Clay Shirky: How cellphones, Twitter, Facebook can make history

At 2:18": "What's important here is not technological capital but social capital. These tools don't get socially interesting until they get technologically boring....Now that media is increasingly social, innovation can happen ANYWHERE that people can take for granted that we are in this altogether."

William Kwamkwamba on Daily Show (the author of the book I shared)

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart	Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c
William Kamkwamba
www.thedailyshow.com
Daily Show Full Episodes Political Humor Ron Paul Interview

EXTRA CREDIT: TED TALK ON CULTURAL WEB OF LIFE--THE ETHNOSPHERE

Watch this video and read about Wade Davis and write a 250-word comment relating it to what you learned from the video and from the class about cultural anthropology and how you think it relates to the real world in your life. 

http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/wade_davis_on_endangered_cultures.html

You can earn 1-3 extra points towards your overall grade. Post the comment HERE below not on your personal blog for credit. 

Refugees, Poverty and Venture Capitalism

CURIOUS CONVERSATIONS OF RACE/RACISM
Well we had a unpredictable conversation today. My intention was to as I said "push you off the edge" of the social construct of race/ethnicity or more importantly "difference" as if being different means something. Perhaps it means everything and nothing.

Today was an agree to be offended kind of conversation and I truly appreciate you being willing to stay in the conversation even when it was uncomfortable, confusing, or difficult to hear or talk about. Race, racism, are both social constructs but what do we need to really get about that to make a difference for our children's children and in what way? This conversation might be THE conversation of the semester for you. Maybe not. And if it isn't, it's all good. You'll pop anyhow. Promise!

PEOPLE ON THE MOVE: THE ROAD TO REFUGEE SETTLEMENT
I didn't get to have a conversation about Thok in the Conformity & Conflict chapter on refugees in class today. So you should share any thoughts about that chapter. Share in regards to this question if you like:

QUESTION: How does Thok's story influence your views of U.S. immigration policies? or immigration policies in your home country?

After Losing Freedom, Some Immigrants Face Loss of Child Custody

“My parents were poor, and they never gave me to anyone,” Ms. Bail recalled. “I was not going to give my son to anyone either.”

There was a related article in NYT about refugees that is a must read. One of the other TED Fellows brought it to my attention serendipitously just after class today.


TED TALK: A VENTURE CAPITALIST FOR POVERTY
I mentioned I wanted to share a TED talk related to the chapter.



This video was chosen inside the intention of having your POWERFULLY RELATED to what's possible of out the process of ethnography, out of the ethnographic method of participant-observation and interviewing.

Jacqueline Novogratz heads the venture-capitalist organization for poverty called THE ACUMEN FUND. Here's a short video about what the Acumen Fund is all about.

TED TALK: Actress Sarah Jones transforms blackness into elderly Jew & fast-talking DR

See Homework post below on RACISM: A HISTORY.

I am delighted to share one of my most favorite TED TALKS from the Long Beach conference. Sarah Jones is a locally-born actress, a Broadway star, and she won a major battle against the FCC over language in a hip-hop critique based on her poem THIS REVOLUTION.

Cultural Anthropologists are Hacking Cultures

Next class, just before spring break, we have visitors: A hacker and a simplicity expert

Joshua Klein is a fervent hacker of all things, including wet, pulpy systems like animals and people and the way they behave.
• Josh’s TED talk The Amazing Intelligence of Crows
http://www.wireless.is/about.php

Bill Jensen: "80% of what you need, you've already got!" & "Everything you do uses a portion of someone else's life."
• One of Bill’s videos: Making it Easier to Get Things Done
http://www.simplerwork.com/about_us.htm

Cultural Anthropology: Quoted from http://www.aaanet.org/about/WhatisAnthropology.cfm

"In North America the discipline's largest branch, cultural anthropology, applies the comparative method and evolutionary perspective to human culture. Culture represents the entire database of knowledge, values, and traditional ways of viewing the world, which have been transmitted from one generation ahead to the next — nongenetically, apart from DNA — through words, concepts, and symbols."

"Cultural anthropologists study humans through a descriptive lens called the ethnographic method, based on participant observation, in tandem with face-to-face interviews, normally conducted in the native tongue. Ethnographers compare what they see and hear themselves with the observations and findings of studies conducted in other societies. Originally, anthropologists pieced together a complete way of life for a culture, viewed as a whole. Today, the more likely focus is on a narrower aspect of cultural life, such as economics, politics, religion or art." [For your mini-ethnographies: even narrower units of observation are expected]

"Cultural anthropologists seek to understand the internal logic of another society. It helps outsiders make sense of behaviors that, like face painting or scarification, may seem bizarre or senseless. Through the comparative method an anthropologist learns to avoid "ethnocentrism," the tendency to interpret strange customs on the basis of preconceptions derived from one's own cultural background. Moreover, this same process helps us see our own society — the color "red" again — through fresh eyes."

