Fighting Fears

So, I have to confess, amidst the feelings of excitement about flying off to Ghana for a quarter of the year, I have been experiencing my share of anxiety. Of course when people ask if I am feeling nervous or excited about the trip, I respond yes to both. However, in all honesty, lately it has been mostly nervous. But, so as not to risk looking like a wimp I usually do not expand on this sentiment, but keep it to myself.

My biggest fear so far is not the sweltering heat. It is not the risk of getting malaria or some other taxing illness. It isn't my cultural or lingual incompetence. It's not even a fear of sleeping in a strange bed, in a tiny village, in a foreign country. All of these things are enough to singularly make one nervous, but I have experienced them in some degree in Peru or Japan and know that they can be survived and overcome.

My number one biggest fear is maintaining courage and emotional health as I exist in an isolation I have never really known for an extended time period. I am a social person by nature, I love my friends and family and the daily interactions I share with them. This is part of the reason I love anthropology - I am thrilled and fascinated by the bonds that can be forged and perpetuated through human relationships. In Ghana, I will have one American roommate with whom to relate. I am confident I will love the Ghanaians in the village, and will strive to create meaningful relationships with them. However, for my own selfish purposes I will not have constant communication with friends and family who share my culture and context and can comfort me in the ways I am most familiar with. This loss will be compounded by the fact that I live in the year 2012, and have a quite possibly unhealthy dependency on things like my texting and Facebook.

Recently, I was blessed to receive some needed comfort to help assuage my fears to some degree. My friend Lindsay and I were out to dinner and had some time to talk about things. Lindsay recently returned from a Spanish speaking mission to New Mexico, where she spent a lot of her time in El Paso, Texas very near the Mexican-American border. She commented that with my lack of means of communication and with such a culturally immersive experience I was sort of headed into a mini-mission situation. Realizing that Lindsay could probably identify with some of the fears I have about isolation because of her mission, I expressed how nervous I was. She began to describe some of her mission experiences and related that there were times when she was basically forced to her knees because the one person she could turn to was the Savior. She went on to explain that when all of the layers are stripped away - the sources I would usually turn to in a time of need (friends, family, or even other superficial means of escape) - all that is left is God.

After talking to Lindsay, I felt a comfort I had not really felt before. I could almost physically feel my anxiety lessening. I am still pretty scared, but I know that God will not leave me in complete isolation. I am excited for an opportunity that will challenge me, and even my current lifestyle. I hope to grow closer to my Savior, and build a more familiar and reliant relationship with Him while in Ghana.

Medicine

Yesterday I got my immunizations finally, and picked up my typhoid and malaria pills. Throughout the day I was feeling fairly good, except for being abnormally achey. However, by the time I went to bed I felt extremely achey and tired. I woke up at 2:30 a.m. with violent chills and feeling extremely cold even when I piled on layers of clothing and blankets. I could not fall asleep and just lay shivering for a long time. I must have finally dozed off, because the next thing I knew I woke up basically sweating and extremely hot. Thus, so far I have had a lovely time facing the yellow fever shot symptoms.

This small burden of feeling sick from the shot just made me think about one more thing that I often take for granted as an American - the fact that our country provides extensive medicine and immunizations that prevent against disease and illness. In the U.S., some might feel bad for themselves when they contract a small cold, while malaria is just as prevalent and common a sickness in Ghana.

These are the types of things that I think make development practices worth it. The point of international development should not be to make a people conform to behave or live just as Americans, but it should be to help provide opportunity and options for things such as advanced medicine that improve quality of life for all humans in general.

I think it would be interesting for me to talk to Lauren and Natalie a little more about their projects. I am very ignorant about medical studies, and my project does not include any medical application. I want to ask them what their research has taught them about third world medical situations, and what may be some appropriate development practices within the field of medicine.

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.

