..:recycled minds:..

Views from the ANThill: Indigenous Knowledge, Development and Trust

noreply@blogger.com (dooglas carl) — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 16:11:00 +0000

A Healing Garden in southern Belize.
Photo courtesy of douglas reeser.

Here in Belize, I'm working on a number of what might be called "development" projects. Basically, I've been partnering with a few different organizations, all working on a type of traditional healing garden, each one of which aim to preserve and pass on traditional (indigenous or local) knowledge, educate youth, and provide a means of income generation. Each organization is built on ethnic background, and so each project is working with a traditional knowledge system specific to each ethnic group. Still, there is a good deal of overlap, as each group's knowledge is derived from the same environmental conditions. Each of the projects are at various stages of development or execution and each has faced its own challenges. I have come to realize that this is likely the path that each must take to have a chance at success. Most agree that success will include a multi-ethnic healing garden in a central location that offers a space for the wider community to spend time and share.

Just as each healing garden project has its own unique trajectory, my role in each has also been variable. It has become a challenge for me to keep the distinctiveness in mind has I work towards successful project outcomes. I decided to look for some reference to help make sense of my experience here, and I came across an article by anthropologist, Paul Sillitoe, "Trust in development: some implications of knowing in indigenous knowledge." The article is a reflection on the lessons learned through the Indigenous Knowledge (IK) Initiative implemented in the highlands of Papua New Guinea, and intended to give local voices and practices more prominence in development projects. Sillitoe examines the idea of knowledge, and explains that the word’s meaning can vary from context to context and culture to culture. He posits that while defining exactly what IK is and means, we can find some form of it everywhere around the globe. Today, IK has become a central means of addressing poverty in the global development agenda, however it has yet to be utilized very effectively; i.e., IK has not been brought into the dominant technological and market mainstream, and poverty reduction has not been a fully successful outcome of most development schemes.

Sillitoe goes on to bring up trust as one of the fundamental issues in regards to successful development projects that must also be participatory with local communities. Development practitioners have so far been loathe to fully trust in IK and reticent to give up their own power in regards to the shape and outcome of development projects. In turn, local communities have often returned that distrust due to betrayals of the participatory process. Distrust then, can spoil the best-intentioned projects. Sillitoe points out that trust is so central to human interaction that we largely take it for granted. Trust is learned at a very early age and is embedded in our language and its use. He posits that it may carry more weight in oral cultures, as knowledge gained through experience (embodied knowledge) is the most trust-worthy.

This embodied knowledge is often the most valued to indigenous groups, and can be said to comprise the basis of indigenous knowledge. Sillitoe explains that IK is comprised of “the ways that [people] constitute, authorize, and validate their knowledge” (13). The meaning of knowledge can be described as “justified belief or truth” (14), and is recognized as arising from experience and the senses. Sillitoe offers a contrast by pointing out that Westerners agree that knowledge is stored or resides in the brain, and can be obtained through a variety of means, including experience, study, or interactions. But this perspective is simply a belief, and beliefs vary across cultures. For instance, the Wola (Papua New Guinea) believe that knowledge is housed in the chest and is best derived from personal experience. Because knowledge is understood differently in different contexts, cultures, and places, development projects need to take these differences into consideration.

The variability of knowledge is another aspect of IK that is often ignored. There exists within the knowledge of a particular topic, variability between individuals, conflict over knowledge claims, variability in interpretation, and more. This variability is often overlooked in the development (and anthropological) world, which tends to see somewhat homogenous cultures, traditions, communities and/or regions. Sillitoe characterizes the knowledge of the Wola (a ‘stateless’ group) as decentralized knowledge, which, through language can indicate the amount of faith or authority a given person has in what they are talking about. Can such decentralized knowledge be incorporated into the wider development agenda? This remains to be seen, but does offer a potential point to address by development groups that are looking to improve the success of their projects.

The article offers a great discussion of IK in general, and also touches on language, meaning, cultural variability, and a deeper exploration of trust and its role in development. For me, the piece by Sillitoe has helped me to understand why I am working on incredibly similar projects with three different groups in the same locale. I am beginning to see that each group must go through the experience of creating such a project so that it informs their knowledge base. Only then will they be able to come together from places of understanding, and perhaps create a truly communal garden, based on the healing traditions of the diversity reflected in this place.

Tarahumara Facing Drought and Hunger

noreply@blogger.com (dooglas carl) — Sun, 22 Jan 2012 16:11:00 +0000

The rough heart of Tarahumara Country: Copper Canyon
in northern Mexico.
Photo courtesy of sierraclub.org

The Tarahumara, an indigenous group of northern Mexico who gained widespread attention from the barefoot running craze (check out our post from February 2011 here), have been experiencing a drought that has lasted for over 15 months. The dry conditions have destroyed crops and brough hunger and food shortages to their communities in and around the unforgiving Copper Canyon region. The Tarahumara number over 120,000, and have maintained their distinct culture through the colonial and capitalist eras, but these new environmental events (drought and unusual cold) have made it so that today, they can not feed themselves. The Mexican government has brought in some food supplies, but it appears that more will be needed. The Tarahumara, known for their incredible endurance and strength are now facing another great challenge, this time brought on by the forces of nature that are outside of their control.

Check out this short video from Al Jazeera for more on the developing story:

And for another short video and story, visit NTD Television here >>>

Of Censorship and ████ ██ ██████

noreply@blogger.com (dooglas carl) — Thu, 19 Jan 2012 04:11:00 +0000

The internet is currently abuzz with talk of SOPA, PIPA and issues of anti-piracy and censorship. I have to applaud efforts to raise awareness about this legislation that is nothing less than a step backwards in terms of democracy and freedom. There are any number of places to find commentary on the actual details of the acts and what that would mean for the internet and its users. For me, the issue has brought forward a period of reflection on what the internet has meant personally.

I remember the days before the internet. Back then, I sought out alternative sources of news. I traded music. I wrote. I watched movies recorded on VHS tape. I critically thought about the world around me, and I sought others who did the same. In many ways, my world has not changed all that much. In some ways, the ease in which I do these things has changed, but ease does not equal better - or worse (depending on your position).

Allow me to begin with my example of alternative news and viewpoints. I once depended on bookstores, specifically small, independent bookstores, for a supply of information that was different from what was espoused on the television or in the newspapers. Truly alternative bookstores were few and far between, however, and unless you lived near a city, these sources were extremely limited. I think it can easily be argued that information (like that which is available today) was more difficult to come by back then.

Today, while the internet remains a fairly exclusive domain, reserved for those who can pay (which is a bit fewer than we like to think, especially if we look globally), alternative news and information is easy to find. The old traditional venues have re-emerged online, and there are an ungodly plethora of other sources of information today. This has been a common complaint (and warning) about the internet, and one that has not been reasonably addressed, as it remains difficult to wade through the muck to find reliable sources.

And creating one of those sources has been no easy task either. We began Recycled Minds seven years ago, building on ideas that were brought forth from our days of reading pre-internet zines and alternative newspapers. And yet, seven years later, we have a relatively small readership, and find it extremely difficult and sometimes impossible to find contributors. The internet has allowed us to create and maintain this site at a cost that is not much more than our time (not taking into account our monthly internet access bills). Our audience is potentially world-wide, and we can produce as much content as we want or can. We never did create a hard-copy newsletter or zine, but one can imagine some of the drawbacks - specifically costs relating to layout, printing and distribution to name a few.

It's hard to argue, then, that the internet is worse for information sharing. However, the main thing that I see about the internet age that remains a disadvantage is the aforementioned high number of sources available. Today, you can think about finding good information as akin to finding a needle in a haystack. Or maybe a field of hay. The sheer numbers serve to keep things unclear - even unintelligible - such that accurate pictures are hard to perceive and/or maintain. The question of what is truth remains as obscure as ever.

I seriously doubt that the powers that be seek to clear things up for the rest of us through legislation such as SOPA. What I do think is a more likely target is the sheer speed at which information can now be shared. Think, for example, about the perceived role of Twitter during the Egyptian Revolution. While Twitter was by no means a cause of the Revolution, that it played an important role should not be argued - or dismissed. I see this kind of information that is in danger of being legislated - "rapid information". The question then becomes where is the line drawn. If they start by censoring tweets, where do they stop? To be sure, this can be a slippery slope, and one that should be thoroughly discussed and understood by everyone involved.

Everyone.

