Coming of Age

It is so crazy that I have less than a month left in the States, and then off for a three month residency in Wiamoase, Ghana. Looking back, I am fairly satisfied with the progress I have made thus far. Of course, I could always try a little harder academically, but I do feel a lot more anthropologically capable. This year has been a unique couple of semesters at college. Freshman year I floundered around in generals, hating my science classes, and wondering if I should teach American Literature to high schoolers (good thing future students of mine missed out on that fate - they probably would not have appreciated my burning passion for The Grapes of Wrath, which I would have undoubtedly made required reading), or if I wanted to enter the Humanities, another passion of mine, but one with even less career opportunities than the social sciences seem to offer. It was not until my Freshman Academy mentor asked what I liked, and I likely responded, "to travel," and she told me about her sister in a major where all she did was learn about worldwide cultures.

That pretty much had me sold. I even got through Anth 101 with a certain professor who I wont name out of courtesy (but I will say has a nicely cultivated faux British accent) - this is usually the first ring of fire for potential Anthropology students - the department really should reconsider how the opening course to the major is presented. However, the next obstacle was my theory class. With one dry (and i mean DRY) professor and my first 20-pager due, it's a wonder I continued to feel passionate about anthropology. Finally, after Buonforte taught a linguistics class I had randomly signed up for, I no longer had any lingering doubts. My mind was probably opened more by the two classes I took from him than it had been for my 4 years of high school "education."

Anyway, the point of this post is to say that it all brought me to where I am right now. Studying methodologies and becoming excited as I realize what practical applications await me in the field of ethnography and development. Ghana will be sort of like an anthropological "coming of age" as I attempt to conduct real field work and apply the theory and methodology that has been pounded into my head. Hopefully the Ghanaians will be able to forgive me of my many, many inevitable blunders. I am sure by the time I am through, I will forever be grateful to my new friends for allowing my intrusion as I attempt to learn the ways of the anthropologist.

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.

GurlGoestoAfrica

It is interesting preparing for my field study and project in Ghana while simultaneously taking my first development classes. While my project will be conducted under the main intentions of accumulating research and data for a written paper, it is still a preparatory process for my potential future in development. Therefore, it is helpful to notice the obvious similarities between classes, and how attempting to understand culture is inextricably connected to effective developmental changes and improvement in "third-world" societies.

On Tuesday, my Intro to Development teacher displayed a picture of three African children playing in water, unclothed. They all had large smiles, and seemed to be enjoying themselves. My class was asked if we could tell whether these children were in poverty, or qualified for "first-world" assistance. This question was impossible to answer from the cursory glance we were given into these children's existence. This scenario reminded me of the iceberg analogy. Anthropology, sociology, development, and related fields of study are complex. Surface observations do not provide the data needed to make judgements on a society, whether they be moral judgements or judgments about whether or not one should provide "assistance" or "opportunity" to another group of people. With each class I am being further impacted by the complexities intrinsic to ethnographic studies, and more convinced of the necessity of being careful to not be overly confident in my ability to extract accurate meaning from a foreign culture.

However, this does not trivialize anthropology or sociology in the least bit. I have experienced the scary mental break when one realizes that cultural relativism, and the inevitability of personal bias based on upbringing, means that certain conclusions are virtually impossible to find. Nevertheless, I also understand that ethnography, development, and other anthropological studies are more about the process than the product. Geertz tells us that we do not have to know everything to understand something. Those somethings are the reasons it is important to continue studying culture. To even get a feel for what lies beneath the surface on the submerged part of the iceberg is important, because it brings humanity closer, and provides the understanding that causes humane behavior.

(Random throw-in: I found this interesting satirical tumblr that seemed to reflect at least some of the sentiments from the "What Students Don't Learn Abroad" article. I do not necessarily agree with much of the harsh judgement displayed on this tumblr, but it definitely got me thinking and made me make a double-take on my intentions for going abroad to Ghana. http://gurlgoestoafrica.tumblr.com/ )

Beginnings in Anthropological Awareness: What I Hope to Gain from this Prep Course

For a long time now I have been obsessed with travel. However, my intentions and perspectives surrounding travel and cultural exposure have drastically changed over the past year and a half. Before delving into the literature behind anthropological theory, especially humbling ideologies like those of Geertz, my view of travel was highly romanticized. I was very much swept away in the exoticism of foreign places, and the novelty of bringing home quaint souvenirs to show off. Even when I had the chance to actually visit parts of Peru, and live in Japan for over a month, I did not allow myself to appreciate and learn from the variety of culture my privilege had allowed me to become exposed to. I breezed through my travels, enjoying them immensely, but taking away a rather shallow experience.

My major in Sociocultural Anthropology has allowed me to begin the process towards better understanding what may be improved options for exploring different cultures. This mental and theoretical development has caused me to ask questions about society I had never thought to ask, and venture thoughts about issues I had not even been aware of before. When I began to think about embarking on a field study to Ghana, Africa, I was wary, and felt much more intimidated because of my new awareness. I have realized it is extremely important for me to develop and understand my own intentions and attitudes as I prepare for this field study, because entering an unfamiliar culture as an outsider does not give me any entitlement, and the way I will learn the most is by realizing how much I have to learn. The more I travel the more I will become aware of how little I know, instead of deciding that because of it I know more.

With this being said, my hope for this preparation course and field study is that I will make much more progress down the pathway I feel I have at least slowly begun. I want to learn the skills necessary to interact in different cultures without coming across as arrogant, and veering as far away as possible from the ignorance born from narrow mindedness. My desire is that the preparation course will be a vehicle for my personal development as a researcher and traveler, into someone who can learn as much as possible from my environment and the people I interact with, and who can suppress my socialized tendencies to make situations about me, turning my thoughts and actions outward instead. I want my experiences in and out of the field to help expand anthropological discourse, and to humble and shape me as I work towards becoming a successful studier of humanity.