Zion in All Corners of the Earth

The other day in Twi class, we accumulated gospel vocabulary words, and then put together our testimonies in Twi. It is comforting realizing that we will be attending church in Asamang. I guess for my own selfish reasons, I am just excited that among the culture shock and misunderstandings will be an aspect I can relate to. Not saying that LDS culture is anywhere near the same in Ghana as it is in America; however, foundational elements are the same, such as our belief in a Savior who atoned for mankind and a boy who restored the gospel. There was just something cool about hearing the Savior's titles in Twi, and realizing that church members there have some of the same deep running veins of belief as I do. I cannot wait to learn from the branch in Asamang, and to feel the fellowship of sisterhood and brotherhood the gospel provides, with people who live in an entirely different cultural world than me.

Here is my testimony in Twi:

Me nim sE as0re no yE nokware

Me gyedi sE Jesus Christ ye me odimafo

M'Egya a 0w0 soro te ase

Me de aseda ma onyame sE m'abusua betumi nya bEkyebo bra

Me gyedi sE Thomas S. Monson yE 0k0mhyeni a 0 te ase.

Medaase sE Jesus Christ ab0 af0reE

Me nim As0re no nkyerEkyerE yE nokware esan (as a result of) Homhom kr0nkr0n no.

Ew0 Jesus Christ din mu

Amen

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.”

Confessions of an Addict

One thing I am excited/scared about for my three months in the field is the inevitable lack of technological connection I will have access to. When I think about losing Facebook, texting, blogs, Pinterest, etc, it may sound pathetic, but it is like I will suddenly be going cold turkey as a smoker after being used to three packs a day. I can honestly say I am addicted to the Internet and my cell phone. Although I'm not alone, as I'm pretty sure most other kids at BYU are also addicted, it is still humbling when you fully realize you have succumbed to a dependency on an inanimate object external to your body. I wonder what it will be like having these things abruptly stripped away for 90 days - probably one of the better things that will ever happen to me.

While pondering this, I have also thought about how as an American, middle class teen I have just fully accepted technological saturation as a natural part of life. For many Ghanaians this is not the case, as well as for the vast majority of the rest of the world. I wonder how this dichotomy of technological exposure makes my life experiences different from those who do not experience mass technology. I know from sociology classes that our social interactions are drastically different in a lot of ways. These types of differences can be seen among Americans between mere generations. However, I wonder if this difference in experience also causes variations in perception, time value, definitions of place, etc. For example, maybe Ghanaians would see it as utterly boring to sit and scroll through Pinterest for an hour, while many American girls find this a great source of entertainment. Or maybe an American boy views his online teammates in a video game to be better friends than the people he physically interacts with at school, a concept that Ghanaians may not be able to relate with. Basically, it is just crazy how although we are all human, what we actually define as the human experience can vary so drastically.

Extra Credit Post

An English major who presented at the Inquiry Conference talked about her project carried out in London, based on classic literature about Queen Elizabeth. She started off her presentation by stating that at first she had wanted to do her project here at BYU, gathering research in the library. Her professors had encouraged her to actually go to London, an idea she was at first not too excited about. She did not understand how spending money to live in Europe would aid her project in worthwhile ways that would be any more beneficial than library research. However, she related that after she had arrived in London, and started visiting the locations written about in the classic literature she was studying, she quickly began to realize the benefits of being at the actual setting. She began to gather new insights and understandings about the literature she had never before thought of, because she had not known specific details about the settings until she experienced them visually and in person. For example, her views of the Queen Elizabeth character in her reading drastically changed once she physically visited the prison the queen had been held captive in. She felt a stronger connection and sympathy for the character, and had a deeper understanding of why she had been written to behave in some of the ways she did within the literature.

I felt that this presentation was extremely valid. Although library research is very useful, there is definitely something to be said about actually visiting a place or the people one is attempting to study. There are obvious reasons why relocating to the actual study region brings an added comprehension, sympathy, and new perspectives that could not otherwise be obtained through mere library research. I could try to study Wiamoase, Ghana through journal articles and books only, but I would not gain the same first-hand insights that I will be gaining by interviewing and living with actual residents of Wiamoase.