That's the key here. If we seek a truly democratic world, we need to consult the people. We may not have had much say on how the internet was developed or on how it turned out. But now that it has become such an integral part of our lives, do we not have a say in its future? Should we not protect those powers that the internet offers to the people? The powerless? The voiceless? The exploited? It can probably offer more to these people, and I believe this is where we should be focusing our energies as a people - not in taking things away.

Anyway... at this point, I urge you to go find out more about SOPA and PIPA, and if you find it appropriate, take action against such legislation. But I also encourage you as a human being, to consider how tools like the internet can be mobilized to create a better world. Since the age of the internet, the rich have become richer, the poor poorer. Is that a coincidence? Can the internet play a role in reversing that trend?

"Nature's Economic Stimulus": The Value of Honeybees

noreply@blogger.com (lana) — Fri, 13 Jan 2012 15:06:00 +0000

Bee collecting pollen. Photo from pdphoto.org

Nothing says nature like green, and it appears that beekeepers have decided to go straight for the wallet in an ongoing attempt to draw attention to the honeybee plight. On Tuesday, beekeepers and environmentalists came together to lay out the impact of honeybees on the U.S. economy, showing the substantial monetary effect long-range fall out that colony loss can have on the food system.

According to one apiary owner at the conference, the value of his colonies tops $5 million in just 6 months: "$500,000 from California almonds in January, $800,000 from Georgia blueberries in March, $2 million from Pennsylvania apples and cherries in April, $500,000 from Maine blueberries in May, and $1 million from Pennsylvania pumpkins in June." Numbers like these have earned the honeybee status as the most important pollinator in the world.

Study after study points to pesticides as the likely culprit in the decline of honeybees. But as Claire Thompson points out in her Grist article, trying to get Big Agricultural to change its ways in an election year isn't likely. If any reason could convince industrial agriculture to become more sustainable, though, it may be profits.

Read more here: http://www.sacbee.com/2012/01/10/4177304/beekeepers-are-critical-to-economy.html#storylink=cpy

First Friday Picture Show: Life & Travels by Sequoia Rock

noreply@blogger.com (dooglas carl) — Fri, 06 Jan 2012 16:11:00 +0000

January's First Friday Picture Show, "Life and Travels," comes to us from farmer, carpenter, photographer, and spiritual master, Sequoia Rock. Sequoia is from the small rural town of Honey Brook, Pennsylvania, and has offered us a selection of photos from his many travels in the US and abroad. You can view more of his excellent photos at his flickr page.

Consumption Junction: Agency and Panopticism in a Digital World

noreply@blogger.com (lana) — Thu, 05 Jan 2012 04:47:00 +0000

Photo courtesy of www.admadness.co

While there are those among us who thrive in the digital world, and eagerly await the next new way to "share our stories" or to put technology to good use, there are others who have a more pessimistic (some might say paranoid) view of the virtual landscape many traverse with abandon. A view closer, perhaps, to the latter end of the spectrum arises in Joel Bakan's essay on adbusters.com, "The Panopticon." Here, Bakan explains social media marketing vis-à-vis Foucault's ideas of power in a disciplinary society, mapping out a closed system of sorts, where children passively trade advertising messages while the puppeteer brands watch from behind the curtain. "Sharing" has seemingly taken on a new dimension on social media platforms:

Marketing as marketing disappears within the viral networks of social media platforms. Boundaries are broken down between marketers and kids (as kids market to each other); between content and advertising (as advertising now infuses, rather than interrupts, content); and between kids' lives and entertainment (as their lives now become the content of that entertainment). It is truly the "perfection of [marketers'] power." Kids, like the prisoners in the Panopticon, now bear the power marketing holds over them, and the marketers, like the Panopticon's guards, drop from view, their power now automatic and self-executing, all the greater for its invisibility.

Bakan is clear about his interpretation; he uses the panopticon as a tool to understanding the ways youth advertising works online. As reports surface of the access that advertisers have to profiles on Facebook, or the amount of personal information stored by Google, it's obvious that power is shifting into ever-murkier depths. But, without coming across as a pop culture apologist, I think it's important not to simplify the situation so that it fits into a complex theory, and what I find most interesting about Bakan's piece is the many directions it sent my thoughts about online advertising. First of all, consider the agency of internet users. Some would say it's naive to believe that we're not simply acted upon by marketing messages, and yet, some of us, at the same time, are the creators of these messages. Second, the panopticon works in theory because prisoners (or members of society, as the case may be) believe they are being watched at all times. Is that the case with social media? Or do we read more and more articles on the shocking online displays of what once would have been considered private information? Like I said before, many of us traverse these territories with unprecedented abandon.

Also consider the children of whom Bakan speaks as agents in this situation. Each successive generation becomes more technologically savvy than the previous one, and with that, might there also be inherited a certain knowledge about what lurks behind the curtain, so to speak? What's more, kids are reading and writing more than ever before thanks to texting, chatting, etc., and, according to the National Literacy Trust, literacy rates are reflecting that growth. A study reported in 2009 suggested "a strong correlation between kids using technology and wider patterns of reading and writing," and found that "engagement with online technology drives their enthusiasm for writing short stories, letters, song lyrics or diaries." Hopefully, more reading and writing also helps critical thinking skills, which can only come in handy on the digital frontier.

While I have my own strong suspicions about marketing messages and the identities they inform, and how that relationship, in turn, is fertilized by social networks, I also wonder if our concerns are slightly exaggerated. Think about this: in 2010, Apple (largely considered a marketing genius) spent less than 10% of its $420 million advertising budget on digital advertising. Maybe, all that online surveillance is just going to waste.

Another Year Gone By

noreply@blogger.com (dooglas carl) — Sat, 31 Dec 2011 16:11:00 +0000

Flowers on the Inca Trail, Peru, November 2011.
Photo for Recycled Minds by dooglas carl.

It's hard to believe that another year has passed and we've finally reached the infamous 2012. Here at Recycled Minds, we've typically compiled a year-end post that highlights what we've talked about over the last 12 months. This year, that tradition slipped through the cracks. The end of 2011 finds the two of our editors and primary contributors either out of the country or extremely busy with other commitments (dooglas is busy trying to make sense of his life in Belize, while lana is consumed by a New Years business venture). Still, we wanted to leave our readers and fans with something to chew on here at the end of the year.

With this in mind, we've decided to spread the love to a few of the closest of the many friends of Recycled Minds. These are good friends who have helped and supported us over the years, and to who we hope we have reciprocated in some small way. For us, Recycled Minds is a labor of love. We put long, hard hours into the site in our attempt to provide a space for our friends and colleagues to spread our many messages. These messages seek to inform our readers of injustice in the world while simultaneously providing a space for creativity and ultimately dialogue that could lead to reconciliation and peace among our world's peoples. Big dreams for a small site, but we only hope to contribute to a better and brighter world. And the people who have shared through and with us deserve some further credit. So without further ado (and in no particular order) please check out and show some support for...

Artist and brewer Kevin Margitich. Kevin creates some of the finest contemporary wildlife paintings being produced in the US, while also brewing some the most creative beers you could think of. His art has been shown from coast to coast, but his brews have so far been exclusive to Philadelphia. Thanks Kevin for supporting us over the years and good luck in 2012!

Our good fiends Jonathan and Leigh at the Slingluff Gallery. The gallery shows some amazing artists culled from an international list of up and coming and established artists. They also produce the Pinecone Gentleman, a virtual creation that shares artistically inclined news and information from around the world. Jonathan has contributed some of his photos for our November First Friday Picture Show, while Leigh will share some of hers for an upcoming Picture Show in 2012. Thanks to the two of them for their continued support, and may they know greater success in 2012!

Anthropologist Federico Cintrón-Moscoso. Federico currently teaches students at the University of Puerto Rico while producing the online-site, Cultura de Papel. An aspiring photographer, he shared photos from a summer 2011 trip to Haiti for our September Picture Show. Fede has an insatiable mind, and can relate his experience and knowledge in a clear and understandable way, so be sure to check out his work. We look forward to further contributions, and wish him the greatest success in the coming year!

Food Creator Tender Branson. Tender, who also teaches the youth of south-central Florida, has created the wonderful food-centric site, write.click.cook.listen. The site combines his love of food and music and shares recipes, restaurant reviews, music-mixes, musician interviews and more. We have shared many a night with Tender, concert-going, and food-enjoying. He shared some of his food pictures for our October Picture Show, and we always look forward to his delicious vegetarian recipes. May Tender continue to enjoy his love of food and music in 2012!

