Tag Archives: reflections

12/4/20

Unit 6 – Wiwa People of Colombia, Reflection

Just wanted to say quickly, a big thank you to the Wiwa group (Christina Vasileiou, Shadow Feng, Daniela García, Federico Angel) for creating such a great blog lecture. I really enjoyed reading and learning about the Wiwa peoples! 

What I particularly liked about reading was the rituals, cosmology and knowledge systems! I find it interesting that with every indigenous group that we have learnt about – they each have their own specific way of interacting and understanding the land around them. I thought the Wiwa peoples guiding principle “the law of the Mother” to be really interesting. Looking at the mother as this spiritual force of all aspects of life, and the mountain Sierra as a symbol of a cosmic axis from which life is generated on the planet – represents quite a bit of maternal feelings and care for the environment. It made me think about how in Western culture – women, or simply this femininity or maternal way of being, can be heavily shamed and controlled in society due to the patriarchal forces. Evidently, this can be seen in many places outside of Western culture – but, I just really liked this view of seeing “The Mother”, as this spiritual force that brings life, and brings harmony with plants, animal cycles, or astral movement.

On another note, I’m currently taking a course in anthropology about drugs, and we’ve been discussing the drug trafficking that occurs in Latin America. We talk a lot about the exploitation, and the really tough cycle it creates for individuals who are involved in drug trafficking (out of need), as well as those a part of it whether they want to be or not. It was interesting reading about how the Wiwa have been affected by the marijuana and cocaine boom so drastically. I had no idea no idea how much of their land and environment was harmed due to this, and it really opened my eyes to the awful impacts of such appropriation, and the exploitation and destruction stemming from these conflicts and violation of human rights.

11/23/20

“Sumaq Causay” – Unit 5 Reflection

The concept Sumaq causay, referring to the nurturing of life and the regulation of all exchanges between people and their environment, human values, intercultural practice and their vision of the future felt very important and resonated with me. I’ve always felt quite frustrated with the ways of capitalism and how it’s created such divisions, and inequalities. Therefore, I loved reading about how the basic economic value of Sumaq causay is solidarity, and sacred reciprocity. (I think this is really important, especially now during a pandemic!).

What I liked most about this perspective was the description of how to treat others and Mother nature, because this reciprocity is more often than not lost in the workings of capitalism. I think that the interconnectedness, solidarity and community described is really beautiful, especially in the face of the harm, competition and exploitation that capitalism has created. This concept of ensuring that the needs of people and the land are met in culturally unique ways, seems much more productive, inclusive and ideal – in comparison to the capitalist economic system. The barter markets are a great example of this – it is extremely empowering to see the efforts of Indigenous peoples to conserve their sacred knowledge and utilize what they can in the face of globalization and capitalism.

Also! This is not about the reading or this week’s material – but coincidently a video popped up on my TikTok of a father and son cooking a meal together. The two of them are both Cree (‘Nehiyawak’) and the caption to this video was “Indigenous cooking – Reclaim your culture with traditional foods”. Although this is not directly related, it still made me think about what we’ve been learning about in this class and how it’s so applicable across Indigenous communities/families. I thought it was a sweet video – so I just thought I’d share 🙂

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1nIosqN8dBmz8-NJa5XzswY7jVsDKWPRu/view?usp=sharing

11/2/20

Broccoli, Farming and Consumption

This week’s reading “Broccoli and Desire” by Benson and Fischer was quite interesting, especially to read the two different perspectives of Susan and Pablo! 