Humanitarian Relief

One of the inquiry conference presentations was by a Humanities major who studied a tourist site in Italy. Her presentation was titled something along the lines of “Inconclusive Study: Confessions of a Humanities Field Study Student” (I can’t remember the actually title). The presenter shared her learning experiences in Italy, but concluded by sharing the insights she had gained about a three-month undergraduate study. Basically, three months is a very short amount of time, and although she can make educated guesses and theoretical postulates, she knows she can not state definitive conclusions because they would be stereotypical and likely inaccurate. She related that the field study experience is wonderful and teaches students a lot, but that participants do not need to think they should return to the States with great revelations and conclusive breakthroughs. Even seasoned researchers who spend years doing ethnographic studies in one particular area cannot ever be completely sure about the conclusions and theories they acquire.

This presentation really helped me to feel relieved. As I work to gather sources for my project question and attempt to more fully comprehend its implications, I continue to feel overwhelmed, inadequate, and under qualified. I keep wondering to myself if there is any way my research could actually be valuable to academia, since it will be done in such a short amount of time, and by me, of so little experience. This girl’s presentation let me know that there are other field study students who feel the same way as me, and that this is okay. My undergraduate field study is a time to learn methods, procedures, and experience what it is like to develop a research question and carry out a study. It is okay that I cannot possibly come to complex and thorough conclusions that may not have any impact of influence on Ghanaians or anthropological academia. I am expanding my knowledge and experience, preparing for graduate school studies, and becoming more familiar with cross-cultural relations. I can do my best to contribute educated guesses about my project’s particular study aspects and be comfortable with the fact that I may or may not be right, and that I more than likely will come to indefinite conclusions.

Moyga, Ntoro, and Family Values

This week I have been really impacted by what I have been taught about family values and dynamics in Ghana. In our Twi class we took a break from grammar (thank the heavens above) and had a culture lesson. As a sociocultural anthropologist this has been my absolute favorite class so far. Milly taught us about the family structure in Ghana and it was extremely interesting. First, we learned that families are structured on matrilineal lines. Mothers give their children moyga (blood) and fathers provide them with ntoro (soul). Since their blood line is through their mother, their most significant family relations traditionally come through their mother's line. Surprisingly, instead of children depending on their fathers for money and stability, they will often be taken care of and provided for financially by their mother's brother - their wɔfa. Family ties are extremely important, and it is a known responsibility for family members to aid one another. Milly said that usually if one family member makes it financially, that means the rest of the family will also make it, because the wealth will be shared. She even related that although she has been in the States for a long time, she still recognizes her duties to continually give back to her family. One of the Ashanti proverbs she shared stated that "family is an army." If family members stick together, their strength will overcome obstacles. Milly also reinforced what I learned in an interview with my Ghanaian friend Daniella a couple weeks ago - neighbors will act as your family when you are in need. If you are in trouble or in great need, you can always turn to someone, even if they are not your blood relative, and they will try to help you out. Milly said that the term "it takes a village to raise a child" is basically taken literally in Ghana.

While listening to one of the inquiry conference presenters, Corrin, I saw traces of this mentality as well. She went to Ghana for her field study, and studied cultural ethnocentricity among tribal groups there. Although she seemed to argue for pushing a more unified front and mixing of tribes to lessen group pride, it was still cool to hear about how fiercely proud and loyal Ghanaian's will be about their family lines and tribal identity.

I could see some major cultural differences between America and Ghana just from learning about their ideas of what constitutes family and appropriate ways to be loyal to fellow Ghanaians. Again, I realized that Ghanaian's seem to take a more socialist approach to community - they will financially help out friends and relatives as a part of their moral duty. Additionally, they expect their community to help raise children, whether they be relatives, friends, or neighbors. In America, we are generally more motivated to help only ourselves and who we consider our close kin - also, there is a pervading mentality that one works for their own success, and that a lack of success may represent someone too lazy or meritless to deserve external help.