We can turn the principle around and see our everyday surroundings in a new light, with the same sense of wonder and discovery anthropologists experience when studying life in a Brazilian rain-forest tribe. Though many picture cultural anthropologists thousands of miles from home residing in thatched huts amid wicker fences, growing numbers now study U.S. groups instead, applying anthropological perspectives to their own culture and society.

For example, why do Americans have customized urinals like the one to the left? Or what drives the popularity of the video game Grand Theft Auto? Other cultures would surely see these as senseless. But an ethnographer is interested, willing to be interested, in how it makes senses to its users through the ethnographic method.

Use the ethnographic method as often as possible from here on out.

Ch. 8 Gender: Mindblowing TED Talks on Women & Gender Roles

The author of this week's ethnography in C&C Nancy Scheper-Hughes writes "I argue that a high expectancy of child death is a powerful shaper of maternal thinking and practice." in "Mother Love" an article appearing in New Internationalist in 1994. This quote makes sense if you have read Chap. 5 in C&C already.

I am not arguing that mother love [in Alto do Cruziero/Brazil], as we understand it, is deficient or absent in the threatened little human community of Bom Jesus. Rather, the course of mother love is different, shaped by overwhelming economic and cultural constraints. The discussion attempts to overcome the distinctions between ‘natural’ and ‘socialized’ affects, between ‘deep’ private feelings and ‘superficial’ public sentiments – to show how emotion is shaped by political and economic context as well as by culture. It can be understood as a ‘political economy’ of the emotions.

Although gender has tended to be discussed relative to women only it really is a dynamic shaped in relationship to the other sex. Male to female and female to male.

For instance, while the United States still lacks gender equality, women's roles are no longer restricted to the domestic sphere in many places around the world. But women are still vulnerable esp in economic downturns according to representatives of the UN in a report on International Women's Day (March 6):

Yakin Ertürk, the UN Special Rapporteur on Violence Against Women, its Causes and Consequences, ... marked the Day with a statement underscoring the importance for men and women to join forces in this time of economic turmoil.

“The scale and impact of the current crisis is still largely unknown, but it is expected that women and girls in both developed and developing countries will be particularly affected by job cuts, loss of livelihoods, increased responsibilities in all spheres of their life, and an increased risk of societal and domestic violence,” said Ms. Ertürk.

She highlighted the World Bank’s prediction of 53 million more people being driven into poverty in developing countries this year, bringing the total number of those living on less than $2 a day to over 1.5 billion.

“Studies have shown that violence against women intensifies when men experience displacement and dispossession related to economic crises, migration, war, foreign occupation or other situations where masculinities compete and power relations are altered in society,” added Ms. Ertürk.

Ms. Pillay noted, however, that there is a new generation of powerful women growing up around the world with a strong sense of their identity and strength.

“They say ‘no’ to harmful practices such as early marriage, female genital mutilation and sexual harassment. They want to go to school and get an education. They want to be lawyers, doctors, judges and members of parliament. They want to change the world.

These two recently released TED Talks feature two remarkable women transforming ordinary conversations about who women are, what is possible from both disability and ability, and what strange and unpredictable things they can inspire.

ASSIGNMENT: Watch BOTH videos and write a comment. ALSO read other people's comments.

THIS WEEK (Mar 10 & 12): Intro to Mini-Ethnography & TED Talk

I want you to check out the following links (as well as the tags above): "MINI-ETHNOGRAPHY" and "INTERVIEWING".

Here's a great video on doing interviews: It's 30 mins long but a must see, take notes, and learn how to get people to talk and what NOT to do.

THIS WEEK: COMMENT ON 30 min VIDEO

--------------------------

FROM TED2009:

In the meantime, TED released the most AMAZING media technology I saw while at TED2009. It's called "Sixth Sense" and it was created by the MIT Media Lab.

Prof. G meets BG and many more at TED2009!

Last week was the most amazing week of my life. I fell in love not only with TED (Ideas Worth Spreading) but with the 40 other TED Fellows who, like me, were selected for our work as "polymaths" - people excelling in more than one field.

There was one person I really needed to meet. I came from a somewhat humble beginning but more than that I thought I could never hobnob with the big boys. Now that it's happened...well...it seems so...ordinary. Yes! I met Bill Gates. You may have heard he released mosquitos, live ones, into the conference during his talk about Malaria (they weren't infected).