Music lover, photographer and chemist, Btreotch. Btreotch has loved music for the last 6 months, but has somehow managed to contribute for some years at Coventry Music. For some reason he has joined the land of the Mormons for a post-doc position in Chemistry, but he has maintained a bit of sanity through his production of his photoblog, Bitches in Trees. We hope to one day again experience live music with Btreotch, and know that he will continue to do so in 2012 - enjoy!

And finally, the Occupiers. We have had some wonderful contributions to Recycled Minds in 2011. Some of them have been related to the Occupy Movement, like the great posts by Cyrus Kleege and the food tent manager from Occupy LA. The energy and excitement created by Occupy across the US and world has given us renewed faith that humanity will some day find peace and equilibrium. To the movement we give our ultimate thanks, and may Occupy continue to grow and find success in 2012!

To our readers and friends, happy new year! Stay in touch and keep reading!

Views from the ANThill: Extraction from Immersion

noreply@blogger.com (dooglas carl) — Tue, 27 Dec 2011 16:11:00 +0000

A local bush food, ch'i kaai flower buds, fried and ready to eat in the month
of August, while Tuli looks on hopefully. Photo courtesy of Kristina Baines.

This edition of “Notes from the ANThill” comes to you from guest contributor, Kristina Baines.

As I begin the last weeks of my dissertation fieldwork, the preferred topic of conversation during my final encounters is my imminent departure. Thanks to my (extensive) anthropological training, I felt well prepared to enter my study community and immerse myself in a version of the tried and tested ethnographic methodology, however, I never gave much thought to the idea that the time and care spent entering would or should be mirrored in the leaving process. Again, as a practitioner of this traditional methodology, I figured I would always come back. Forever. The members of my study community, however, are eager for more details than “I will always come” and it has become clear that my extraction is requiring as much emotional honesty and practical finesse as my immersion.

While my field experience, immersed in a Mopan Maya subsistence farming community in southern Belize, has certainly borne some hallmarks of the ethnographers of yore, in reality I have spent the better part of this past year about an hour’s drive from a cold soda and an internet connection. Keeping this tangible link to life beyond my firehearth may have served to make departing easier. Instead, my easy access to information, coupled with my passable tortilla making skills, has made me an asset to community members. I have a clear role in the community beyond “anthropological researcher.” I am “helping” as well as “learning.” This reciprocal arrangement works well in this community where traditional Maya practices of work exchange or “helping each other” are the norm and wage labor is much less common. It is this system, and my interest in the connection between these traditional work practices and the wellness of community members, that has strengthened my bonds.

Coming from an applied Anthropology department, many of my colleagues with interests also falling under the “Medical Anthropology” moniker are able to successfully and elegantly address their research questions without the traditional, year long ethnographic immersion. For me, in order to really understand how bodies change in response to traditional environmental practice, I needed to spend many days carrying wash to the creek and depriving myself of sleep making tortillas late into the evening during planting season. Those nights at 1:00am, when I was pulling jellied flesh from a boiled pig’s head or kneeling in darkness on a cement floor surrounded by whispered prayers for the restoration of health for a “nearly dead” man, were, perhaps, the most instructive and certainly the most solidifying in terms of my friendships. Understanding the critical relationship between the environment and the way the body feels, its wellness, health, benefited from my living in this way.

The author (left) with her visiting mother-in-law, Amy Linden,
washing clothes in the river. Photo courtesy of Victoria Costa

“You get used to it, that’s why,” is a response to my nodding agreement when my friends and community members notice the sadness that creeps across my face when they ask if I’ll miss the village. This insight is telling. Getting used to the rhythm of days in an effort to understand the importance of the practices that make up this rhythm is exactly what I had aimed to do. Although punctuated by informal and formal interviews, time allocation spot observations, pile sorting and other structured data collection, my days practicing the activities that make up a living in Santa Cruz village are what I have become used to. Having participated and observed (Paul Dresch at Oxford once proclaimed that you really can’t do them at the same time and I tend to agree), part of the challenge, perhaps, lies in how to extract myself from the practice and take the meaningful knowledge along with me.

Of course there are the more immediate matters, like that of my pregnant dog. “You will miss Tuli,” my friends say about my devoted “potlicker.” Part of my extraction involves the over-thinking of my surreptitious sharing of my precious pieces of chicharrone in an attempt to preempt the tortilla-only dog diet that will be her future. Too many reflexive moments wondering if I am interfering with a beneficial thrifty phenotype that should be developing in the fetal pups compound the difficulties of extraction. But it is mostly the conversations, the daily visits, the way in which you are never alone in a Maya community, the passing of time marked by the latest bush food that has come into season that I need to learn how to prepare.

“April. I think I can find my money by then,” is the response I give to inquiries about when I’ll be back. Miami’s proximity to Belize allows me to have confidence in my promise. I explain about the finite nature of project funding and my need to write about what I learned before I am likely to find more travel funds. It seems important to have a specific time, rather than simply as assurance of “soon.” Easter. Before we plant corn again. Maybe the (sugar) cane will be ready by then. My return, too, is marked by the changes in the landscape.

Slowly, I prepare to leave. Extraction, like immersion, proceeds slowly. The last survey. A final presentation from the children. The last radio program. Final meals. A party with marimba music and dancing. Interruptions in the rhythm that mark my departure and experiences that will carry me back again.

This piece was also featured in the American Anthropological Association's Anthropology News.

Kristina Baines is a doctoral candidate in Applied Anthropology at the University of South Florida. She holds an MSc in Medical Anthropology from the University of Oxford and an MA in Social Anthropology from Florida Atlantic University. She is currently completing fieldwork for her dissertation, Good Men Grow Corn: embodied ecological heritage and health in a Belizean Mopan community while participating in an NSF grant funded collaborative project, Development and resilience of complex socioeconomic systems: A theoretical model and case study from the Maya Lowlands (NSF-HSD Proposal # 0827277). She has co-founded the Toledo Environmental and Cultural Heritage Alliance (TEACHA) with her supervisor, Rebecca K. Zarger and has worked in Maya communities in Guatemala and South Florida. She hopes to use innovative dissemination methods to share the benefits of ethnographic methodologies with a broad audience.

Protest: Keeping up the Spirit of the Season

noreply@blogger.com (dooglas carl) — Sat, 24 Dec 2011 06:29:00 +0000

An old holiday card showing protestors.
Courtesy of BBC News.

It's that time of year again. Solstice. The New Year. Holidays of the religious persuasion. Around the globe people are gathering with family and friends to celebrate the passing of time. This is a time of reflection and a time of hope. It may be argued that it's the time of year when people are perhaps most in the moment. And these times remain difficult for many, but the spirit of the season seems to alleviate much of the pain.
People are gathering in a different way as well. Protests that have brought together people from all persuasions continue throughout the world, most with the aim of making the world more just. Protest movements perhaps best embody the spirit of this time of year. They represent the struggle from those that have not against the those that have. Power, wealth, health, and well-being are all attainable for those that have. These things do not come quite as easy for those that have not. And the have-nots represent a larger proportion of the planet's population than we have experienced in a long time. Years, decades, centuries.... much time has passed since the wealth of the planet has been concentrated in such a small proportion of the total population. Such times call out for our protest. Such action is keeping within the spirit of the holidays.

Here at Recycled Minds, we offer our support to all of the people in the world who are standing up to power, who are fighting the struggle against injustice. Happy Holidays. Keep up the Struggle!

The US: Land of the Poor and Low Income

noreply@blogger.com (dooglas carl) — Thu, 15 Dec 2011 04:11:00 +0000

The Income Gap is Here - and getting bigger.

The last few years in the US have certainly been economically tough for many people. Throughout the country, high unemployment rates coupled with the housing crisis exposed how vulnerable many families actually are. This issue was brought to my immediate attention today, when, during my morning perusal through the news, two articles in particular caught my attention.

The first, an AP report on some of the economics of the 2010 census, is headlined "Census: 1 In 2 Americans Are Poor Or Low-Income."

About 97.3 million Americans fall into a low-income category, commonly defined as those earning between 100 and 199 percent of the poverty level, based on a new supplemental measure by the Census Bureau that is designed to provide a fuller picture of poverty. Together with the 49.1 million who fall below the poverty line and are counted as poor, they number 146.4 million, or 48 percent of the U.S. population.

The article credits government "safety nets" such as food stamps and some tax credits for keeping those numbers down. In other words, without the social programs that are in place (and that are continually threatened through federal and state budget cuts), it is likely that more than half of all people in the United States would be "Low-Income" or worse. Suddenly it's looking like the land of promise is no longer. No wonder migration flows from Mexico have slowed considerably.