I enjoyed hearing Milly's take on these differences. She related that because of her native Ghanaian values and culture, she will continue to honor her obligations to her family back in Ghana. She also does not accept some norms in American culture, such as allowing children to be very informal with their parents or express an attitude towards them often without repercussion. She views this as highly inappropriate, and is working to instill in her own children a stronger respect for their elders more in line with Ghanaian culture. However, she also appreciates here in America that she has a closer relationship with her children due to her isolation in raising them, whereas in Ghana the entire community would be more involved with their upbringing, and leave her less time to watch over them personally.

Overall, it was interesting to learn about Ghanaian family values from a mixture of Milly's native experiences and Corrin's field study experience. Although they differ greatly from American values, I feel more endeared towards the Ghanaian people, and cannot wait for firsthand observation of how people interact, especially along family oriented lines.

Cadbury and Cocoa

While working on my literature review I looked more closely at Cadbury's website that gives basic information about its connection to cocoa cultivation in Ghana. This page states that the information is best suited to young readers, however I felt I gathered some insight from exploring the way Cadbury represents its connection with cocoa farms in Ghana to Western youth. Mainly, I noticed that under the "future" tab, the website reflects Cadbury as a moral, upstanding institution of honorable heritage. It states that Cadbury does its part to help the less fortunate cocoa farmers that provide it with the beans it needs to be such a lucrative chocolate business. For example, it has built over 850 clean water wells for rural villages. I have not yet looked more fully into the business practices of Cadbury; however, I am skeptical about its described ethicality and good-will towards the poor. For one, cocoa farming and trading to Western powers began during the British colonialism of West Africa, and today, when colonialism has apparently ended, Ghana, along with numerous countries in the developing world, remains dependent on the more rich and powerful to remain economically stable. This dependency ensures that it will never become a presiding world power itself. Also, I wonder how much more Cadbury could afford to provide compared to 850 wells, when it advertises that it employs 50,000 people - and that has got to cost a lot.

I want to be more savvy about the capitalistic methods used to influence Western thought, that I have been subconsciously vulnerable to my entire life. Large Western companies can paint themselves as heroes and philanthropists all they want - but are their intentions truly charitable? Or is the commodification of a poor country's industry or culture (as can be seen again and again on the website I provided through the link) just another subtle way of promoting dependency, and thus just a system invested mostly in the benefit of the wealthiest and most powerful Westerners? When I am actually conducting my fieldwork, I may be able to question informants about their own opinion, or observe practices that will give me further insight into these questions. Because one thing I am pretty sure about, is that living in Ghana and observing intensive labor on cocoa farms in real-time probably wont be accompanied with the same warm-fuzzies and pat-on-the-backs as that Cadbury website is full of.

Overcoming my Ophelia

I finally did the "The Ophelia Syndrome" reading and enjoyed it as much as Jackie, Lauren, and Natalie said I would. This reading had a lot of great points, although I think it was less shock-inducing for me than it might have been to students of some other majors. The type of eye-opening, mind-blowing, epiphany-like revelation this article might cause for some students started happening to me sophomore year, in my Anthropology of Linguistics class, and then at a higher level last semester in Contemporary Theory. Both of these classes were taught by Professor Buonforte. His classes have by far been the most enjoyable for me here at BYU. I think he represents one of those teachers talked about by Plummer in "The Ophelia Syndrome." Let me give an example of how he has contrasted compared to some of my other courses in anthropology; specifically, how his theory course contrasted with my fundamental theory course taught by a different professor.