I’ll be honest, I never really thought that much about broccoli before, nor do I really spend much time contemplating about where each individual food has been produced in the grocery store. However, reading this made me realize how closely my thoughts aligned with the mentality of the aesthetics surrounding food – and in the context of this reading, with broccoli. I think ever since I was little, broccoli was a food I’ve only seen as “healthy” and nutritious. Similar to the shoppers they interviewed, I also looked towards the freshness, ripeness, color, texture, and consistency of the foods that I am purchasing. Although I mentioned that I don’t think too much about where the produce has been grown and imported – I am also not surprised that lots of the food does come from abroad. Something that I found interesting though, was how some shoppers told them that they prefer imported produce because, “big farms in California use too many pesticides and chemicals”. I thought this was interesting because it brought me back to the concept of “authenticity”, and how there seems to be this theme of looking for this authenticity and Indigenous “authenticity”. But in these instances, failing to recognize that the farmers in Guatemala also use chemicals, and that pesticide applications are one of the main challenges that they face.

Something that I also thought about while reading this, was how many of the Maya farmers and broccoli farmers are looking for a better future through these productions. They are looking to provide for their families, strengthen their values and traditions. Additionally, some farmers believe that shipping produce from their fields to the US, is impressive since they see it has the “biggest” and the “best” market in the world. My main thoughts about this is that, even though there are positive outcomes of agriculture in the region – there can also be a cycle of exploitation present, since the farmers do have the control over the production but they are still dependent on exporters for market access. Especially since they mentioned that there are many small farmers that are preyed upon by intermediaries who use their privileged access to market information and the farmers’ need to sell in order to sustain themselves and their families. I’ve seen it mentioned in a few others blog posts, but it definitely is this idea of chasing the “American Dream”, that the Western way is the best way, and that if you work hard enough you can achieve whatever you want – when that isn’t exactly fair to state since there are economic inequalities that make their life chances different from those (like Susan) who are purchasing and consuming the broccoli, instead of being the ones producing and trying to survive and sustain themselves. 

10/19/20

Blog 5: Agency, Garinagu & Ereba-Making

I’ve chosen to incorporate both my keyword reflection and this week’s reading/lecture material into one post. 

The Keyword that I wanted to focus on was “agency”. I really liked how this group defined agency as any attempt to renegotiate power relations. As the group mentioned, agency can be affected by external factors that may diminish a person’s/group’s agency, in order to benefit other outside groups. Which is why I really liked that this group also mentioned the active-role aspect of agency, and how a group can experience outside influence (ie. colonialism), but they still can exert agency on the situation (or outcome). Of course, agency isn’t always readily available depending on the situation, but I think this definition does show the power that there is within having agency – especially for those who are part of marginalized communities. Reading this definition made me think about this week’s reading and the discussion of gender and the matrifocal social structure. 

I found this week’s reading by Hall quite interesting, especially with the ereba-making and how it demonstrates the ways in which women work together. Additionally adding that “Ereba, with its deep cultural roots, is one of the most powerful symbols of the grassroots collaborative work among rural Garifuna women” (35). I feel as though grassroot movements are a huge portrayal of agency. I didn’t have any knowledge on this practice before, so I thought it was quite interesting to know how there were many different takes of what exactly matrifocality was, as well as just how important matrifocality is in the organization of Garifuna society. I find that in many cases when discussing women’s issues, women-centered rituals/practices, or social-cultural related issues surrounding women – the conversation tends to steer back to comparing these topics to men’s experience (and issues). I think the comment on not reducing matrifocality to the absence of a man (or assuming a heteronormative perspective) is super important. Since it gives the opportunity for agency, as well as being able to analyze the intersectionality of gendered experiences – and addressing them separately, in order to make progress. Through many of my previous classes, I’ve really learned how important it is to address and incorporate intersectionality into all social issues and social/cultural inequalities. This part of the reading with Hall, Blackwood, Kerns, England and Gonzalez all having different perspectives on matrifocality, made me think about just how intertwined many social structures are with one another. Something like ereba-making could be seen as a simple practice to an outsider, however it’s actually something much bigger and more complex when intertwined with these social structures, and power hierarchies of society. Alongside the grassroots movements, collaborative work among women, gender and development (GAD);  highlighting the intersectional variation among the experiences of Garifuna women, I think can all be considered acts of impactful agency to an extent. 

09/29/20

Keyword Reflection: Mass Media Accessibility

One keyword that stood out to me was “access”.

