Colonialism, Memory and Massacres in India

Pavneet Singh shared about the massacres that took place in India/Pakistan in the late 1940s. He wanted to share this sad and brilliant ethnographic video of a elder Sikh man recalling the massacres from his past. Very emotional. What kind of courage does it take to share this still today and what kind of courage and compassion do ethnographers need to bring?

Sharing Your Final Reflections (AFTER our ebook is done)

Please submit your reflections after the SPEAK ebook is complete. (Originally posted for Fall 2009 deadline)

Discover if you popped this semester and what you learned from ANT1001. Before you begin, take a moment to review your own work from start to finish.

After reviewing your own work and reading our final version of SPEAK, reply to 2 (two) of the following questions (of your choice) as a comment below this blog post.

You must indicate what questions you are responding to in your comments. Keep it simple: cut and paste the question into your comment before you answer.

1. 1. Share how readings in the Kottak and/or the Conformity & Conflict reader created a shift in your view of the world? In other words, how did you come to see the world with lenses from another culture (even if momentarily) this semester? Please use etic terms to help explain what happened whenever possible.
2. 2. How might the ebook SPEAK challenge ethnocentric thinking about being a student or about being in college (You can address the collaborative process and/or the collective essays but not exclusively your own essay--THINK BIGGER PICTURE)?
3. 3. Clifford Geertz wrote that it "takes a certain kind of mind to sail out of sight from land in an outrigger canoe" ("Anti Anti-Relativism," 1984). In other words, letting go of what you already know and embracing the unknown is not a normal thing for us humans. What ethnocentric thinking did you learn to let go of in this course? What could you apply that process to that you have been resisting letting go of (i.e., prejudice, bias, ethnocentric thinking about this or that group of people as different)?
4. 4. You were acknowledged as a GREAT ONE every class. You have been a "participant-observer" (revisit Kottak pp. 48-50) all semester in this course experiment. What do you see from an etic point of view about "cultural adaptation" (see Kottak, 3-4), "agency" (see Kottak, 35-36), or the "Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis" (see Kottak, 73-74 or revisit the C&C essay)?
5. 5. You can make a counter-offer for one question if you want to say/write anything else.

There are posts from previous semesters recorded in the comments sections. You can read them if you like.

The Baruch Bigger Picture Book

1. NO CLASS TUE APR 20 - Professor Gaunt is at a Twitter Conference and you should spend this time working on your draft of your essay. In lieu of attendance, please submit your draft by email to kyra.gaunt@baruch.cuny.edu by 5pm Tuesday.
   
   
2. NO QUIZ. Ethnicity and Race chapters and group presentation is postponed. Thu we will begin to edit your essays and launch the survey.
   
   
3. READ BY TUE APR 20: The Audacity of Humanity Ebook
1. Read at least the cover page, tag cloud of contents, authors page (created by Wordle.net), the intro by Kyra Gaunt, and 8-10 different essays or more.
   
   
2. WRITE A RESPONSE BY EMAIL
   - Share what was your favorite essay in Audacity of Humanity and why?
   - Share how these essays exemplify the title of the book AUDACITY OF HUMANITY? In other words, based on a sampling of the essays, what is audacious and what speaks to humanity, in your own words?
   
   
4. Watch two or three videos of your choice from below and write a few comments on each to show you watched it.
   
1. The digital ethnography from KSU by Mike Wesch called A VISION OF STUDENTS TODAY
   
   
2. Learning to Change, Changing to Learn (5:37") features my favorite quote "it means the death of education, but the birth of learning."
   
   
3. Networked Student - A video about the idea that learning occurs from diverse social network and ties.
   
   
4. OPTIONAL: TED Talk: How Schools Kill Creativity by Sir Ken Robinson (19:21").
   
   
5. Begin to write a 300 word essay that begins "What matters to me is..."
   
1. It can be about being a student, being a young adult embarking on life. Anything that makes you happy, that you desire, or that would make being a school more a reflection of what matters in life to you or to people as a whole.
   
   
2. It can be small, simple or mundane. It's more like what matters to you right now.
   
   
3. This might seem audacious. Like this little light of mine, I'm gonna let it shine. No one may agree with me, but this thing you write about lights you up. It simply mattters. If the world might take a listen to your thoughts about X or Z, life would be different for people (in my humble opinion).
   