BG and I talked. Even if only briefly. I wanted to feel like this man and I were two ordinary people up to two extraordinary paths. And I got that! It happened on Friday at 8:20am. Friday February 6. 4 days ago almost to the hour. OK. It was more than a normal moment, but ithe Wow of it was that I belonged. Being at TED was amazing for me. I fell in love with my purpose fully and wholeheartedly (the picture is of me giving my talk titled RACISM AS A RESOURCE). It was filmed and (fingers crossed) it WILL be on the TED.com site eventually. My mission: to empower and enable individuals and organizations to empower people's words not their difference. I am out to transform conflict in a single conversation rather than going to war years later. That was my unveiling.

This year's theme was THE GREAT UNVEILING and TED lived up to that and more in 4 non-stop days of talks, performances (HERBIE HANCOCK, REGINA SPEKTOR & JAMIE CALLUM!!!), and beauty of architecture and scientific breakthroughs. We were introduced to unbelievable things never heard of before. I am sure I have enough to share with you ALL SEMESTER LONG and there was as much humor as there was innovation.

MY HIGHLIGHTS: Meeting Hans Gosling and Jill Bolte Taylor. Hanging with Quincy Jones Friday night. I sang for him "You taught my heart to sing" at the Gala Party after the TED Prize Winners gave their talks. The MIT Media Lab unveilings (mind-blowing). The new 3-D film technology from 3eality that had Bono touching my face!!! And three remarkable winners of the 2009 TED Prize: deep-ocean explorer Sylvia Earle, astronomer Jill Tarter, and maestro Jose Antonio Abreu. Each of them is a leader in his/her chosen field of work, with an unconventional viewpoint and a vision to transform the world. Each wins $100,000 plus "One Wish to Change the World." Quincy and I bonded after Maestro Abreu's wish:

José Abreu’s Wish

“I wish you would help create and document a special training program for at least 50 gifted young musicians, passionate for their art and for social justice, and dedicated to developing El Sistema in the US and in other countries.”

I will share the AMAZING inventions and innovations I witnessed like Siftables from the MIT Media Lab.

Siftables aims to enable people to interact with information and media in physical, natural ways that approach interactions with physical objects in our everyday lives. ... Siftables are independent, compact devices with sensing, graphical display, and wireless communication capabilities. They can be physically manipulated as a group to interact with digital information and media.

There is SO MUCH TO SHARE that I was exposed to that BLEW MY MIND!! Here is the FAVORITE TALK OF TED2009. It's essentially about the social constructs of the way we talk about genius. It's given by author Elizabeth Gilbert of Eat, Pray, Love fame. TED is amazing to have these talks online 2 days after they appeared!!

Chapter 2 : Ethics and Method

I invite you each week to post a comment about the readings or about questions that you find yourself asking about cultural anthropology or our class discussions. Anything is possible to discuss as long as you can make it relevant to the group. No talking to yourself out loud, so to speak. Speak to forwarding the action of our shared community of knowledge. Thanks, Prof. G

Some key ideas to discuss in Chapter 2: ethics, ethnographic practices, etc.

INTRODUCING TED TALKS: Anthropologist Wade Davis muses on the worldwide web of belief and ritual that makes us human. He shares breathtaking photos and stories of the Elder Brothers, a group of Sierra Nevada indians whose spiritual practice holds the world in balance.
A National Geographic Explorer-in-Residence, Wade Davis travels the globe to live alongside indigenous people, and document their cultural practices in books, photographs, and film.

Prof. G is going to TED2009!

I am ecstatic!!! I am getting SO EXCITED about going to TED Feb 2-6, 2009!

They just sent me the line up of speakers that includes Bill Gates on Day One. It is said that you can measure your influence by the people you interact with. My influence will be exponentially shifting from this event and it's already shifting from my introduction to the other 30 fellows. We are movers and shakers on the planet. About the conference theme:

Our theme is "The Great Unveiling" and every speaker is planning to share something they've never shared in public before. Stand by for new discoveries, new ideas, new beginnings. (In addition to the featured speakers, we have more than 50 members of the audience offering shorter contributions.)

I won't be speaking on stage but I have the opportunity speak among the TED fellows and be recorded for a TED U TALK!!! I am there!! Enjoy the video and stay tuned to the blog in February. I'll blog each day about it. For now, check out this teaser that was sent to us.



