First of all, I just wanted to say thank you to Christina, Shadow, Daniela, and Federico for creating the blog lecture about the Wiwa!! Prior to this unit, I have never heard of this group. However, the four students that wrote this lecture undoubtedly took a lot of time and constructed a really informative and organized lecture that was easy to follow.

There is so much interesting information about the Wiwa that was mentioned in their blog lecture. I found that it had a similar history to other indigenous groups that also live in South and Central America in regards to colonization. They have also felt the effects of globalization and I found that the example of marijuana growth in the region was quite fascinating. Colombia’s drug trade is famous but I did not think that the effects of it would be felt within the indigenous areas of the country. The growth of coca in this region is also noteworthy, as this plant was also prevalent in the globalization developments around the area.

Continuing with the idea of coca leaves, I think that this was the aspect of the lecture that was the most thought-invoking for me. It was used as a food and it also had ceremonial purposes but what struck me was the view of coca. More specifically, the lecture mentioned the stigmatization of the coca plant because of the increased negative perception of cocaine, which is created by coca. It was very interesting to see the different viewpoints that are available between the Wiwa and the general public. Coming from a western society like Canada, we view cocaine as a “party drug” and something that should not be taken at all. When it comes to the Wiwa however, they promote the use of coca leaves as it has always been a vital part of their life.

Overall, I am happy that I learned about this indigenous group. I never knew they existed, but reading about them certainly opened up my intuition about this area. Christina, Shadow, Daniela, and Federico did such a great job on this blog as well. Thank you!!

After going through this course and learning so many new things, it was only fitting that the final “official” unit introduced a group that I have never heard of before. Prior to this unit, I had no idea who the Quechua were or where they were from. After I read the assigned readings for this unit, I feel like I have learned enough about them to write a short blog-post. Admittedly, I still do not have a base of solid understanding on this group. However, within the readings, I was able to take away three main ideas, and that was their sense of community, the involvement of women, and the idea of barter markets.

In regards to their sense of community, the paper on the idea of the “commons” by Caffentzis and Federici was really helpful. While the reading did not specifically pertain to the Quechua group, it did help explain the importance of commons within a given context. From what I have read, this group is driven on the concepts of community. It plays a significant part in both sumaq causay and ayni, as outlined in the Argumendo and Pimbert reading.

Argumendo and Pimbert’s reading played a really significant role in demonstrating the role of women and barter markets within the Quechua society. Women play a number major roles within this group. For example, in regards to food security, they are “key players in this non-monetary market…” (Argumendo & Pimbert, 2010, p. 346). Women are also heavily involved within the concept of barter markets.

The final take away from the readings I had was how significant barter markets were to the Quechua. This concept relates to the other two concepts mentioned above, as they a) give a sense of community within the group, and b) require the involvement of women to exist. While I mentioned all three points separately, it is not hard to notice that these three aspects of Quechua life coincide and connect well with one another.

For this unit, we are studying the Maya and the reading that was assigned was authored by Benson and Fischer. Going into this reading, I could safely say I did not know what to expect. Heading into this unit, I definitely did not expect to read anything about broccoli but we did just that. While I did not expect to read about this, the contents within the reading were very thought-provoking and with the reading being centred about broccoli, it was intriguing in its own, weird way.

One main take-away I had from this reading was how much I could heavily relate to one particular side of the picture painted by Benson and Fischer. In this case, I related to Susan’s side because she could be someone who goes shopping in the same grocery store I would shop at. I thought of my relation to this person like this: If Susan and I were to shop in the same grocery store for the same purpose of attaining groceries, then the author’s description of Susan can be applied to myself.

To continue off of the previous point, the fact that I could apply myself to the person in the reading was very eye-opening. Firstly, in terms of my privilege. In this aspect, I think that it is easy for us to take our access to an extensive amount of produce for granted. Benson and Fischer mention the “year-round supply of fresh and frozen vegetables” (801), which is something that many of us here have access to. Yet, the work it takes to cultivate and harvest these vegetables is gruelling, as outlined in the article.

This reading really taught me to not take the things we have access to for granted. Even though I can go to the local grocery store and buy a crown of broccoli for a few bucks, I have to acknowledge that the work it took for that broccoli (and other fruits and vegetables) may have been intense and tiresome for the individual who harvested it.