The second article that caught my eye drives home the point that these troubling economic times are not necessarily being felt equally across the population. In this Forbes piece, it is revealed that six members of the Walton family - the family that started WalMart - have more wealth than the bottom 30% of the US population combined. This is evidence that we live in times not much different from the days of serfdom in medieval Europe when the few nobility held the majority of wealth, while the majority worked in subservience. The possibility that one family could have the wealth of 75 million people would be mind boggling if it were not such an open display of greed and inequality. And remember, the income gap continues to widen to levels never before seen in the history of the country.

Just some food for thought...

Picture Show: Antarctica by Btreotch

noreply@blogger.com (dooglas carl) — Fri, 02 Dec 2011 16:11:00 +0000

Our December First Friday Picture Show comes to you courtesy of our good friend, Btreotch. A natural products chemist, Btreotch has traveled to the far corners of the world to research the medicinal potential of various sea plants and sea creatures. These photos come from one such journey to the far south of the planet, Antarctica. Btreotch is also a lover of music and art, and he works on a number of creative ventures. Check out some more of his photography and video work at Alan Takes Trips. Find out more about his research at his personal site here>>>

Haiti: a Short Film by Federico Cintrón-Moscoso

noreply@blogger.com (dooglas carl) — Fri, 25 Nov 2011 16:11:00 +0000

You may remember the September 2011 Picture Show here on Recycled Minds - pictures from Haiti by our good friend, anthropologist Federico Cintrón-Moscoso. Since then he has been working on video captured during that same trip to Haiti in July. This beautiful video is the first of two planned in his ethnographic collection. Beginning from the skies above the small island nation, and taking the viewer down to and through the streets, Cintrón-Moscoso aptly captures and expresses the many social and cultural contrasts that characterize daily life in Port-au-Prince.

Cintrón-Moscoso's description of the short series:
Este es el primero de dos filmes etnográficos producidos como resultado de mi viaje a Haití en julio de este año. Este primer film representa una "página" de diario en la corta semana que estuve allá como parte del Comité de Solidaridad con el Pueblo de Haití. Se sitúa en, y entre, las calles de Port-au-Prince y Leogane las cuales siempre están llenas de actividad. La brevedad del montaje es contrarrestada por la riqueza cotidiana de las imágenes y su diálogo constante--muchas veces cargado de contradicciones sociales y culturales.

We would translate, but like to challenge the reader once in a while! Stay tuned here at Recycled Minds for the second video, which is due soon. You can also visit Cintrón-Moscoso's, "Cultura de Papel," to check out more of his work.

Shots in the Field: Finding the Value of Research-related Photos

noreply@blogger.com (dooglas carl) — Mon, 21 Nov 2011 16:11:00 +0000

A rich and diverse Q'eqchi' Maya Homegarden in southern Belize. Photo courtesy of doug reeser.

Recent social movements around the world have been fueled by the constant flow of images sent from protests, crackdowns, and marches to thousands of interested observers. If you’re part of a social media site, you have probably seen an influx of images of all types in support of (or perhaps denouncing) the Occupy Movement. Whatever your political persuasion, it is clear that the circulation of images remains vital to many aspects of our lives. Images have become so ubiquitous – think advertising - that we have lost track of exactly what their influence on us is.

My interest in photography and film began early in life when I saved the earnings of my first job as a paperboy to purchase a 35mm camera. Photo albums stuffed with pictures and their detailed descriptions of trips taken during high school are reminders of a period of growth and change in my own life. That camera is long gone, but the photos remain to highlight significant parts of my life.

This admitted love affair with the image has carried on into my academic career, as I have utilized photographs as a part of my research among Maya communities in southern Belize. When possible, I often offer a printed photo to research participants of the person and his or her family. I take photos with a digital camera, and print them with a small portable printer (that prints up to 5”x7”) that I have with me to the field. This idea turned out to be a popular offering, as nearly every participant asks for the photo(s), and it provides a convenient and inexpensive means of offering one thing back to my informants.

Historically, anthropologists saw the photographing of indigenous communities as the important work of documenting a “vanishing race” (See “Photographing the Vanishing Race” by Krouse in Visual Anthropology 1990), and while we now hold a more sophisticated view of indigenous peoples, the fact remains that capturing images of traditional societies and their various ways of life could be seen as the documentation of “vanishing cultural practices.”

A Maya family portrait.
Photo from southern Belize by dooglas.

The Maya communities in which I work/ed are in a period of transition. Not too far in the past, these and surrounding villages were much more isolated from Western influence, and could be seen as carrying on very traditional ways of life. These distinct cultural practices could be found in every part of Maya life, including food production, housing, gender and leadership roles, and so on. To be clear, these communities were not somehow frozen in time, representing a way of life from the distant past, but instead, because of their relative isolation, the communities were distinctly non-Western, and many of their cultural practices represented a particular form of indigenous knowledge that has been passed down through generations. Such remains the case in many villages here, but change is coming fast, as televisions, cell phones, vehicles, and other accoutrements originating from outside of the region are present in more households than ever. Exactly how these artifacts influence culture change remains unclear, but one can be sure that there is an effect, especially among the youth.

Looking over my photos from the Maya communities, some of the aspects of culture change become evident. Among numerous types, the family portraits represent a unique set. These photos were completely staged with the help of the participants. People typically gathered their available family, groomed themselves, and even changed into nice clothes for the pictures. I always let the participants choose where to take the photos, and most chose a spot inside or in front of their house or in the immediate space around the home. What is revealed in these photos is the tension of traditional cultural practices with those of increasing influence from the encroaching Western culture. Photos of traditional thatch and board houses with dirt floors contrasted with photos of new cement-block houses with tin roofs and cement floors. A television sits in the same room as a clay oven. Older women can be seen in traditional hand-made clothing, while younger women can be seen in more western-style shirts and jeans, and often with make-up.

A small Q'eqchi' Maya homegarden, typical of younger
families. Photo from southern Belize by dooglas.

Perhaps most insightful are the pictures of homegardens. A few of these gardens, belonging to healers and other elderly members of the community, show a distinct growing pattern in what, to the untrained eye, may appear to be the surrounding wilds encroaching upon the house. In reality, these are carefully sown native foods and medicinal plants, sometimes in numbers that exceed 50 species and 100 plants. These more traditional Maya gardens can be contrasted with the Western-style gardens of the younger generations – a small fenced area, usually with tomato and pepper plants along with just a few different varietals.

I’m not certain that the photos of my Maya informants will prove useful for future researchers, as they represent situations (of dress and pose for instance) that were created for the camera itself, and thus may be something less than a “true” picture of Maya life. Do these photos represent the actual lived experience, or do they document something different? Visual evidence that was not staged, such as those of the Maya homegardens may prove useful to future researchers – or future Maya – if those gardening methods depicted in the photos are indeed lost. This possibility was only evident to me once I began to look at the photos in an analytic way in search of their potential value outside of the bond-building that taking and sharing the photos originally produced.

The story of photographs does not end in their usefulness to researchers. As mentioned at the beginning of this piece, the use of photos in social movements and other contexts can serve as a means of speaking truth to power. Putting the tools of visual anthropology – the camera and the video recorder in particular – in the hands of indigenous and other marginalized groups is a way of subverting power. It can offer the means for under-represented groups to tell their own stories – the ones that are important and valuable to them. It also places the power of representation and the power of the voice in the hands and minds of the historically voiceless and powerless.

This column also appeared in Anthropology News of the American Anthropological Association.

Voices of Occupy: Radical Networking

noreply@blogger.com (lana) — Wed, 16 Nov 2011 14:20:00 +0000

By Cyrus Kleege
The third piece in Recycled Minds' Voices of Occupy series is written by Cyrus Kleege, who has been participating in and following the critical narrative of Occupy Wall Street. Kleege is a professional book clerk, amateur writer and activist living in Brooklyn. You can read more of his writings at Occasional Vitriol and Rich Jerk Quote of the Week.

poster by r.black

A massive set of protests has been planned for November 17th in New York City. It remains to be seen whether they will evidence strong, continuing support for the Occupy movement. In recent weeks it seems that those who wish for the failure of the movement have been taking the proverbial gloves off, with more harsh police tactics in evidence as several cities (St. Louis, Burlington, Salt Lake City, Portland and others) have attempted to evict Occupy encampments from public spaces. The intense antagonism toward the movement is the inevitable result of its success in mobilizing massive numbers of people around progressive causes and capturing the media spotlight that was so reluctant to shine on it in the beginning. If the forces of reaction are successful in driving the movement out of the public squares, it will still have done much to energize the left in America and should leave it in a stronger position to win battles on policy and shift the nation's consciousness in a progressive direction.