Fundamental theory course taught by unnamed professor:

• Everyday was a powerpoint lecture - the dull tool of *limited* inspiration that offers 2-D text, a few pictures, and more text. And a lot of note-taking. And often not too much class participation.
• The required texts were informative, but the reading selections were at times repetitive, or not explained or given preface when they contained challenging material.
• When students posed ideas they were often tersely "corrected," with no room for exploration. The professor basically employed just a Polonius-like show of authority

This could go on, but chances are one gets the point if they have attended even a couple semesters of Western-style university.

Contemporary Theory taught by Professor Buonforte

• Everyday of class is held as a fish-bowl discussion. Students face each other in a circle, and Buonforte was part of that circle
• Everyone's answers were considered. Right/wrong conclusions were explored as a class
• Readings were accompanied by journal entries that were not read by the teacher - these allowed us to record our own unexamined thought processes while reading
• The reading selection varied between the expected theorists, and maybe more risky/fringe theorists, to give us a wider understanding of what ideologies were out there, instead of just the most commonly accepted ones

Thus, I can definitely relate to the Ophelia Syndrome in a school situation. It may have been more straightforward exactly what would get me an "A" in the former class situation I described, but I barely remember anything I learned from that class. The latter situation described left me with lasting impressions, and altered the way I go about my life. It encouraged individuation, instead of just another mindless sheep following the "greats" in academia.

I loved how Plummer talked about the importance of attempting to see from another's perspective. This concept is very important to me personally, and as someone trying to conduct effective ethnographic research.

Personally, I 100% back looking at a situation from another's perspective. This is hard for anyone, I know it is for me. However, my background has forced me to consciously do this, especially as I have gotten older. Being half-black, half-white AND a Mormon AND attending BYU, has been an eye-opening experience. Yes, I know that race is socially constructed, and that speaking about it solidifies it more as a concrete issue. However, the fact is, it is already a major part of social dialogue, and, as I have discovered, it impacts the way one views the world. My ethnic differences have ultimately caused me many differentiations in my thinking about politics, family, fairness and equality, etc compared to many of my colleagues, and even many of my family members. So, if something as external as my skin color can affect the way I view a situation, I am guessing almost any small, seemingly non-consequential aspect can affect how another views any situation. I have been frustrated with some of the ways in which my desires/interests have been grouped and represented according to my membership in larger groups that have been stereotyped (e.g. as part of the BYU student body), and have had to learn that I must attempt to shake of the Poloniuses in my life, or remain discontent. Similarly, I must work to see that others have their own perspectives, and their own rights to fight the Ophelia Syndrome with their own unique views.

This will apply to my research in Ghana, as I work to overcome biased thoughts, ideas, and emotions while working in the context of a foreign culture. My Western boundaries, and learned social systematic methods may not always be the best rules to use when going about my learning. I have to realize that my individualized creativity and insight can add just as much to my work and learning as can applying the standard theory I read in textbooks.

Questioning my Question

One somewhat vague, but I think important, question I have about my research project is this:

From my Western viewpoint, my project question (do familial obligations surrounding cocoa farming prevent female children from attending school/gaining a higher education) naturally leads to an inferred problem if the answer ends up being yes. This problem for Westerners would be, "these girls aren't getting an education! They need to be in schools!" However, from some of the sources I have looked over, including the one I annotated today, cocoa farming seems to be very beneficial for Ghanaians attempting to get out of poverty, and to create a more stable economy. The potential benefits even apply to women, if not especially, if they can begin to overcome the culturally ingrained gender inequality that is preventing them from equal land ownership and access to product input. So, my question is...am I asking the right question? My most far-reaching hope would be that my research could back some sort of positive social change, and hopefully the change that would most benefit Ghanaians living in rural agricultural areas. I am conflicted about whether youth in Ghana will be benefited more by migrating out of rural areas to urban cities to gain higher education and get city jobs, or if they should continue fostering cocoa agriculture, as the crop has definitely improved Ghana's economic stability. This is something I need to look further into within the literature, and depending on what I find, I may possibly have to reconfigure my question.