Jihad vs McWorld

I had to do a book review of the book "Jihad vs McWorld" for one of my sociology classes. In it the author argues that the duel spread of globalism and technological uniformity (McWorld) and tribal separations and hostility based on religion, ethnicity, race, etc (Jihad) combats democracy and is a threat to the sovereign national state. Barber begins by defining globalism by giving a myriad of examples of capitalism and technology that have become uniform nearly worldwide. This includes the trade of natural resources, the global advertising of companies such as Coca Cola, and the international television broadcasting of American based media such as MTV music videos. He then goes on to discuss what he calls Jihad, the boundaries and separations caused by international tribalism. He draws examples from places like Islam, China, Russia, and the Pacific Rim. Throughout, Barber emphasizes that McWorld and Jihad are inevitably linked and dependent, globalism spawning from colonialism, and tribalism the backlash of the same. Both McWorld and Jihad threaten democracy, the former making nations dependent and weakening their sovereign power, and the latter splintering nations into sects, which then become more dependent on McWorld.

The book made me recall a conflict I have thought about before: the beauty of diversity vs the hatred and resentment it seems to cultivate. Often, I have felt extremely depressed about the seemingly natural proneness humans have towards ostracizing those different from the majority, and assuming that the way they live/look is by default the "correct" way of living/looking. This has led to inconceivable amounts of sadness and suffering throughout the world in all areas - physical, mental, emotional, spiritual. However, some of the moments in my life when I have felt the most exhilarated have been the times when I was experiencing new culture, different from my own. The beauty behind the variations in human existence is mind-boggling, and provides for an inexhaustible way of looking at things and behaving. So, what would be better? Living in one giant, homogenous world to prevent against the pains of negative group mentalities that foster ethnocentrism, tribalism, racism, etc? Or continuing to encourage diversity and cultural differences because of the massive benefits they bring to humanity?

In my opinion, although the world is far from ideal, diversity is worth it. I am so excited to visit Ghana because I feel I can learn so much from a new experience of place, time, behavior, materialism, etc. New doors will be opened in my mind that would have remained locked while remaining only under the American ontology. Cultural exposure opens up new spiritual, psychological, and even physical routes. I think it is one of the most significant and effective ways of gaining an education.

Group Relations

First and foremost - my IRB has been approved!! YES! So glad that stress is finally over.

So this post will be somewhat similar to the one prior about beauty perception. It is about an issue I have encountered time and time again here in America, and I am wondering if similar issues exist in Ghana. I think comparing and contrasting between what I known and what I will discover is effective in better understanding a foreign culture.

Actually, my post is about race relations, which is not a singular issue, but encompasses a world of issues that have perpetuated in America since its conception and remain today. Racism and related problems are basically always on my mind, but have been brought to the forefront of a lot of my news reading lately with the whole Trayvon Martin case. Although I realize it is often bad to come to hasty conclusions about murky scenarios, like what happened in Trayvon's gated community the day he died, the official information about the case is still enough to make me feel sick.

Basically, Trayvon, a black boy in a hoodie, was on his way back to his house in a gated neighborhood after walking to the store to buy skittles, was followed by a neighborhood watch volunteer, and eventually shot dead by the man before making it to his front door. The shooter claims he killed in self defense, because he was attacked, although witnesses claim they heard the boy yelling for help. The shooter says he had initially followed the boy because he looked suspicious, although he was just wearing a casual hoodie and tennis shoes, and the only things in his hands were skittles and iced tea. The shooter, although a neighborhood watch volunteer, did not have the legal authority to even be armed. When the boy's body was picked up, the shooter was not arrested, and the victim remained unidentified, some speculating because authorities could not believe a black boy in a hoodie actually lived in the gated community.

Now, a huge nationwide backlash has occured against the police department of the boy's city in Florida, criticizing the way the case was handled since the shooter has yet to even have been arrested, let off merely because he claimed self defense. An online petition gained over 800,000 signatures calling for justice for Trayvon's death. Many say had the shooter been a black man, and the victim a white boy, or of any race for that matter, he would have immediately been arrested, and harsh legal action would have been attempted against him. As much as I hate to say it, I basically agree.