The reason for this is an aspect of OWS that seems obvious, but hasn't been discussed much in the media. Occupy Wall Street has become (perhaps unintentionally) the best vehicle for what I'd call “radical networking” (you can call it movement-building if you really want to avoid the business school connotations of the former). OWS, with its lack of demands (actually, the important thing is that it has many) and its sharing of decision making between individuals and between multiple nodes of activity brings together causes that might have seemed distinct in the past, and allows them to coalesce into an umbrella movement that's greater than the sum of its parts.

I'll give you an example from my own experience. A few weeks ago, wanting to do more than march in general support of OWS, I joined one of its many autonomous “working groups” who meet outside of Zuccotti Park and attempt to use the same horizontal decision making process that the General Assembly does to come to agreement about issues that fall under the purview of their particular group's focus. I am a union shop steward at my workplace and feel strongly that organized labor is a powerful and positive social force that can be credited with much of the progress that occurred in American social relations in the twentieth century. I hoped that organized labor might be able to bring to bear some of its institutional resources in service of the Occupy cause, and that Occupy's freshness and energy might play some part in re-vitalizing the state of organized labor. Days before I signed up for the Labor Outreach Committee, my union (The United Auto Workers) officially endorsed Occupy Wall Street. When New York City's Mayor Mike Bloomberg had tried to clear Zuccotti Park on the pretext of a cleaning of the area, members of my union, both rank-and-file and paid officials of the international went to the park in the wee hours of morning to stand down the NYPD. I was exceedingly proud.

The OWS Labor Outreach Committee is dedicated to getting more rank-and-file union workers involved with the Occupy movement and using the momentum of OWS to aid organized labor in its varied battles. Occupy supporters, some union members and some simply sympathetic to the struggles of working class people, have joined picket lines in support of locked-out Teamsters at the Sotheby's auction house and demonstrations for Communications and Electrical workers fighting to get a decent contract out of Verizon. It seemed that my hopes had been realized when a week ago the New York Times ran a story under the headline, “Occupy Movement Inspires Unions to Embrace Bold Tactics.” Labor has been on the retreat for decades. It has lost members to outsourcing as well as to legislative attacks. At the same time it has lost the sympathy of many who would benefit from its power as they accept fear-mongering pro-business propaganda as gospel. (I'll be surprised if I don't get at least one hateful comment after revealing that I am one of those scary 'union thugs') With Occupy Wall Street entering the picture it seems like there is finally a chance that the momentum will be in the other direction.

Because OWS isn't solely focused on one issue it can marshal the energies, talents and enthusiasm of all its supporters in service of all of the more narrow progressive causes that others have fought for for years. Since OWS has focused on issues of economic inequality and class power it has avoided the single-issue tunnel vision that has hamstrung the left for decades. Since the ascendancy of the post-1960's right-wing in America, the left has generally seemed willing to give much ground on the broad issue of economic justice and has instead focused on an array of secondary problems. Without the recognition that all of these problems relate directly to the way in which economic power is distributed in society, the left allowed itself to become balkanized into multiple, often mutually hostile groups dedicated to their own pet issue or brand of identity politics. Occupy Wall Street seems to me to be ushering in a new era of radical networking, welcoming all of those who fight against one or another of the ill-effects of economic injustice, the corporate power that thrives on it and the political corruption bred by it. It facilitates their ability to act in a concert with each other. Each specific cause gives purpose and focus to the movement as a whole, and the movement as a whole lends power to each of its parts. Unions who lend their support will gain allies in their workplace struggles, while they lend support to those opposing Hydraulic Fracturing in the Marcellus Shale, who will fight against unfair foreclosures and the corporate “reform” of the public school system. I think that this is a great thing, and hope that the Occupy Movement can maintain its momentum. If you're near NYC, come out Thursday and be a part of it.

Local Food Fluffery

noreply@blogger.com (dooglas carl) — Tue, 15 Nov 2011 04:11:00 +0000

What is local food? Is a local chicken organic? Does a local chicken eat local
watermelon? OrganicWatermelon? Where does a local chicken come from?
Where does local watermelon come from?
Photo by dooglas carl for Recycled Minds.

While looking through some news feeds earlier today, an NPR piece on local food caught my eye. The piece cites a report from the USDA that claims that "marketing of local foods...grossed $4.8 billion in 2008—about four times higher than estimates based solely on direct-to-consumer sales." The extra growth is a result of an increase in sales to restaurants and supermarkets. From the reports, sales of local food is showing promising growth trends, however, questions remain.

The NPR piece includes an interview with a USDA economist who reveals: "Forty percent of all fruit and vegetable producers are now selling locally." And even though her numbers don't explicitly track growth, "that to me suggests some growth." So, numbers showing that fruit and vegetable producers are selling more locally don't exist, but they must be because this USDA economist thinks they are.

NPR then finishes their piece with this:

Although the $5 billion number sounds big, it represents just 2 percent of American agricultural sales. The rest — 98 percent — comes largely from sales of big commodities like soybeans and corn. Even so, the next set of numbers on local food sales from USDA should reveal whether local food is a fad, or a business model that's here to stay.

These numbers don't seem to add up. If 98% of agricultural sales come from commodity products like soybeans and corn, and the remaining 2% represents local sales, there seems to be something missing from this picture. Where do all the agricultural products that are shipped around the country fit into this picture? Think Florida strawberries, Maine cranberries, and the many fruits and vegetables that are available in your supermarket that are not grown locally.

I decided to take a look at the report that NPR links to in their article. There are certainly more interesting factoids in the summary report, including that "small farms (those with less than $50,000 in gross annual sales) accounted for 81 percent of all farms reporting local food sales in 2008." This makes sense to me, as I can see that in most cases, a farm with low gross annual sales is likely not producing in large quantities. The problem remains, however, with the word "local."

Nowhere in either the NPR piece or the USDA report is the term "local" defined. Yes, small farmers rely heaviest on direct-to-consumer sales through outlets such as farmer's markets. According to the USDA report, "Large farms accounted for 92 percent of the value of local food sales marketed exclusively through intermediated channels." This introduces into the local food framework large farms that are using intermediated channels (distributors) to sell their products. Without a clear definition of "local" (and no regulation on the use of the word), local could mean anything. In a global economy, could the U.S. be seen as local? Is Mexico local to the US? What is local is dependent on the scale at which you look at it.

And so, I am forced to consider what might be happening here. In the regions reported to be hotspots for local food (the Northeast and West Coast), organic foods have long been popular. To label something organic, the fruits and produce must meet federal regulations in how it is grown. Organic production has likely cut into profits of industrial agriculture, especially in the two aforementioned regions. By promoting "local" foods, which have no regulations, industrial agriculture can re-enter these markets under the guise of being healthy and good for the environment.

At this point, "local" food has as much meaning as "natural" food. There are no regulations on the terminology, and so we as consumers can not know what is truly meant by the terms. The "local" potatoes at your grocery store may only be local on a global scale, and certainly are not guaranteed to be produced in any kind of sustainable or thoughtful manner. Whatever might be on a case-by-case level, without legal definitions of the term, consumers just don't know where their "local" produce is coming from. Buyer beware.

Pitching Big Food

noreply@blogger.com (lana) — Tue, 08 Nov 2011 22:34:00 +0000

Photo by Doog

A new report published by the Center for Food Integrity, a consumer research group formed in 2006 by food industry power players (including Monsanto) to study consumer attitudes about the food system, gives interesting insight into the marketing research of Big Agriculture. The "consumer trust survey" used to compile the report asked people a variety of questions that revolved around the U.S.'s responsibility to "feed the world." While it found that support is waning for exporting food to help solve the world hunger problem, which is fascinating in itself, other interesting consumer attitudes came to light as well.

Noting a growing alienation from agriculture, the report states, "consumers aren't sure today's agriculture still qualifies as farming [because of ] generational and geographic distance between farmers and consumers, technological advances in farming, and changes in farm size and structure." If consumers don't see their food coming from farms, in other words, there is an inherent lack of trust, as the center uses as its guiding principle the idea that consumer trust in farmers is based on shared values.

