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Photo exhibit: African-American Kentuckians
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A new photo exhibit on display at University of Kentucky presents a visual ethnography* of African-American communities in the state’s central region, by Sarah Hoskins.
These images present several layers of identity: Christian, multi-generational, black, agricultural, Kentuckian. I would love to have been along for these photography trips, to ask each person to tell me about their community. I bet I would hear great stories and many more identity markers than listed above.
*To some, ethnography implies studying “the other.” Not here. Its real meaning is “description of culture.”
DNA identifies new hominin
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And the puzzle of human history in Asia has a new piece…
Scientists have identified a previously unknown type of ancient human through analysis of DNA from a finger bone unearthed in a Siberian cave.
The extinct “hominin” (human like creature) lived in Central Asia between 48,000 and 30,000 years ago. The discovery raises the intriguing possibility that three forms of human – Homo sapiens, Neanderthals and the species represented by X-woman – could have met each other and interacted in southern Siberia.
Via BBC News – DNA identifies new ancient human dubbed ‘X-woman’.
Denisova Cave, Siberia
Curiously, the ground layer in which the bone was found also contained a bracelet and tools associated with modern humans. A result of mixed layers, or cultural artifacts from a previously unknown group? Full results are published in Nature.
Tags: anthropology, archaeology, biology, DNA, evolution, Nature, news, Novosibirsk, Paabo, Siberia, X-Woman
New Ghost Towns
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What if the American economy began favoring locally produced goods and materials? Could the Buy Local movement help us recover from this long recession?
An article in USA Today, New Ghost Towns, warns, “Industrial communities teeter on edge of survival” (March 2, 2010). The piece focuses on Ravenswood, West Virginia, where 650 of the town’s 4,000 people were laid off during an aluminum plant closing one year ago, leaving the community “one plant shutdown from oblivion.”
The current unemployment rate amongst industrial workers rivals that of the Great Depression. However, in the past, “people could leave a ghost town – miners to new veins, farmers to till fresh land, merchants to move closer to road or rail,” but now the unemployed see no such options. What will happen in Ravenswood? “People will start leaving here. It’s that or a minimum-wage job at Wal-Mart.”
The pattern recurs in so many communities in America: First, local businesses shrink because consumers favor cheap imported goods from chain stores. Then, factory production dwindles against cheap imported materials. What is the ultimate cost of valuing the cheapest option?
What if American culture shifted away from cherishing the cheap to valuing local sustainability? I daresay, what if it became a matter of national pride to support your local economy?
Tags: American culture, buy local, ghost town, local sustainability, recession, unemployment, USA Today, values, Wal-Mart
Buy Local
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I’ve been poking around the “Buy Local” movement in Louisville, Kentucky. I was curious about what motivated people here to support local businesses, particularly local food producers. Is it because they find locally produced goods to be higher quality? Is it a form of social activism—a way to go green or to raspberry big box stores? Is it related to the regional identity of an agricultural state? Perhaps it’s simply convenience or habit? I wanted to hear directly from the people doing the growing, the buying, and the supporting before assuming any of these conjectures to be accurate.
So, to the farmer’s markets I went, with the intention of asking questions as customers marveled at pumpkins and fondled peppers. “Why do you come to the farmer’s market instead of Kroger or anywhere else?” Most answers fell into the following three categories: Quality, Knowing the source, and Supporting alternatives to big-box stores. This is the first in a series of posts. You’ll see more analysis in the ones that follow.
Quality
Quality and the variety of foods available were the most commonly cited reasons. I heard many stories of people feeling like they had discovered food for the first time after cooking with fresh, organic produce.
“Real food makes you feel so good,” says Amber, mid-twenties, as she and her boyfriend have brunch at a picnic table in the middle of the market. He smiles at her and tells me that his very favorite thing is when she comes home from the farmer’s market on Saturday morning with fresh eggs and peppers and makes hella good migas. Apparently, it’s the best cure for a hangover. (more…)
Welcome
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Hey, there! New to the site? Click on ABOUT to the right to get started.
You might notice that even though my pursuits are academic, I use a casual voice. I firmly believe that everyone should have access to knowledge and be encouraged to question their own society. Keeping the fields of Anthropology, Sociology and American Studies preserved in the ivory tower of academia, bounded by dense language, is exclusionary, and it has no place here. In a way, I myself am doing exactly what I suspect I will find in my studies: a reflection of values in dialogue. I aim for my language to reflect that I value the readership and input of the people I study, us. All of us.
Thanks for stopping by!