I could go on and on about the deeper issues this story and similar ones say about the long, LONG way America has to go before it becomes post-racial, but this post is meant to relate to my project. This is where this post becomes similar to the beauty perception post. I am very interested in whether racial or ethnic differences affect society and culture in Ghana in the same large ways it does in America. Do Ghanaians treat others differently based on various racial, ethnic, or tribal identities? Are some groups faced with a perpetual perception as guests in their own country, or the fear of being viewed in the negative light of suspicion or condescension? How do these issues affect social classes, community structure, government, etc? These are some other issues I would like to at least passively keep in mind and observe during my time in Ghana.

Here is a fairly unbiased version of the updated story of Trayvon Martin, as of today:

http://www.cnn.com/2012/03/27/justice/florida-teen-shooting/?hpt=hp_t1

Beauty Perceptions

Last week I was talking to my friend Katherine who had the privilege of visiting Tanzania, Africa for three weeks for an observational study. She shared some of her experiences with me, and expressed how excited she was for me to live in Ghana. One of the things she related was simple yet thought-provoking. She said I would be surprised how much I would stop thinking about my external image, my clothing, my body shape, etc. I do not believe she meant at all that I would not care about being physically healthy. More she meant that with the absence of Western media saturation and the affects this takes on young minds in relation to body image, I would not worry so much about how my physicality was being perceived. This led into a conversation about the detrimental affects of American media shaping the way youth, and especially women, think about their bodies. Girls think they must conform to a certain body type/skin type/hair type/dress style etc, an impossibility for many, which leads to eating disorders and low self-esteem. Boys think that a certain body type/skin type/hair type/dress style is the epitome of beauty or should dictate attraction. I told Katherine about how I had felt the affects of this here at BYU, being one of the few students of African descent, I simply cannot fit in with many of the mainstream traits esteemed as beautiful in Provo culture. Even if I was as healthy as I possibly could be, I will never be as stick thin as some others of a different ethnicity. My genes give me irreversible curves and thickness. My facial features include a wider nose, and fuller lips. My hair is extremely curvy, and my skin is dark. Maybe I am overly sensitive, but I have often felt almost ashamed of some of my differences in relation to my homogenous surroundings, especially since the media glorifies the beauty of tall, white, stick-thin women, and I can see the affects of this on the way beauty is perceived in my own community.

I wonder how this will change in Ghana. How will beauty be perceived differently due to a very different racial and ethnic majority, as well as due to the lesser prevalence of Western media influences? How do these differences affect the way females in particular view themselves, and how do they affect courtship and attraction? This is something I would be interested in observing although my project does not address these issues.

There is definitely a lot to think about when you realize that beauty and attraction are so relative, that just by moving to another location you could be viewed as either less or more attractive according to cultural influences.

Here is a somewhat harsh site that really brings up some relevant issues about the recent onslaught of white indie culture in the U.S. that has pushed the prevalence of rail thin, retro white girls - think the type of girls you would see the majority of the time in Urban Outfitters advertising -

http://www.carefreewhitegirl.com/

Symbolism

I loved our class today on art and symbolism in Ghana. After taking Symbolic Anthropology, I became fascinated by symbols as they are one of the foundational elements of human existence. We literally could not function without symbols - even our words are merely metaphors for our imperceptible mix of thoughts, emotion, and impulse that can never be flawlessly conveyed to the external world. I love symbols like the blatant ones we encounter through art - Katie showed a spiral on the side of a religious structure in Ghana, and told us it represented eternity - like this example, symbols can convey mass meanings full of history and complexity with just one image, that sometimes abstractly relates to whatever it is representing, and is sometimes completely arbitrary, but recognized through tradition.

In my symbolic anthropology class, we discussed the extensive symbolism behind the LDS sacrament ritual. I realized how religions use so much ritualism and symbolism for highly effective purposes. Religion poses intricate theory and inspires feelings and emotions that are hard to put into words and difficult to interpret even when they occur inside of us. Symbols create a route of expression to allow a group to form a cohesive union surrounding such complex beliefs and meanings. No wonder many Mormon kids are so knowledgeable about their religion at such a young age, they are taught the doctrine largely through relatable symbolism that especially helps in conveying religious messages that might usually be thought too mature for children to process.