What's also interesting is the priority goals delineated by their survey participants, which is broken down into goals driving consumer food choices, and perception of farmers' priority goals. Here, the farmers' goals are broken down further between commercial and family farms. The perception of the goals of commercial farmers are predictable, with affordable food and farm profitability at the top of the list. People evidently have slightly more trust in the family farmers, as people place affordable and safe food as family farmers' top two priorities. Consumers' own priorities? Also safe and affordable food, but profitable farms comes in last place.

As Tom Laskaway points out in his article on Grist, these consumer attitudes create a headache for Big Agriculture. Up until now, Big Agriculture has sold its practices (including the use of pesticides, GMO seeds, inhumane animal conditions, etc) to the public based on the idea that they are for the good of the world. If the report is true, not everyone is buying this rhetoric.

So what does this mean for the future of big farming marketing? From the sounds of it, a campaign full of down-on-the-farm goodness, tugging at the heartstrings of our nascent anti-big business sentiments.

The Photos of Jonathan K. Slingluff

noreply@blogger.com (dooglas carl) — Fri, 04 Nov 2011 13:26:00 +0000

This month's Picture Show features the photography of Jonathan K. Slingluff, a gallery owner and artist in Philadelphia, PA. Of his photography, he says, "The act of freezing a moment in time is often overlooked; what I mean by this is that we all shoot images with our phone or some device, with which we stop time for that moment. A photograph captures that moment, a feeling that the photographer tries to express to the viewer. Whether this be a clean black and white image or a photo of the family, it is frozen in time. I look at photography as a tool to express my poetry, and, like the writer/reader relationship of a poem, I may have one feeling for my photograph and the viewer may have a different one. Photography is my tool to show the world how I choose to look at it, through my eyes at that one fleeting moment." For more art created and curated by Jonathan, stop by The Pine Cone Gentleman or The Slingluff Gallery.

Yanomami Poetry

noreply@blogger.com (dooglas carl) — Wed, 02 Nov 2011 15:11:00 +0000

The Forest
photo by dooglas for Recycled Minds

Survival International, perhaps the leading advocate for indigenous rights worldwide, has a ton of great stuff going on over on their site. From news alerts, project updates, photos, and poetry, there is a wealth of information and resources to peruse. We urge you to check out their site, and offer you a sample of what they are doing. The following is a touching and timely poem by Davi Kopenawa, of Yanomami descent from the Brazilian Amazon.

I am the environment.
I was born in the forest,
and I grew up there. I know it well.
Without land and nature, we can’t live, the world can’t work.
You talk of the planet, yet you don’t
think it has a heart and breathes,
but it does.
You talk politics and study on paper.
But we study in the forest and look
carefully. You don’t know our wisdom.
It’s very different.
We understand that all living things have a noreshi - another living being which is born at the exact same time
as yourself.
Your noreshi may be a bird, or a boar, or a deer, or a fish, or an anteater, a
butterfly or any other kind of living plant or animal.
It rests when you rest, it feeds
when you feed, it sings when you sing.
It dies when you die.

- Davi Kopenawa, Yanomami, Brazil

Thanks to Davi and Survival International for sharing these touching words.

Growing Food as a Subversive Act

noreply@blogger.com (dooglas carl) — Sun, 30 Oct 2011 15:11:00 +0000

Here at Recycled Minds, we love food. We grow it, we share it, we prepare it, we research it and we love to eat it! Above, check out this TedX talk by Roger Doiron, from Kitchen Gardeners International, who frames gardening as a truly subversive act because "It has the potential to radically alter the balance of power...in the entire world." Doiron goes on to explain:

When we encourage people to grow some of their own food, we're ecouraging them to take power into their hands, power over their diet, power over their health, and some power over their pocketbooks. So I think that's quite subversive because we're necessarily talking about taking that power away from someone else - from other actors in society that currently have power over food and health. You can think about who those actors might be.

This is a compelling video that will have you thinking seriously about growing some food. As the Occupy Movement continues to grow and evolve, food will become an increasingly larger part of its considerations. Growing food in your yard or other small spaces is a way to bring change into your life and those of others, and it can be a great way to bring people around you together - to create and embolden your community. Doiron offers a number of interesting frameworks for why this is becoming more and more important.

Enjoy - and go plant some food!

Occupy: It's (Almost) All About the Money

noreply@blogger.com (dooglas carl) — Fri, 28 Oct 2011 15:11:00 +0000

~ Money Talks Poster ~
courtesy of JustSeeds.org

It has been a little more than a month since the first cries of the Occupy Movement were heard from New York, and since then occupiers have spread across the US and the world. The persistence and growth of Occupy and the recent (unfortunate) turn toward police crackdowns in a number of cities has firmly planted the movement within the attention of the national media. Through all of these developments, the centrality of the Occupy message has begun to emerge. In short, it's all about the money. It's a message that is spot on.

Money is a central theme of Occupy. The entire 99% meme is a response to the unprecedented concentration of wealth in the hands of a very small percent of the people. Other points of contention include the call for corporate influence (read money) to be excluded from the political arena, and a critical reworking of the student loan bubble that has resulted in thousands of students overburdened with debt and wages that don't add up.

Two articles caught my attention this week for the way that they highlight and support these concerns so central to the Occupy Movement. In his article in the Free Press, Joel S. Hirschhorn provides some concrete numbers about the global upperclass that support what Occupiers have been talking about:

"Globally, millionaires and billionaires now control 38.5 percent of the world’s wealth, according to the latest Global Wealth Report from Credit Suisse. Never have so few owned so much. There are 29.7 million people in the world with household net worth of $1 million or more; they represent less than 1 percent of the world’s population, actually just .4 percent of 7 billion people.

Their wealth share rose from 35.6 percent in 2010, because even during the global economic recession their wealth increased by about $20 trillion. In fact, their wealth grew 29 percent — about twice as fast as the wealth in the world as a whole."

Yes, that's correct, those with the largest share of the wealth continued to make money during the global recession. As many (if not most) people around the world experienced a direct hit to their economic well-being, the rich became richer. While millions in the US were having their homes foreclosed, the rich became richer. The global economic system has been revealed as unjust - a system that steals from the poor to fatten the rich.

And just who are these global rich? That is the subject of the second article I came across this week by the Globe and Mail that reports on research by the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich. The research investigated the corporate links that account for the bulk of global economic activity. The researchers examined 43,060 transnational companies, and found that 147 companies account for 40% of global economic value. Further, financial institutions - the very ones mixed up in the global recession - make up the bulk of these core companies:

"Among the top 50 corporations, 45 operate within the financial industry. Barclays PLC is the most powerful, according to the ETH study, followed by such well-known names as JPMorgan Chase & Co., UBS AG, and Merrill Lynch & Co., Inc.

The intense interconnection and concentration of power weakens market competition as players form blocs, according to the study. There’s another drawback to those close links, particularly among the banks: when one runs into problems its woes spread quickly to the others."

After reading these short pieces, it's clear that the 99% rallying cry is on the money. In fact, maybe it should be "We are the 99.9%!"

We have uploaded the research paper from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich to our Library for further reading. Read The Network of Global Corporate Control here >>>

Voices of Occupy: Morality and Occupy

noreply@blogger.com (lana) — Mon, 24 Oct 2011 17:10:00 +0000

The second piece in Recycled Minds' Voices of Occupy series is written by Cyrus Kleege, who has been participating in and following the critical narrative of Occupy Wall Street. Kleege's article is a response to George Lakoff's article, "Framing Occupy Wall Street," published last week on Truthout, in which Lakoff argues for a moral framework for the Occupy movement. Kleege is a professional book clerk, amateur writer and activist living in Brooklyn. You can read more of his writings at Occasional Vitriol and Rich Jerk Quote of the Week.

We would love to hear from more occupiers, so if you have your own Occupy experience that you would like to share, send us an email.
________________________________________

I have been increasingly interested and involved in the Occupy Wall Street movement that sprung up in New York about a month ago and in a short time began to spread to the far corners of the United States and the world. I haven't been able to properly “Occupy” Zucotti Park as I work full time, but I have made it to most of the larger actions: the march halfway across the Brooklyn bridge (followed by the paddy wagon ride to One Police Plaza), the huge labor solidarity march the following week and the convergence on Times Square this past weekend. It seems that the usual dismissive criticisms and back-handed compliments from supposed allies have failed to overshadow tangible victories, like the one that occurred last Friday when thousands converged in the dawn hours to prevent the police from emptying the park. With each victory the movement draws more sympathizers into the fold, but simultaneously rankles the very powerful interests and institutions that are threatened by this type of nascent mass-movement.