The definition that this group gave, made me think about the Critical Media Studies reading about mass media. In that reading mass media was described as having the potential to reach large audiences in remote locations. This group explains that access is the opportunity to gain entry to this mass media content, and they included five really interesting points that demonstrate what ‘access’ means. One of those points was accessibility, as well as accommodation. Moving into an online learning sphere, I have understood now more than ever how important accessibility is, especially in relation to mass media that is reaching large remote audiences. Thinking about if the content is available everywhere (on all platforms), and to everyone, no matter their location. Additionally taking into consideration if these forms of mass media are available to those who are hard of hearing/deaf, who speak another language, or who have trouble deciphering words in certain font or colours – is all equally important. On top of all of this, in order to be accessible, mass media has to also be affordable to everyone in these remote locations.

I think that this definition really reminded me that, although mass media is being distributed to large remote audiences – you have to begin to wonder if it’s actually being accessed by many people in a helpful way, or if it can even be accessed at all by people in different locations (or perhaps different backgrounds, languages, and education levels). It reminded me about Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez speaking on how many Spanish speakers in the United States misunderstand many advertisements broadcasted to them about voting and elections, either due to language barriers or mass media broadcasts purposefully placing false information. With these situations happening more frequently, it makes me wonder how much information being given through mass media is actually reliable (and therefore also, accessible). I think that mass media having the potential to reach remote locations is important, however if mass media is unaffordable, inaccessible on all platforms (print & media), unaccepting to the general publics opinions, and unaccommodating to those with visual and hearing impairments – then I don’t think that mass media has successfully reached these large remote audiences. There needs to be as much accessibility as possible in order for media to be consumed and used at it’s full potential.

09/21/20

Decolonizing in a Meaningful Way: Is it Possible?

Super interesting readings! I personally found the “Introduction” by Linda Tuhiwai Smith, Eve Tuck, and K. Wayne Yang, quite thought provoking. 

This reading made me think about our first lecture and how we were asked about how to implement decolonization into our lives/class. There seemed to be a general theme, that we all didn’t really know how to implement it and felt confused/lost in how to answer. In fact, some thought that it was completely impossible at this point, or that many acts of decolonization could be seen as performative. This same question was also addressed in this introduction; the answer being that “decolonization is not the endgame, not the final outcome of a long process, but the next now, the now that is chasing at our heels” (Tuck 16). This really made me think about how decolonization is constantly happening and evolving. However, it needs to be seen by everyone as something that is happening constantly (as “the next now”) in order to stop thinking about it as something metaphorical, or as something that will eventually happen and have a nice outcome if we just follow a certain amount of steps. 

With that being said, I think that the acts of decolonization are still blurred for many and are still not completely understood. Many settlers question how they can begin to decolonize their spaces, themselves and where they live – in a way that can benefit Indigenous people and their communities. However, this reading really emphasizes that: expecting Indigenous people to give you all these answers, is not their responsibility either. Many Indigenous scholars are coming from the perspective of consistently being dismissed in these fields of education or constantly questioned; which can be exhausting and frustrating when you are at the fore-front of these conversations. Colonization is aggressive and that can turn into frustration when having to deal with it constantly. This can create a tough balance, since the education from Indigenous people is extremely important and valuable, however Indigenous people should not feel forced to answer what a decolonization process would look like for settlers. As Tuck mentions “decolonization is not obliged to answer questions concerned with settler futures” (15). I think it then becomes a loop of frustration for Indigenous people, as well as non-Indigenous people who are looking to help. Because I do think it is important for there to be a balance between the exchange of knowledge between the two, to come together and make some change. 

After all this rambling, I am still left with the question of how we can decolonize our course, ourselves, and our lives in a meaningful way. It’s a much more complicated conversation with many aspects that intersect, that (sadly) can’t be improved overnight. I think by starting to recognize these issues, acknowledging the structures/hierarchies + their affect on Indigenous people, and our own personal role in these structures, is at least a good place to start.