Like Katie said, this will be a great for us in Ghana. It will be important for me to inquire about the representations and symbolism I see - having even a limited knowledge of what deeper meaning lies behind images, words, or behaviors will allow me to have a better understanding of the culture as a whole. Symbolism in language, actions, art, etc are the very fiber of a society and its cultural makeup.

IRB

I have recently been working on IRB classes in 3 of my 6 classes. Joy. Two of them have been for my project in Wiamoase, and one was for my class with Professor Bibb, where we have been planning a pretend development project in Apamea, Syria.

As much as I have hated the IRB process, I have also appreciated it. Besides agreeing that it is necessary to prevent unethical study practices (although I think there is room for improvement especially for the social sciences, whose studies are completely different from something like a medical experiment), I also think the IRB application has allowed me to get a better grasp on my project, and what I will actually be doing in Wiamoase. For example, writing out my research aims and questions, and a literature review, has helped me to solidify what research I will need to collect, at least initially. Also, writing about mundane things such as how I will gain consent, if I will use a translator, how I will maintain confidentiality, etc, has helped me better understand what measures I will have to take in the field to conduct my research. I have realized how important it is that I will be organized, with my notes, and audio recording, and any other tools necessary. I also have been impressed with how much I will need to learn to successfully connect with the people, and how fully I will be dependent on them. If I want to talk to someone who only speaks in Twi, I will need another Ghanaian friend to translate, for example.

Anyway, I turn in my new and improved IRB draft on Tuesday. Although I have learned from the application, I have my fingers crossed it will become approved. I may have learned from it, but I definitely not in love with it.

Power Dispersion

For my Anthropology of Development class, we have been reading development books by Nolan and Escobar. Although I enjoy Nolan's because of its practical advice and simple outlining of concepts behind development, I enjoy Escobar a lot more. He is somewhat cynical with his view of development, but he brings up facts that cannot just be ignored by Western students going into development.

The chapters that I read for Wednesday were about power dispersion. Escobar argues that the power Western countries gained and continue to hold after colonialism has affected development in detrimental ways. When development projects occur, or even the framing for these projects, they evolve out of a Western-dictated context. Since international power is unequally dictated, the countries in need of "development" do not get a significant say in what happens to them, while powerful Western countries get almost all of the say. Escobar states that this does not lead to sustainable change or sound judgement about these countries, but instead can aggregate third world issues in some instances.

Additionally, the way the West conceptualizes developing countries can be damaging to the way development is enacted. For example, Escobar points out that development rhetoric can be dehumanizing and objectifying towards third world inhabitants. A mother, who is a human being with thoughts and emotion, is reduced to an illiterate starving body, with way too many children, and an unseemly dependency on men. Or Western developers will point out the apparent flaws of the developing world, but because of the power dispersion that allows them ultimate say, they are saved from having their own similar issues pointed out. Such as when Western developers state that the problem in third world countries is there population growth, which must be curved. However, they fail to point out that some of these countries have larger human populations than some in the "developed" world, but actually consume less. So what does that say about the developed world?

I think this whole issue of the dispersion of power relates to my project because it might give me more insight into how I might mentally conceive of or envision countries in Africa, and Ghana specifically. I have been consuming the Western rhetoric we are all fed throughout our lives through school and the media. How has this affected the way I view inhabitants of the "third world?" Have I objectified the African people, or dehumanized them through some sort of "social imagination" about the way they exist? Have I thought about them as some intangible glob of people needing assistance or reform and failed to recognize them as individual human beings with the same capacity for thought, feeling, and action as myself and my American counterparts? I probably have been guilty of all of these things. However, as I increase my understanding of anthropology and development I am working towards erasing these negative habits, and attempting to view humans in the humanistic way they all deserve.

