E. Pierre Morenon

Pierre Morenon (Rhode Island College) and Tonya Largy (Independent Consultant)

Jan. 17: Elizabeth Stevens, Ph.D., editor of Rhode Island History, Sandra Enos, Ph.D., Bryant University associate professor, and Pierre Morenon, Ph.D., associate professor of anthropology at Rhode Island College, will examine how the Rhode Island State Home and School for Children allows for the reconstruction of critical pieces of history and culture, such as ideas on childhood, child raising practices, institutional structures, and landscape design.

• E. Pierre Morenon, Associate Professor of Anthropology,Rhode Island College, Providence, RI

Carolyn Fluehr-Lobban (Rhode Island College); David Price (St. Martin's College); Gerald D. Berreman (University of California, Berkeley); Pierre Morenon (Rhode Island College); Tracey Keogh (Roger Williams Park Museum); The Hui Malama of Hawai'i; Jennifer Hope Antes (Museum Anthropologist); David Hakken (SUNY College of Technology); Ann Kingsolver et al. (University of South Carolina).

2:30 - Tonya Largy, M.A., Consultant in Archaeobotany, and Pierre Morenon, Ph.D., Rhode Island College

"These memorials can be a really important tool in understanding the evolution of the grieving process," said E. Pierre Morenon, an Anthropologist at Rhode Island College.

As someone who has noticed the growing number of memorials throughout the state, Morenon says he is "fascinated" with the trend, and sees parallels between modern roadside memorials and observances conducted thousands of years ago by Native American tribes.

"It's always been important to people to commemorate the place where an event happened," he said of the connection."I think that's something that's true for a lot of people."

Morenon said that distinguishing characteristic of the memorials he has seen on roadsides throughout the state is the variety of emotions they convey.

"It's possible to see the whole spectrum," he said."It can be very revealing in the sense that people can put a lot of themselves into it."

Despite his interest in memorials, Morenon said that tragic circumstances behind them create a delicate situation for academic study.

"You would have to be careful about any kind of study of these sites," he said."Emotions are very much a part of these sites, so you can't evaluate them with a ‘this is good, this is bad' type attitude."

When asked about the role of preservation efforts regarding these sites, Morenon spoke of a "crescendo of responsibility."

"If we're going to preserve these sites," he said, "I think everyone has an obligation to contribute.The family, the local community, even the state and federal government.

The name of E. Pierre Morenon, an assistant professor of anthropology at Rhode Island College, was misspelled in a story yesterday about archaeology history in Rhode Island.

RIC ANTHROPOLOGIST E. Pierre Morenon has begun to literally dig into the State Home's past, leading an excavation project that so far has uncovered numerous marbles, buttons, and other remnants of the children's toys and clothes.

Elizabeth Stevens, Ph.D., editor of Rhode Island History, Sandra Enos, Ph.D., Bryant University associate professor, and Pierre Morenon, Ph.D., associate professor of anthropology at Rhode

There's a lot more to a cemetery than a bunch of stone markers, said Pierre Morenon, an associate professor of anthropology at Rhode Island College, whose students study burial places."Graveyards are just really interesting places."

But, he said, as with most people, "a lot of our students have never been in one before and have never looked at them this way."
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Morenon said one reason for that is that the early cemeteries were seen as landscaped areas where people could go and enjoy nature, while also paying tribute to the dead.