   
4. This can be a "discovery draft" or a "shitty first draft". Just write and ask later whether it's a good idea. If you feel compelled to write (and it REALLY CAN BE ABOUT ANYTHING YOU ARE INTERESTED IN RIGHT NOW). Write on!
   
   
6. SEND A RESPONSE ON EMAIL SHOWING YOU COMPLETED ALL OF THE ABOVE AND ATTACH A DRAFT OF YOUR ESSAY ABOUT WHAT MATTERS RIGHT NOW
   
   
1. Share about your favorite Audacity of Humanity Ebook Essay and/or bio and why
   
   
2. What does it mean to be audacious and in this book and what does it say about humanity as a collective of ideas.
   
   
3. Attach your "shitty first draft" of a possible 300 words or less essay. Don't worry about a title yet. But if one comes to mind, share it.

_________________

YOUR COMMENTS BELOW

So you have some ideas about what we should or should not be up to with this project. I love what Bishoy said. This is an opportunity like no other. When do you get to CREATE instead of consume as a student. This book will be launched to students to inspire them to begin to inquire into what matters that represents Baruch College. Get the Bigger Picture of Baruch from our ebook.

Ultimately, I want you to see how simple it is to make a difference in a small but powerful way with an ebook. And I want to apply all the etic principles of ethnography and anthropology to ourselves and our environment. Make a difference RIGHT HERE, RIGHT NOW.

Add your comments below. BE GREAT. Google anything you are unsure of or if you need help use Google HELP to log on to make a comment. Also see sidebar for instructions on commenting on the blog.

Free ebook THE AUDACITY OF HUMANITY ed. by Prof. Gaunt in 3 weeks

Before spring break I mentioned that I was creating an ebook that inspired our final project The Baruch Big Picture Book. I released it to the world on Friday April 2, 2010 and it's been viewed by over 3000 people since then and counting.

The ebook is called THE AUDACITY OF HUMANITY and it features over 39 authors, ages 10 to 63, from 5 continents, representing multiple ethnicities, sexualities and belief systems with different abilities and limitations. We are ONE people, the human race, courageously up-ending stereotypes and generalizations.

Each contributor offers their story as a radical transformation of what leadership can be. We are not contained by description (check out our bios). We agree to be offended
and stay connected. From A to Zed, we are a collective testament to the audacity of humanity. Be the audacity of that!!

One is a former student from ANT1001. Read the page under the tag "LEARNING ENGLISH" by Mei.

This is free. Liberate it. Tweet it, email it, post it on your own site.

YouTube Digital Ethnography from ANT students in Kansas

Originally posted on 11/5/2007 at 1:17pm.

A short video summarizing some of the most important characteristics of students today - how they learn, what they need to learn, their goals, hopes, dreams, what their lives will be like, and what kinds of changes they will experience in their lifetime. Created by Michael Wesch in collaboration with 200 students at Kansas State University. Made by students in a Cultural Anthropology Class in Spring 2007.

Student Introductions

Welcome to ANT1001 - Spring 2010!
I expect each of you to learn how to comment on our group blog and the best way is to dive in.

FIRST, sign up or subscribe to the blog on the right. Subscribe to posts and comments.

SECOND, read the INSTRUCTIONS TO COMMENT.

Then introduce yourself to the class.

1. Share your name and any nickname
   
2. Your major/year
3. The borough/region of NY metro area where you now live
   
4. Then describe the way a person introduces themselves in your native culture/community (in no more than 25-50 words).
   

What do they say? Is there formal/informal versions of introductions?


How do you physically greet/meet another person or persons?


Does age matter?


Is there a difference in greeting men vs. women vs. children?


And does that introduction represent a particular culture in your mind or a different culture to others?

EXAMPLE: When you greet another person of same age in black culture, you often see people give each other "dap" or a special handshake. "Dap" comes from a brand of hair grease or palmade from the South. Most associate it with men but women do it too. Older folks do not ordinarily do this.

Mapping our Locations : Who We Are

Click the link or map below to go to our own ANT1001 Google Map for class members' locations and restaurants starting Fall 2009. CHOOSE MY MAPS. Then select our class map from the right sidebar and click EDIT.