Kony Captivation

This last week I was extremely interested in the phenomenon of the Kony 2012 viral video that popped up on my Facebook and Pinterest repeatedly. I do not think an NGO has ever created quite a stir with a video campaign, and the wild spread and success of the video definitely creates new implications for development and the advertisement of social causes. For me this event showed highly positive and highly negative illuminations about contemporary social projects.

The Positive:

I think the Invisible Children organization is brilliant in its advertising. It realizes the power behind trending media in today's culture, especially among the younger generation. The video played right to America's current young adult mainstream of indie pop culture along with the empowering sense that we have the power to change the world. Heart wrenching scenes of Ugandan youth were slapped right next to scenes of hundreds of Toms-clad college students running around and yelling for change, led by the ultimate hipster/Non-profit manager himself, Jason Russel, which are overlayed with emotional alternative music form the likes of The Naked and Famous and Mumford and Sons.

Basically, the guys of IC knew how to capture the attention of America's youth and celebrities, and they did it with high success. And Facebook friends of mine who had never posted about an official social cause, probably in their life, were now a little bit more educated about one of the horrendous problems facing people in another part of the world, and felt excited to be apart of stopping these problems. So that right there is a plus - in a self-gratifying, ungrateful American culture, it is a plus to get kids excited about aiding other people's problems, especially other people not in their direct vicinity.

The Negative:

Some of the positives about the campaign video could also be looked at as negative. I have read several critiques of Russel's documentary being overly catered towards American youth and lacking a central focus on the actual Ugandan youth, as well as critiques of its seemingly Westernized, savior-like depiction of changing the world. However, that is subjective, and though I partially agree, there is a lot of gray area.

However, one scary thing this viral vid did make evident was the power behind a trending topic. I am almost positive most of the kids who shared that video did so as a knee-jerk reaction right after viewing it, and did not take the time to research IC, research the actual history of Joseph Kony, the LRA, and the US interference that has already occured, nor any other relevant information. No matter how innocent a cause or organization looks, this is vital. Because sharing a viral video like that, or contributing money, or whatever is not like donating to your local community service project. People who do this for Kony 2012 are now backing one viewpoint about Uganda, and one method of solving the problem in Uganda. Do those who shared the video realize that they are supporting Ugandan military intervention when they support IC, which has controversial implications? Do they realize that past attempts to stop or kill Kony have resulted in violent retaliation that has caused the death of hundreds of more people? Do they know that in the past year, IC used only about a third of their incoming funds on direct help to Africa, and that their financial accountability rating is presently a 2/4? I would guess a lot of American youth who shared this video on impulse do not.

Fundamentally, the loudest message that came across to me during the few days of viral spreading and media received by Kony 2012 is that if one has the means of producing a glossy, professional documentary/campaign video, complete with American pop culture tie-ins, they could probably get millions of hits and thousands of people to share there video, even if their organization in actuality was doing some pretty questionable things outside of the spotlight.

Anyway, those are my thoughts. I felt this issue related somewhat to my project just because it is a contemporary event in social development - the field I am aiming to head into. It is interesting to see some of the Western views or limited global perspectives of Americans highlighted in a viral video - things I learn about everyday in class.

Here are a few of the links I found interesting while researching Kony 2012

http://www.invisiblechildren.com/critiques.html

http://justiceinconflict.org/2012/03/07/taking-kony-2012-down-a-notch/

http://justiceinconflict.org/2012/03/07/kony-2012-the-invisible-children-advocacy-campaign-to-catch-kony/#more-2862

http://demandnothing.org/making-the-invisible-visible/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=making-the-invisible-visible

http://9gag.com/gag/3212157

The last one is just for laughs.

Methodological Possibilities

In both my field study prep class and my ethnographic methods class for anthropology, I have recently been really noticing the value behind different methodologies. When I first began to hear about methods in anthropology, I often felt skeptical about the practicality or usefulness. In the "hard" sciences methodologies such as experimentation or the use of numerical formulas are concrete, and it is fairly easy to see how these could be put to use to further a hypothesis. However, when one is doing research qualitatively, things are expected to have error, and to include guesswork. At first, I considered whether this could indicate inaccuracy or worthlessness. However, as my understanding of anthropology deepened, I realized qualitative work is, in fact, very valuable, and with the methods practices I have been doing this semester I have become even more solidified in this opinion. Questions or exercises patterned specifically to know better the human mind and human emotions are just as significant as the scientific experiments that can test biological samples.