I'm surprised and heartened by the movement's success. In the end, however, if either tangible reforms or revolutionary change are going to be affected by the Occupy movement it is important that we not only preach to the liberal left/choir, but win enough converts to our general point of view to either pressure the political establishment to enact legislative change, or circumvent the existing structures and organize around some other socioeconomic structure. So far, I fear that what the Occupy movement has achieved is unifying and activating the roughly half of the nation's population that shares a generally progressive view. And this is important in itself. What of the other half? Those who have a profoundly different view of what constitutes “justice” or “fairness.” The ones who shout at us as we march down the streets of Manhattan to “Stop protesting, and get off your asses!”

When I saw a piece by George Lakoff in Truthout this week, billed as his advice to Occupy Wall Street on how to present itself to the world at large, I was interested. I was familiar with his thoughts about how political ideas exist within cognitive frames. He describes how the political worldviews of most individuals are not based on rational inquiry but on an emotional response based on a cognitive framework. The framework is a set of arbitrary moral judgments. Lakoff's work in this field has always seemed generally valid to me. The left sees individuals as irrevocably part of a larger society. The right sees the individual as autonomous and ultimately responsible for his own actions. The left sees a need for nurturing and collective decision making, while the right looks only for the individual's right to act freely, responsibly and in self-interest.

In identifying these important root differences in point of view I feel that Lakoff has been particularly astute. I've always been frustrated by the fact that no amount of economic statistics on income inequality or social mobility can cut through the typical conservative's ironclad belief that it is the individual's personal responsibility to find work, to the extent that if there were five jobs available to the twenty six million un- and underemployed in America, it would be the individual's responsibility to be one of the five most educated, hard-working and diligent applicants, and if they weren't, there would be no right to complain or petition government to help them in their situation. Lakoff in his short essay proposes to have some insight into how we can circumvent the conservative framework and become a more truly mass-movement. In my opinion though, he seems to ignore the basis of his own ideas when formulating his advice.

Lakoff goes on to claim that what the Occupy movement needs to do in order to win hearts and minds is to cram its own goals and principles into a superficially conservative framework and then expect conservatives to be bamboozled into agreeing. It seems to me that this is doomed to failure and shouldn't be seriously considered by anyone involved. He claims that Occupy Wall street should declare itself a “moral” movement and go on to explain to its detractors that it is society's moral duty to nurture the individual. He himself, however, has already clearly explained why this is next to impossible. A conservative's morality is based on a framework where free-will decisions are either punished with destitution or rewarded with wealth. For the society to “nurture” the individual in hope of insuring her success is doomed to failure and at any rate, rife with moral hazard. I would like to propose a different tack in trying to reach out to those who don't already agree with the general left-leaning point of view of the Occupy Wall Street movement.

Simply by coming into existence, Occupy Wall Street has begun to challenge the overall conservative ideological framework, not by attempting to work within it, but by loudly and clearly presenting the opposite framework. It has shown with the thousands who have shown up at Liberty Square and marched and rallied for more specific causes (Labor rights, a legally-enforced living wage, foreclosure relief and affordable housing, environmental concerns about hydro-fracking and the nuclear industry) that the conservative framework's deficiencies left-unchallenged have produced suffering in the 99% that will no longer be met with apathy. It has always seemed to me not that the vast majority of Americans are conservative in their world view, but that those who are are louder, more consistent and supported by most of the powerful institutions of the media. Now, with the Internet technology as a world-straddling megaphone and multiple physical spaces delineated as breeding grounds for activism, consciousness-raising and civil disobedience, our side just might have the power to push back and win a significant number of converts. I fear that following Mr. Lakoff's advice would simply dampen this energy and if anything, reinforce conservative's belief that their framework is so superior to ours that we must adopt it even as we try to fight it.

Cyrus Kleege

Views from the ANThill: Conversations on Fairness and Power

noreply@blogger.com (dooglas carl) — Sat, 22 Oct 2011 15:11:00 +0000

An evening sunset on the author's walk home from the center of
town in Southern Belize.
Photo courtesy of doug reeser.

During the process of fieldwork, there is always present the innumerable conversations that have little or nothing to do with your actual research focus. Such conversations are an integral part of settling into your research community and building rapport with the people and places in which you are spending your time. During my first few months here in Belize, I have had many such discussions.

For example, one day as I was walking to the center of town for lunch, I took a route that passed by the home and business of a couple with whom I hope to involve in my research. As I passed by, the wife of the couple yelled out a greeting, and waved me over. I had offered to help her with some work on local food recipes a few weeks earlier, and walked over to catch up. Her husband was nearby, working on a large wooden carving with a friend. He too called me over, and after talking with his wife for a few minutes, I joined him as he worked on the details of his carving. He handed me some sand paper to help with his work, and we began to chat about a variety of things ranging from art to politics.

At one point in our conversation, a particular topic struck me as especially interesting. Referring to the United States, my friend asked, “Do you think America is going to come back? Will it be a great country again?” His questions were somewhat out of the blue, as we were not previously talking about the U.S. specifically. I pondered his query for a moment, and then responded, “I hope the country can once again become a good country. Not necessarily a great country, but a good one.” This response was well received, and the three of us went on to talk about the possibilities that might exist if the U.S. dispersed or shared its power and worked as partners with others, as opposed to the long-standing approach of using its power to control others. We were getting at the difference between the concepts of “power with” versus “power over.”

While talking through the differences between these two types of power, the work of French social theorist Michel Foucault (Discipline and Punish: the Birth of the Prison, 1977) came to mind. Foucault, perhaps one of the most well known commentators on the subject, explained: “Power is exercised rather than possessed; it is not the ‘privilege’, acquired or preserved, of the dominant class, but the overall effect of its strategic positions – an effect that is manifested and sometimes extended by the position of those who are dominated.” The exercising of power and its effects over people in places like rural Belize aptly describes how my informants conceptualized “power over.”

The concept of “power with” seems to be less theorized, but as my Belizean friends understand it, holding power is an inevitable part of international relations. However, power does not need to be exercised over others. Instead, power can be used to build relationships, and mobilize resources based on partnerships and the public good. Here in Belize, the U.S. is seen as a world power that currently exercises its power in the interests of the few – primarily the wealthy classes. There exists in peoples’ minds, however, a different U.S. – one that at some time in our history has acted with beneficence. It can be argued that the actions of world powers in the international arena have always been in the interest of those that hold that power. Still, people that do not hold the reigns of power can envision a different possibility, although the three of us did have difficulty figuring out what it would take to bring about such changes.

Interestingly, when I returned home later that day, I stumbled upon an article published in The New York Times, “Thirst for Fairness May Have Helped Us Survive” (by Natalie Angier, July 4, 2011). The article touches on a variety of research – including such diverse topics as primate studies, human evolution, research with contemporary tribal groups, and even brain scanning studies – all around the idea that humans have developed with strong leanings toward egalitarianism and fairness. In other words, our social norm as a species may be based on equality, trust and mutualism. The article notes: “Low hierarchy does not mean no hierarchy. Through ethnographic and cross-cultural studies, researchers have concluded that the basic template for human social groups is moderately but not unerringly egalitarian. They have found gradients of wealth and power among even the most nomadic groups, but such gradients tend to be mild.” The yearning for a less hierarchical society persists, and is evident among my informants in Belize, and perhaps more so in the many parts of the world where protests against the world order are thriving.

What I find especially interesting about these two events – a talk with two Belizeans about a country’s potential for good and the almost simultaneous discovery of an article on the human propensity for fairness – is that they got at similar concepts in staggeringly different contexts. Such connections while in the field are not entirely uncommon, and they are part of what makes fieldwork so exciting. The potential for working together, for creating a more fair and just world, and for connecting with other human beings is alive and well. Hope remains.

This piece also appeared in October 2011 in the column, Notes from the Field, in the American Anthropological Association's Anthropology News.

Voices of Occupy: Call to Action from LA

noreply@blogger.com (lana) — Wed, 19 Oct 2011 22:58:00 +0000

Poster by Eric, www.occupytogether.com

Recycled Minds has reached out to activists taking part in the Occupy movement, and the initial response has been great! In the coming weeks we will be sharing a variety of experiences, perspectives, and ruminations from people who are on the ground at Occupy sites around the country.

Our first Occupied guest blogger is a friend from Occupy LA who has worked diligently over the past few weeks to organize and manage a food tent and otherwise distribute sustenance and support to other occupiers.