PS. There is one AMAZING TED talk I didn't get to show this term. It's by HANS GOSLING. Look in our tag cloud and check it out. It is relevant to what we think about the THIRD WORLD and how to debunk the stereotypes we have about us vs. them. Simply look for Hans Gosling in the blog's tag cloud.

Raul Midon - Life Beyond Research Papers + Blindness + New Technology

MY MOTTO: "I can live with doubt and uncertainty and not knowing. I think it is much more interesting to live not knowing than to have answers that might be wrong." Richard Feyman

Prof. G - Just some thoughts on your posts of late

I have been really enjoying the comments and reactions to Majora Carter's TED Talk and the post on Social Responsibility. I wished more of you responded to my previous post about whether "individual" or "fear" are social constructs. I am very interested in leading you all to consider that if most ideas we live by are socially constructed, like myths we live by, and all human cultures have their own way of thinking, believing, behaving and feeling about this common humanity we share, why is it so difficult to change something we made up? How do we get stuck with these things? It has implications for economics, for how we talk about our times. "We are in a financial crisis" gives a particular point of view of life when we might have had the same amount of money or even more during the Clinton administration boom and been worse off. Why?

Daniela was responding to the TED talk about the South Bronx with Majora Carter who is an excellent and passionate non-profit leader for greening the ghetto. Daniela as well as Edwin made some AWESOME comments--go back and read them. But often we can talk about change and what's missing but because we live in the US more often than not we have the luxury of talking but not necessarily acting.

We have so many luxuries here in the U.S. The luxury of a democracy, of money, of our position in the world, of choice, of free speech. They are awesome and wouldn't trade em for the world.

“Most of the luxuries and many of the so-called comforts of life, are not only not indispensable, but positive hindrances to the elevation of mankind”

Henry David Thoreau (American Essayist, Poet and Philosopher, 1817-1862)

What do you think would have Thoreau say this and what about what you learned this semester from doing/reading/participating-observing/writing about anthropology, what aspects of what you have learned would you use as evidence for your answer?

AFTERTHOGHT: Hey what if "luxury" is something you can simply create (words create worlds)? What would you create in your speaking and how? Maybe it begins with simple pleasures.

Applying Anthropology: Who Identifies the Needs of Locals?

Applied Anthropology is distinct from the academic or theoretical side of the discipline. Through the use of anthropological data, theory, and methods to identify, assess, and solve contemporary problems involving HUMAN BEHAVIOR and social and cultural forces, conditions and contexts. The ethnographic method is an invaluable tools for learning and studying the local firsthand. So who should identify the needs of the local people? Is it the ethnographer, the scientist, who returns home after fieldwork? Or the cultural consultants, the insiders, the locals themselves?

Here's an example of a local from the South Bronx determining development needs for her community. Applied anthropology empowers local people to fulfill their own needs.

Talks Majora Carter: Greening the ghetto

Kottak Political Systems - Check Tag Cloud for Key Words

This week comment on one of the previous posts on the topic of Political Systems. Check out the keywords from the chapter in the tag cloud in addition to Political Systems which has several posts. Try power, prestige, big men, etc. You choose and post a comment. Read at least 5-6 other comments AND try to say something that's never been said before or that hasn't been noticed by previous comments.

PS. Witness a spectacular photography highlight a shocking and underreported global crisis at the TED event on Oct 3 and Oct 4th in Union Square

James Nachtwey, one of the world’s greatest photojournalists and winner of the 2007 TEDPrize, received “one wish to change the world”:

“I’m working on a story that the world needs to know about. I wish for you to help me break it, in a way that provides spectacular proof of the power of news photography in the digital age.”

http://www.tedprize.org/nachtwey/eventlocation.html

A TED WISH: Photographic Dreams Coming True on Oct 3

The TED Prize is designed to leverage the TED community’s exceptional array of talent and resources. It is awarded annually to three exceptional individuals who each receive $100,000 and, much more important, the granting of “One Wish to Change the World.” After several months of preparation, they unveil their wish at an award ceremony held during the TED Conference. These wishes have led to collaborative initiatives with far-reaching impact.

This event will take place Oct 3rd (TBA) at 1) Jazz at Lincoln Center at Columbus Circle and 2) The Reuters Screen in Times Square. Click the link below for more info and watch the TED talk with incredible photos of war, survival and courage.

