined Bowdoin community which arises through a shared affiliation to the College. Cosmopolitan canopies, at least as Anderson defines them, do not exist at Bowdoin. The quandary then becomes how do students on campus find and participate in cosmopolitan canopies? Do student groups (LASO, AFAM) function as cosmopolitan or spontaneous cosmopolitan canopies in relation to these large white spaces present on Bowdoin’s campus? Or does the way the College function as a white space inhibit these student groups from forming communities and engaging in folk ethnography?
I agree that Bowdoin cannot operate as a cosmopolitan canopy despite the College’s efforts to promote it as such. However, I do not agree that the main reason is because races are not represented proportionally. Though I certainly agree that an under-representation of racial groups plays a role in Bowdoin’s inability to operate as a cosmopolitan canopy, I think it has more to do with neutral spaces, or potential “canopies,” that exist. Smith Union, HL, Buck Fitness Center, Thorne Dining Hall and Moulton Union Dining Hall are all spaces where all genders and ethnicities on campus operate under one “umbrella.” What I think these spaces lack, though, is the same “intimacy” that Anderson talks about in his discussion of cosmopolitan canopies. Indeed, Anderson talks about how in the more intimate settings within the canopy, such as at a lunch counter where individuals’ elbows are brushing up against one another, people are much more likely to interact with someone who looks different from them. I think the problem with these large, neutral spaces on campus, then, is that they do not allow for this intimacy. Tables and chairs are still so spread out in these spaces that individuals, or groups of friends, are going to walk into them and pick a table to sit at without having to talk to anyone else. Groups of friends are going to walk into HL or Smith Union and pick a round table to sit at where they all face each other and therefore cut themselves off and exclude themselves from others, and most individuals are going to walk in, find their seat, put their headphones in, and do their homework. There is really no reason why students should feel compelled to strike up a conversation with other students they don’t know when they enter Smith Union or HL. Thus, I also feel that Bowdoin lacks the ability to operate as a cosmopolitan canopy because, as an elite institution where students have piles of work every day, these spaces on campus are being used as study-hubs and not places of interaction. Therefore, I think that, while certain buildings on campus intend to act as cosmopolitan canopies, they lack the intimacy and purpose that is needed to fully operate as such.
I agree with Juliana that although there are only a few spaces on campus that could qualify as cosmopolitan canopies, students in these spaces actually do almost the opposite of Anderson’s definition of folk ethnography. These spaces are where students crave their close friendships the most rather than hoping to blossom a new friendship with someone they’ve never met. When walking into Thorne, students immediately scan tables to see where there friends are sitting first. I think this has to do with the students’ desires to find comfort with finding familiar faces in these spaces rather than branch out, which may also have to do with our age. As college students, although it is a time where we want to explore and expand our interests, it is also natural for us to desire this sense of comfort in our friend groups. Do you guys agree or disagree that maybe our age plays a big role in the fact that cosmopolitan canopies don’t exist at Bowdoin?
I think this is a really interesting conversation, especially thinking about how elements of Bowdoin culture play into its ability to be or fail to be a canopy. The point about Bowdoin being a chronically busy place I think is a good one. One of the things to me that stood out about the interactions in Anderson’s piece was that they were facilitated by moments of pause: eating at the counter alone, waiting for food to be made, etc. I think that as a community we really don’t have those moments of pause built into our culture where we are able to stop studying or existing within our friend group to appreciate the other people around us enough. At least personally, I feel so busy here that when I have time to sit and eat I am either catching up with friends I have not been able to see or catching up on work I have not had time to finish.
There are a lot of points I agree with from the original post but I think one thing I am wondering about is how Bowdoin’s unique relationship with the town and its members also prohibits it from being considered a cosmopolitain canopy? Although the school certainly tries to make it seem like we authentically welcome and engage with Brunswick residents, I do not think we do. I wonder, is representation from people outside the Bowdoin student body necessary to make it a true canopy? I think personally it is necessary because otherwise we are actually being quite exclusive in addition to the ways this post mentions even just within the Bowdoin community we have exclusive tendencies.