For example, I have noticed that my methods practices have especially helped me to see how I can use informants to define specific aspects of their culture, and to map out where people place value. Since I will be unfamiliar with the culture I am studying, this is vital. When I practiced free-listing, pile sorting, and ranking methodologies, I asked a friend to list every type of education should could think of. This led to follow up questions about how she defined education, which was further specified when she sorted her list into categorical piles. Furthermore, when she ranked her list from most important to least, I was able to see where she placed value in a specific part of her society. Similarly, when I used scale inquiry on BYU campus to ask about gender roles and education, specifically through the scale question "It is more important for males to graduate from college than for females - strongly agree, agree, neutral, disagree, or strongly disagree," I was able to infer social value through the answers my subjects gave.

I am beginning to see the possibilities a variety of methodologies hold for information gathering within the field. As Professor Hawkins has been emphasizing, sometimes even one observation, or a particular pattern from one question, or a specific reaction can already garner enough analysis-worthy subject matter for a large part of a senior thesis.

Relative Ontology

Yesterday while on the long drive to Vegas for a wedding, one of my best friends, Ben, and I had a chat about context, space, and time. He brought up how strange it was that humans are human regardless of what space or time they are born into; however, this definition is purely based on biological premises. The human born in the 1950s is not the same human as me, because our contexts are so vastly different. Our lens of reality is layered with filters of place, history, culture, technology, etc. Ben related how ontology is therefore highly relative to place and time. He brought up an example from the scriptures, when one of the prophets had a vision of all the Earth’s inhabitants, and tried to describe what he saw. His descriptions sound crazy and almost unidentifiable to us, but many speculate that he was describing technological advances that would not have been present back then, such as an airplane. Ben and I tried to think of a future human’s existence that could be so contextually different from our own that if we could look into their timeframe, we would not even have the terminology or explaining concepts in our ontology to accurately describe events or devices they might interact with regularly.

Later, I forgot entirely about this conversation, and we met up with friends downtown on the Vegas strip. I used to live in Las Vegas, and am pretty familiar with what sights can be seen on the strip – at least sights open to those younger than 21. Casinos blast their mind numbing game sounds, people drop thousands on overpriced food, clothing, alcohol, etc, old men walking around with scantily dressed younger women, or women their same age who look like they eat Botox for breakfast. There are tipsy and drunk people stumbling around on the sides of the hectic main road (including one of the non-LDS friends we had met up with), openly drinking, holding 4-foot tall alcohol cups. Casual sex or sex entertainment is glorified and on display on billboards, on pornographic call cards, or in the public Treasure Island pirate ship show, where old men stand watching with their hands on their wives’ shoulders, or little kids are hoisted onto shoulders so they can get a better look. So… how does this relate to Ben’s and my conversation?

I thought about this American cultural experience, in one of the United States’ biggest cities, and thought about how it might compare to Accra, Ghana, or any other big city in Ghana. What are the similarities, or the differences? Just from some of the video clips we have watched in class I can pretty well guess there are some major differences. I am guessing there are concepts in big cities in Ghana that are too foreign to Americans to even cross our minds, or terminology that is just not included in our ontology because of our different context, and vise versa. How does context become so very different between humans across the world, or thousands of miles away, or hundreds of miles away, that even our epistemology cannot be defined the same. Are the differences based on history? Or are they a-historical? Is it based on geography and resource availability? When did cultures diverge? And what makes them end up so drastically different, where meaning cannot even be reconciled, especially when we are all born with the same biological brains and bodies?

These questions probably cannot be asked. However, they lead me to one conclusion – that whether there is or is not a universal ontology, humans’ variable epistemologies will never allow for it to be discoverable without the intervening of some higher power. Therefore cultural relativism is vital to human studies, including the research I will be doing in Ghana, because no matter where one hails from, they cannot legitimately claim to another that they know “pure reality.”