Before I am able to reflect on the readings themselves, I feel like I need to reflect on myself in regards to the content that was posted for this unit. Heading into the second unit, I have never even heard of the Shipibo-Konibo indigenous group nor have I ever heard of ayahuasca. The only mention of this group I have experienced was in the first class when the professor glossed over the fact that we would be studying them.

I enjoyed reading Homan’s article because I felt that it did a good job at providing fundamental knowledge of what ayahuasca is. Like I mentioned above, I have never heard of ayahuasca prior to taking this class so this concept is new to me. I really had not imagined that what was to be introduced would be along the lines of “sorcery” or “witchcraft”, which are the exact words Homan (2017) used in his article (p. 165). Going along the article, I was surprised to learn that the use of ayahuasca was popular enough to garner a tourism market. I found it interesting learning about the effects that ayahuasca tourism had on the local regions of practice. The one thing that stood out was the health and safety portion of the article. It was outlined in the article that, “there have been a number of sexual assaults reported following the ingestion of ayahuasca…” (Homan, 2017, p. 171).

Although I found Homan’s article more interesting and helpful to understanding the concept of ayahuasca, I liked reading through the interview between Rumrill and Arrevalo. It gave an in-depth look into ayahuasca, through someone who is directly involved with it. I found that the point of interest in this reading was when he mentioned the reasoning for westerners taking ayahuasca, in which he said they do it to “resolve personal problems” (de Rios, 2005, p. 203).

References

Homan, J. (2017). Vitality of Indigenous Religions. Routledge.

De Rios, M. D. (2005). Interview with Guillermo Arrevalo, a Shipibo Urban Shaman, by Roger Rumrill. Journal of Psychoactive Drugs, 37(2), 203-207).

All of the words that were written about undoubtedly hold importance to the course. Personally, I was interested in writing about either “food sovereignty” or “appropriation” because I think that those two concepts are quite interesting. While I was debating on which of these two terms do this blog post on, another term further down the list caught my eye. This term was “Anthropocene”. The reason that this term caught my attention is not because it is a new and unfamiliar concept, but rather, it is a term that I have heard about before.

I first learned of this term in a class I previously took this past Summer which was Environmental Politics. I remember the professor mentioning this term within the first few classes, much like how this word has been brought up right now. I wanted to write about and reflect on this term because I remember the feelings I felt within myself when it was mentioned. I remember this concept scared the life out of me because from my understanding, it loosely implied that the world was ending (lol). I got over that shock fairly quickly back then, but to see it now made me want to reflect on the time I learned it in my other class.

In terms of my current context, I was surprised to see the word pop up in this class, but in connection to the content of this class the term “Anthropocene” is relevant. Like the authors of the definition mentioned, the term is related to other concepts such as globalization and climate change. Personally, I’ve always focussed on the climate change aspect of this concept, as the preservation of the environment is key in this scenario. I have learned that the conservation of the environment will help slow down the impact of climate change, and like the authors said, a slow-down in climate change could directly reverse the negative impact of the Anthropocene.

Coming into this class, I was a bit nervous in terms of the material that we were going to learn and admittedly, I still am. However, reading the material that was assigned to us for this unit gave me a good sense of what we are going to be focussing on in class. Moreover, I felt like the readings laid a good foundation for the course and touched on key ideas that can carry over into multiple units.

Starting with the Smith, Tuck, and Yang reading, I want to say that I really enjoyed it. The format of the paper itself was interesting in that it was fragmented into a bunch of shorter stories and insights. What caught my eye with their reading was the first-person aspect of it, as they really are writing from what they have experienced. Personally, I am not indigenous so I have never felt the hardships and connections that the authors have felt. But from their writing, I really tried to understand where they were coming from. When they wrote “Many of our youth and women have been found beside or in water sources”, I felt a sense of pain that I assume is only a fraction of what the author felt when writing and reflecting on this quote.

In Belasco’s reading, I really liked the example he brought up in regards to where our food comes from. Reading about how our food is globalized really provokes thought and made me think about the processes the food that I eat went through to become what it was.

Finally, Ott and Mack’s article on media studies should not be overlooked. They write about the impact that media has on the world and thinking about it, it does make sense. This is something that I have thought and written about before, so the idea of media’s importance is not new to me. Regardless, I still think it is important to acknowledge the role media plays in our society.