Add a placemark for your home (use male or female figure and your first name and last initial only for privacy's sake). You can mark your neighborhood or your exact location. Add a placemark for your favorite restaurant.

We can then see who we are as a group based on some primary data. You can change the type of placemark from male/female figure to a form of transportation placemark to signify how you got from other locations where you once lived (airplace, bus, train/subway, etc.).

Check it out. Then we can really see who we are and where we have been and travel.

OLPC Mission Part 1

Let's say you can't donate. Then be part of the marketing of our video!

To help promote our video over the next three days, got to YouTube and rate and comment on it. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QSWu6CLVL6Y

Also Nicholas Negroponte, founder of OLPC, throws the XO laptop! Check it out!

BARUCH XO CAMPAIGN GOES PUBLIC!!

Thanks to all who participated in making the concept, the video and making it all happen with your time and your dollars! What can $199 buy? A World of Difference!

One Laptop Per Class and other models for giving back

Hey I am going to miss the Fa08 generation of ANT1001!!

To the 2:30 section representin' SEEK, keep playing and loving and being great with each other all the way to graduation - NO JOKIN!! No one left behind! This is your greatest opportunity to shine beyond anything you've known before. But it takes 4 years!! Come on!

To the 4:10 section, I learned SO MUCH from you about other countries that I never had known. Taiwan, Albania, Serbia, Bangladesh, and Brooklyn much much more!! Your group presentations rocked my world!! And your listening to one another -- priceless!

Special thanks to you! Yes you! who is reading this. Without you, none of what happened was possible. Get that!!

The ONE LAPTOP PER CLASS video will be edited by Jeffrey from the 2:30 section.
What we are up is launching a yearly campaign called ONE LAPTOP PER CLASS where each Baruch class (700+) will be asked to by a $199 laptop. We already raised $199 + $280 from our two sections alone!! And we haven't collected all the donations yet.

TO MAKE A DONATION: click here

If each student and faculty of each class participates the cost is less than $10 per person for a class size of 20 - 100. We are doing the final edits on a viral video to entice other colleges and universities to join us by Dec 31st this year and to create buzz for next.

We just started finals today and we have already raised the funds for at least 2 laptops from both sections. The viral video is based on the Mastercard priceless commercial ads + Mike Wesch's Students Today videos. It will be launched in a day or two to catch the Dec 31 deadline for this year's OLPC.com campaign.

ALSO
Check out Darius Goes West
http://www.dariusgoeswest.org/

In this multi-award-winning documentary, fifteen-year-old Darius Weems and eleven of his best friends set off across America with the ultimate goal of getting his wheelchair customized on MTV’s Pimp My Ride. The result is a rarely seen testament to the explosive idealism of today’s youth, as well as a vivid portrayal of adventure, of brotherhood, and of the character and strength it takes to shed light on an uncertain future.

Not only does Darius Weems bravely face his own inevitable fate with Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy (DMD), but through his unflinching humor and his extraordinary laugh, he sparks a revolution in the lives of everyone who crosses–and then shares–his courageous path.

From Exploring Culture to Exploring Language and Communication

In class last week (2-21-08), we began to unravel the slide show I created in an earlier post on whiteness and we were supposed to share what each group came up with relative to the specific sections of the chapter on CULTURE in the Kottak. We will complete this on Tuesday (especially looking forward to the poem created by Natalie's group!).

From our round-robin impromptu exercise--standing in a circle free associating about "Culture is__________" one by one, we learned a lot about culture with 100% participation in the class. Great teamwork and great being in the moment to make it happen. Thanks!

So ultimately you should be noticing how culture is shared, symbolic, all-encompassing, and integrated. We should be sure to explore how culture is maladaptive and make sure everyone gets that. Here's a question to begin that inquiry and the group that had this section can chime in on the blog and in class:

Is culture always helpful?
Answer: No. Cultural practices can be maladaptive in the long-term. One example is that our own culture prizes consumerism and consumption, the use of the automobile, and climate-controlled living spaces. However, the technologies used to achieve these comforts may be causing environmental damage which is detrimental to us in the long-term. (see The Story of Stuff by Annie Leonard).