We would love to hear from more occupiers, so if you have your own Occupy experience that you would like to share, send us an email.
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I don't get riled up easily. However, I'm SO SICK AND TIRED of people being snarky/negative about the Occupy movement! First they say that there is no focus, then no future. Hmm. Well, as you can see from the first call to action in July from Adbuster (link here), the original Occupy demand was

"We demand that Barack Obama ordain a Presidential Commission tasked with
ending the influence money has over our representatives in Washington."

That's a pretty specific focus, folks. Ah, you say, but that's not what people are saying now, a month into the WallSt protests! As East Stroudsburg, Pa newspaper The Pocono Record noted about a local solidarity march,

"Occupy movement activists ...have been criticized by some for having so many different gripes. But one of them said: it's important that protesters have many grievances. If they just focus on one thing, then there is less of a chance that a sea-change will occur in the culture. 'It can't just be about tuition or jobs or the economy or the wars. It's got to be about many things, because right now, many things aren't working,' said Joseph DeBartolo, a political science major at East Stroudsburg University."

If nothing else, if there is a beginning, or even an attempt to separate money from politics, things will be better for everyone. If taxes are increased upon the wealthy 1%, it will make an improvement for everyone. Yes, EVERYONE. As former World Bank leader and Nobel prize winner Joseph Steiglitz said in Of the 1%, by the 1%,, for the 1%, "looking out for the other guy isn’t just good for the soul—it’s good for business." Inarguably, the current financial system is predatory, economic inequality in this country too extreme. In most first world countries a company CEO makes between 11 and 30 times the salary of an average worker – in this country it's over 450 times that – that is not just, and it’s certainly not “productive.” That must be changed, and everyone, from the Tea Party through the middle class, agrees the corporate influence over our government must be removed. How? Well, it's the job of legislators to listen to voters and implement changes. It's high time they do exactly that.

And if those who like to negate rather than act are correct? If nothing changes in the government? Well, then, STILL SOMETHING GOOD HAS COME OUT OF IT--this dialogue. When the 'negative nancy's' chime in with: It's never going to go anywhere, do anything, be anyone, all I can think is: sheesh! Are you kidding me?! You are TALKING about it! You are talking about power distribution and food manipulation and taxes. You are talking about big vs small corporations. You are talking about lobbies and voting. Middle America has huddled down, pretending they're OK for so long that we've not looked around realizing EVERYONE has it hard right now...excepting the very few.

Previously with a protest of any sort, people would go around with signs, shout, march, feel good and go home. And yes, small changes tend to happen in small ways with organized protests with a focus. This is more than that--this is a large scale long term protest with many demands, hoping for a LARGE CHANGE to our society, and the way society, the way WE THE 100% deal with distribution of money and politics and (im)balance of power. What's different about this movement is that people are sticking around, speaking with one another, figuring out what we want collectively and how to get it. SOMETHING GOOD HAS ALREADY COME OF IT--you, and others thinking and talking about it. Yes, laws from NY, to LA, and all across the USA have already changed, been implemented, regarding banks, foreclosures, and local taxation. Yet, as far as I'm concerned it is not the specific goals that matter. The seeds of change have been planted. Look around, and listen too: the dialogue IS the powerful wonderful good thing that has come out of the Occupy Together movement.

So I leave you. It's Day 18 from the OccupyLA site at City Hall with NO ARRESTS, a kitchen tent and festival food permit coming in 2 days, and a grass donation to reseed the lawn when we're gone. We've changed a law regarding the way our city deals with bank foreclosures, we're feisty and thirsty (it's been 85-90 degrees), and we're marching, and talking, and voting and creating. How 'bout you?

PS: if you're interested, i highly recommend these 3 links: This article, written during the "Arab Spring" insurrections by Joseph Stieglitz. It's short, but remarkably farsighted. http://www.vanityfair.com/society/features/2011/05/top-one-percent-201105#gotopage2 This page, putting individual faces/stories to the ambiguous 99% We are the 99% . And this very simple list of 5 facts: about the wealthiest one% of Americans

The Plentitude Economy: Less Work, More Social Capital

noreply@blogger.com (dooglas carl) — Sat, 15 Oct 2011 15:11:00 +0000

In these times of social unrest and widespread protest, it feels like the time for real change is upon us. The ways that we have structured our social, political and economic lives are struggling (if not crumbling), but it can seem overwhelming when we attempt to think of a new path forward. The above video from the Center for a New American Dream may help put us on that path. The center aims "to cultivate a new American dream—one that emphasizes community, ecological sustainability, and a celebration of non-material values, while upholding the spirit of the traditional American dream of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness." Their proposal for a "Plentitude Economy" certainly aligns with these goals.

In short, a Plentitude Economy would seek to reduce the ecological impact of all sectors, including our personal lives, corporate production, and governmental activity. A Plentitude Economy would work to get us off of our dependence on fossil fuels, and look to alternatives for our energy sources. But such an approach also critiques the concept of growth, claiming that continued growth will result in the continued degradation of natural resources. At the same time the new economy will need to create jobs, and get the many of the 14 million people out of work in the U.S. (as of September 2011) back to work.

An increase in the availability of work is integral to the success of any path forward, and the Plentitude Economy argues that if we change how we spend our time - as a society - work will become available, and we may be able to satisfy many of our needs outside of the traditional market. If we reduce the amount of time that we work, say from a five day work week, to a four day week, work will become available for others - more people working fewer hours. And now comes the personal changes, which are already evident in the increasingly popular DIY (Do It Yourself) movement. In the time freed up with the switch to a four day work week, we must focus on engaging with and supporting our local communities. This is a call for us to develop our social capital. Grow food, brew beer, make art, build and create - and then share it with those around you - develop relationships and build a local community and a local economy that can buffer against larger global fluctuations in the market and economy.

This is the Plentitude Economy. It's a simple approach, but one that begins to offer a new vision of a way forward.

This IS Anthropology!

noreply@blogger.com (dooglas carl) — Thu, 13 Oct 2011 15:11:00 +0000

This is Anthropology on Prezi

Anthropology is a commonly misunderstood discipline. For many, it is not all that clear what anthropologists actually do, especially because there are few job positions with the actual title of "Anthropologist." Yet anthropologists work in a variety of roles in a variety of fields. We seek to understand humans and human activity in the present and the past, and more often than not, we are working toward the improvement of the lives of those we work with.

Still, the lack of clarity about what it is that we do has come to the forefront, as numerous news outlets are covering a developing story out of Florida. Anthropologists around the country are talking about recent comments made by Florida Governor Rick Scott to multiple media outlets over the last week. It's clear that Scott can be added to the list of those who don't quite get what anthropologists do. It began when Scott commented on the Marc Benier Show:

"We don’t need a lot more anthropologists in the state. It’s a great degree if people want to get it, but we don’t need them here."

Later, to the Orlando Sentinel, Scott reiterated his remarks:

"We’re spending a lot of money on education, and when you look at the results, it’s not great," the governor told a luncheon crowd of the Northwest Business Association in Tallahassee. “Do you want to use your tax money to educate more people who can’t get jobs in anthropology? I don’t.”

Anthropologists, including the American Anthropological Association, have responded quickly, and most impressively by my colleagues in the University of South Florida Anthropology Department. The chair of the department, Brent Weisman, has been interviewed by numerous news outlets, and has defended the discipline admirably. In his letter from the department, Weisman explains why Scott is wrong to call out the discipline:

My colleagues and I in the Anthropology Department at USF encourage our Governor to do his homework on the modern discipline of anthropology before making another casual but ill-informed remark. Anthropologists at USF work side by side with civil and industrial engineers, cancer researchers, specialists in public health and medicine, chemists, biologists, and others in the science, technology, and engineering fields that the Governor so eagerly applauds. Our colleagues in the natural, engineering, and medical sciences view the anthropological collaboration as absolutely essential to the success of their research and encourage their students to take courses in anthropology to help make them better scientists.

And fellow students, led by Charlotte Noble and Janelle Christensen, have put together the above slideshow highlighting the diverse work of anthropologists, illustrating that anthropology is engaged with and plays an important role in our everyday lives.

And finally, in a twist to the story that would be hard to believe if it wasn't true, it has been reported that Rick Scott's own daughter received a degree in Anthropology. What can you say really, although I'm just glad my parents don't denigrate the degrees I hold to the national media!

Check out the slideshow above to learn about some of the great work that anthropologists do!

And for a comprehensive summary (with a ton of links) of the controversy check out Daniel Lende's Neuroanthropology column here >>>