September 23, 2008 On October 3, the story breaks -- be a part of it! James Nachtwey's TED Prize wish: "Help me use the power of photography to break a story that the world needs to know about." The story breaks on October 3, when Nachtwey's powerful photographs of a growing world crisis will be published in Time magazine and shown on giant LED screens on all 7 continents -- from Times Square in New York to the British and Argentine bases on Antarctica. Visit James Nachtwey's TED Prize page to find out where to watch near you, and learn how you can help spread the word before and after October 3. You can also watch James Nachtwey make his TED Prize wish. See all the TED Prize wishes.

http://www.tedprize.org/nachtwey/

Chris Abani: Telling Stories of our Shared Humanity

Chris Abani tells stories of people: People standing up to soldiers. People being compassionate. People being human and reclaiming their humanity. It's "ubuntu," he says: the only way for me to be human is for you to reflect my humanity back at me.

http://www.ted.com/chris_abani

Pangea Day - Baruch College

Pangea Day @ Baruch College May 10, 2008
2:00 – 6:00pm EDT
Newman Vertical Campus Rm 3-160

Click icon for more info>>>

Join us for Pangea Day at Baruch College hosted by Professor Kyra D. Gaunt, jointly appointed in Fine and Performing Arts, Sociology/Anthropology and Black and Hispanic Studies, as part of the Friends of Pangea Day programming. As one of the most diverse institutions in the U.S. it is perfect that Baruch host the global event known as Pangea Day (http://www.pangeaday.org) bringing the world together through film. In a world where people are often divided by borders, difference, and conflict, it's easy to lose sight of what we all have in common—what Professor Gaunt calls the "remarkable oneness of humanity".

In 2006, filmmaker Jehane Noujaim won the TED Prize (http://www.ted.com/index.php/pages/view/id/6), an annual award granted at the TED Conference (www.ted.com). She was granted $100,000, and more important, a wish for the world. Her wish was to create a day in which the world came together through film. Pangea Day grew out of that wish. Watch Jehane Noujaim’s 2006 acceptance speech now http://www.pangeaday.org/?vid=2.

Starting at 18:00 GMT (2:00pm EDT) on May 10, 2008, locations in Cairo, Kigali, London, Los Angeles, Mumbai, and Rio de Janeiro will be linked for a live program of powerful films, live music, and visionary speakers. The entire program will be broadcast – in seven languages – to millions of people worldwide through the Internet, television, and mobile phones. Some people will drive miles to watch, and others will just turn on their television sets. Some will wake up before the sun has risen, and others will stay up through the night.

The 24 short films to be featured have been selected from an international competition that generated more than 2,500 submissions from over one hundred countries. The films were chosen based on their ability to inspire, transform, and allow us see the world through another person's eyes. Details on the Pangea Day films can be viewed at
http://www.pangeaday.org/pangeadayFilms.php

The program will also include a number of exceptional speakers and musical performers. Queen Noor of Jordan, CNN's Christiane Amanpour, musician/activist Bob Geldof, and Iranian rock phenom Hypernova are among those taking part.

Pangea Day will be a moment in history. Join us and watch on May 10th.
Local day/time: May 10, 2008 2:00 – 6:00pm EDT
Location: Newman Vertical Campus Rm 3-160

This event is free and open to the Baruch College community and their families.

For more information: Kyra Gaunt (646) 312-4446 kyra_gaunt@baruch.cuny.edu

Hans Rosling: New insights on poverty and life around the world

Another Ted Talk video!


What point is Professor Gosling making with his finale? Does it work? Why or why not? And for whom might it work? Why or why not?

TED Talks, McDonough and Political Systems for Change

A student in the 2:30 section asked if you all could access all the TED Talks videos. Of course you can. Now when I mention things in class, it's your opportunity to find them yourselves. Be hungry. Make a note and GOOGLE it later. In any case, here is the link to all the videos. TED TALK VIDEOS. I love the great graphics and image design, not to mention the edutainment and graphics within the talks themselves!

NOTE: If you missed class, you must watch the following video shown on Thursday Oct 11. Others can also watch it again to question and analyze his points and project.

William McDonough: The wisdom of designing Cradle to Cradle
Architect and designer William McDonough asks what our buildings and products would look like if designers took into account "All children, all species, for all time." A tireless proponent of absolute sustainability (with a deadpan sense of humor), he explains his philosophy of "cradle to cradle" design, which bridge the needs of ecology and economics.


QUESTIONS TO CONSIDER: What kind of political structures have humans practiced in the past that would assist us in facilitating McDonough notion of "absolute sustainability"? How does the chapter on POLITICAL SYSTEMS (Chap 7 in Kottak) provide insights into not simply our past but perhaps what 's possible in the future of absolute sustainability? What can you imagine the future looks like as a political system for absolute sustainability?

Chapter 7 Political Systems Overview:
This chapter discusses political organization in bands, tribes, chiefdoms, and states, as well as some of the social and economic features commonly found in these types of societies.