Some things about the modern classroom can be maladaptive in the long run. Can you think of any? Here's a quote that suggests perhaps an alternative for the classroom:

We aim for a broadened view of cultural socialization that considers its mechanisms and implications for education. Here, we follow the observations of Moll (2000): 'We are moving toward a more dynamic, processual notion: that cultural life consists of multiple voices, of unity as well as discord, including an imperfect sharing of knowledge; of intergenerational misunderstanding as well as common understandings; of developing both adaptive and maladaptive practices while discarding others—in short, of human actions that are always creative in the face of changing circumstances. . . . [I]t might be more realistic to say “that people live culturally rather than they live in culture.' (p. 330) Cultural socialization can be defined as how people learn to “live culturally.” (Italics added). From “Every Shut Eye Ain’t Sleep”: Studying How People Live Culturally by Carol D. Lee, Margaret Beale Spencer, and Vinay Harpalani in Educational Researcher, Vol. 32, No. 5, pp. 6–13

How do you think certain practices we have used between teachers and students for a long time might be maladaptive?

How has our avoidance of talking about whiteness contributed to both an adaptive and a maladaptive practice over time?

Shift Happens 2.0 Video viewed by 5 million + Remix

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pMcfrLYDm2U

An official update to the original "Shift Happens" video from Karl Fisch and Scott McLeod, this June 2007 update includes new and updated statistics, thought-provoking questions and a fresh design. For more information, or to join the conversation, please visit http://shifthappens.wikispaces.com -- Content by Karl Fisch and Scott McLeod, design and development by XPLANE.

Check out this REMIX of Shift Happens 2.0 which is esp. compelling to students and teachers in US.

NYU Students Would Trade the Right to Vote for an Ipod Touch or Full Tuition

Tuesday in class, Stephen Seymour (4:10 section) showed me a set of statistics on a study done at NYU that appeared in an issue of THE ECONOMIST. It said something like students at NYU were surveyed and would give up their right to vote for a year in exchange for an iPod touch and they'd give up their right to vote forever for free tuition (a free ride). I was stunned.

What's interesting is to compare and contrast the November 22nd print version that appeared in The Economist (very short):

For sale
A poll of New York University students revealed that 20% would give up their vote in the next election for an iPod and two-thirds would do so for a year's college tuition. Half would renounce their vote permanently for $1m.

with the longer version dated November 14th that appeared in The Politico:

...66 percent said they'd forfeit their vote for a free ride to NYU. And half said they'd give up the right to vote forever for $1 million.

But they also overwhelmingly lauded the importance of voting.

Ninety percent of the students who said they'd give up their vote for the money also said they consider voting "very important" or "somewhat important"; only 10 percent said it was "not important."

Also, 70.5 percent said they believe that one vote can make a difference — including 70 percent of the students who said they'd give up their vote for free tuition.

The class — "Foundations of Journalism," taught by journalism department chairwoman Brooke Kroeger — polled more than 3,000 undergraduates between Oct. 24 and 26 to assess student attitudes toward voting.

Which version says more and what difference does it make to the reader? How might the shorter or longer version be better or worse for cultural perceptions of college students? In what way does each contribute to stratification along class lines and to concerns about wealth, power and prestige in the U.S.?

What is the role of the "teacher" (an acscribed status)?

In the second section of ANT1001 on Thu Sep 27th, we talked about the role of the teacher after someone shared that in their high school class there was a teacher who NEVER taught. This was brought up as an idea for group leadership in our discussions.

The teacher this student had made the students run discussions of assigned books and everything the entire class. Someone reacted saying "but then they are not doing their job!" I asked what is their job. The student said "to teach!"

After class I happen to seredipitously run across this on the web:

Awakener Award
for Innovative Leadership in Education
http://foundationforlearning.org/#awakeneraward


I am not a teacher, but an awakener.
-- Robert Frost


Interested in a world where teachers are awakeners? A world in which teacher is a title of honor given to someone around whom people open their eyes and see?

Many teachers already are awakeners. The work of the Foundation for Learning is to sing their praises, to foster the environments in which they emerge, and to put a spotlight on innovative teaching.

The Foundation for Learning is accepting nominations for the Awakener Award for innovative leadership in education. We are looking specifically for people whose innovations have spread beyond a single classroom, a single school, or a single school district.

Send your nominations to nominate@foundationforlearning.org or participate in the community discussions on this site.

The first recipient of the Awakener Award is Linda Inlay of River School in Napa, California, for her work on the Implicit Curriculum.