Farewell to our dear Levi-Strauss
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A well composed article on the contributions of an intillectual icon:
Tags: anthropology, Levi-Strauss, New York Times, news, obituary, philosophy
a stand-up gal
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Here’s a good summary of Le Guin’s place in our hearts and minds:
Happy Birthday Ursula K. Le Guin | Savage Minds
Le Guin, as many people know, is the daughter of two great anthropologists — Alfred Kroeber and his wife Theodora. Her fiction, poetry, and essays on writing defy easy classification. Her stories are like pieces of wood furniture — simply and sturdily written, with a beautiful simplicity and craftmanship. They are easy enough for children to read, but have an emotional profundity that gives them great depth. Before her, no one thought to combine Boasian anthropology, Daoist inclinations, and keen sense of place rooted in Northern California, and after her the niche is pretty well filled. Like ethnographies, LeGuin’s best pieces — which for me means Left Hand of Darkness and especially The Dispossessed — ask universal questions through the exploration of particular times and places.
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In the news
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This is probably the most sociologically-leaning piece I’ll post here.
Last weekend in Richmond, CA a 15 year old girl was gang raped after a homecoming dance by around 10 teenage and adult men. A larger crowd of onlookers formed. They watched it, allowed it, encouraged it, recorded it, and made cell phone calls inviting others to come see it. The rape lasted over 2 hours. The victim was abandoned in critical condition.
Stories like this remind me that women in the U.S. are still very much a social minority, subject to abuse for their status. There isn’t necessarily anything inherent about the male sex that makes this so; it is our culture that fosters this type of behavior. The onlookers’ actions and inactions drive home the social implications of this crime. In light of cases like this, one cannot argue that violence against women results only from a very small group of disturbed mens’ actions. It’s a much larger and more complicated issue than simple perversion or psychopathy. A combination of cultural rhetoric and individual behavior allows such abuse.
The news story states that the community is shocked because they don’t feel it’s representative of them. But it is. Violence against women and gang violence reflect our cultural reality, just as hate crimes do. Historians and anthropologists alike will attest that a people’s violence–particularly ritualized or ceremonial violence–does in fact reflect culture, to some degree at least. (more…)
why so angry?
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My, the talking heads of the media are angry these days. The visceral reactions to the healthcare reform debate remind me again that we have a bit of an identity crisis in the U.S.
I’m reminded of a lecture on moral psychology that explains the dichotomy between the values of our two major political parties: Talk. Here, Dr. Jonathan Haidt postulates that conservatives and liberals have different sets of values which drive their decisions and reactions. Haidt says liberals value fairness and inclusiveness for all, even if it means disrupting social order, while conservatives value social order and tradition, even if it means sacrifices for some. These are fundamentally different approaches to community.
Considering this, it might be fair to say that the people of the U.S. have conflicting values: personal success and the success of the community. I find this conflict interestingly timed. In the last month, I’ve heard talking heads frothing angrily on U.S. news programs. They say it’s not our responsibility to pay for the mistakes and choices of others. They say large social programs are un-American. In the same month, I also heard voices external to the U.S. comment on how America is known for taking care of one another, and for having a government that cares about its people.
The external voices cover seemingly disparate cultures, but both involve people who feel their communities have been failed by their government. The first is an article called “Shattered Somalia,” and the second is a documentary about Mexican border communities emptied by migrant labor, “The Other Side of Immigration.” In an interview in “The Other Side of Immigration,” a man who had returned after working for over a decade in the states said that the problem is Mexico. It is crazy. The corruption and lack of resources and support for the people make Mexico crazy. It doesn’t take care of its people the way the U.S. does, so people have to leave. Considering the angry rhetoric mentioned above, I was almost surprised to hear the U.S. described this way. (more…)
Tags: America, anthropology, conservatives, healthcare, identity, liberals, Mexico, moral psychology, reform, Somalia, U.S. culture, values
Tasty disclaimers
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It’s something we hear about a lot, in the news, movies, and while we travel. Americans are perceived by the rest of the world in certain romanticized or despised ways. United States citizens are aware of this very general idea, but we don’t talk about it much.
I asked an Anthropology professor a long time ago if one could specialize in American culture. She replied that THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS AMERICAN CULTURE, only American cultureS. We are too varied and diverse a people to all fall under one “American culture.” Interestingly, though, every non-academic person I’ve told this to says, “Huh? Of course there’s an American culture.”
I wondered, why are the pro’s missing what the laypeople see? Why is the discipline whose job it is to identify patterns of behavior—values and norms shared by groups of people—missing this seemingly obvious group? Why don’t anthropologists study American culture? (more…)
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