Blogging sustainability mind map

The first mind map of my thesis – subject to change frequently and drastically, of course.  I used Freemind to make it – it doesn’t really conform to the A4 page size so you will have to make liberal use of the zoom and scroll buttons.

View this document on Scribd

How could you not love Lucha Libre?

 

How could you not love lucha libre after reading Heather Levi’s ethnography, The World of Lucha Libre: Secrets, revelations, and mexican national identity??  I’m hooked and I’m only half way through the book (I’m laying the blame at NamBloPoMo’s door for writing about books two days in a row).

 

 

 

Besides having the coolest cover I’ve ever seen on an ethnography, the book is riveting – I never thought I would be so fascinated by wrestling and men in tights, but I guess that’s the magic of a well done ethnography.  So far this one has been an excellent mix of fieldwork revelations and explanations combined with theory on cultural performance, mexican politics and a crazy mix of class, morality and gender play.  Seriously, I find myself pausing after every chapter and muttering to myself in surprise, ‘Damn, that was great’.

In an interview with the LA Times, Levi explains some of the poetic contradictions and political power that are embedded in lucha libre:

“It did several things at once,” says Levi, who trained as a wrestler in Mexico while researching her book “The World of Lucha Libre: Secrets, Revelations, and Mexican National Identity.” “It figured both as a display of these larger-than-life heroes but heroes that everybody . . . knew came from their social class or quite possibly [were] their neighbors.”

It even parodied the political system, because it was an unspoken secret that the results of lucha matches were decided in a smoke-filled room long before they began — just as many Mexicans suspected the outcome of most elections was predetermined.

Fittingly, the most popular and successful luchadores have come to represent political causes; some crusaded for animal and gay rights or for women’s equality and the environment.

The most powerful of these, the red-and-gold-masked Superbarrio, rose from the rubble of a deadly earthquake to advocate for the homeless and working poor — with surprising results.

“When Superbarrio addressed politicians, politicians who were very good at this very slick self-presentation, they would start to stammer,” Levi says. “They wouldn’t know where to look or how to look at [him]. And so the power dynamic shifted.

“There was no way to co-opt him because he didn’t exist. He was incorruptible because he both existed but at the same time didn’t exist.”

American Ethnography Quasimonthly has a quality lucha libre/wrestling issue, which is how I initially discovered Levi’s book.  The AEQ spread features an excerpt from Levi’s book, which is what convinced me to buy it, as well as some incredible old photos of lucha libre wrestlers and a magazine pictorial of a phenomenon known as apartment wrestling – the whole issue is well worth a look.

Stay tuned for a real review, sans the words ‘cool’ and ‘damn’, when I finish the book.

Photo in the post from ProAeroPhoto’s flickr stream

Bringing electricity to Malawi one village at a time

When Malawian William Kamkwamba was 14 he built the first windmill his fellow villagers had ever seen.  They all thought he was crazy, but now he has built several more and they are used to create electricity in places where previously there was no access.  Kamkwamba modelled his windmill on a picture he came across in a library book and constructed it out of scrap parts he was able to find around his village – no easy feat for someone who hadn’t encountered electricity before (only 2% of Malawi is electrified).

When the western world often views renewable energy as something which needs strong government policy supporting it in order for it to thrive, Kamkwamba’s response in an interview with TreeHugger is revealing in terms of the ways renewable energy – specifically wind energy – is viewed around the world, and how this is tied to larger political and economic realities:

 

Q: In the US, wind is seen as a high-tech renewable energy source that can help reduce our massive carbon emissions and our dependence on coal and foreign oil. In Malawi, wind is a matter of more immediate necessity: how to get electricity to begin with…

No one in Malawi goes to their father or brother and says, “we need to go off the grid.” We don’t talk about wind like it’s helping climate change. We talk about wind and solar because it’s a simpler and cheaper way to give us electricity and irrigation. Clean water and power is our right as humans on this earth, and for too long our governments in Africa have failed to provide these things. They also failed to bring us telephone lines, so we simply put up cell towers and now millions of Africans have mobile phones. We skip the problem by creating our own solutions. And yes, if this can save the planet in the process, then I am happy for that.

Q: Given Malawi’s various challenges now, where does climate change fit in as a topic among people you know in Malawi?

Climate change is important to Malawi, but many people see alternative energy more as a means to skip the government and get electricity and power. Deforestation is a huge problem in Malawi, which only adds to the problem. People cut down trees because they have no power to run electric stoves, etc. So they use firewood. This is a problem all over Africa. The windmills don’t produce enough power to operate a stove, but with some more innovation, this could be easily solved.

I’d recommend checking out his book, The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind, co-authored with Bryan Mealer – it has been a NYTimes best seller as well as making the Amazon and Publishers Weekly best books of the year list. In an effort to publicise his work, Kamkwamba has been on a bit of a media blitz recently, being featured in several places – from a segment on CurrentTV to an interview with TED.  Kamkwamba’s story is also being turned into a documentary:

You can also see his flickr stream here and follow his progress on his latest projects on his blog.

And since I can’t wrap up every post with a clip from The Daily Show, I have to take advantage of this opportunity and leave you with Kamkwamba’s appearance with Jon Stewart:

Au revoir Lévi-Strauss

Since yesterday, the anthropology blogosphere has been filled with reports of Lévi-Strauss’ death just shy of his 101st birthday and the many contributions  he made to anthropology and the social sciences in general.  I’ll just point you towards some of these tributes – singularly & collectively they provide a better look at the man and his work than anything I could hope to write.

Beginning with the blog which takes its name from Lévi-Strauss: Rex at Savage Minds explains what readers and students should appreciate most from Lévi-Strauss’ writings, and even includes a tender critique of his work.

Material World and Somatosphere note his passing and provide relevant links.

The AAA has a more clinical obituary, but includes links to news articles.

Max at Zero Anthropology pledges to continue grappling with Lévi-Strauss’ work.  He also posts a series of Lévi-Strauss interviews from 1972.

Erkan’s Field Diary laments the passing of the last anthropologist to occupy “the very center of global intellectual production” and signals the passing of anthropology’s “golden years”.

Lorenz points towards his series of articles about media coverage surrounding  Lévi-Strauss’ 100th birthday.

Culture Matters points to the NYTimes obituary as a testament to his stature in the world – and also singles out one of the comments: “He will be mythed!”

I think that sums it up

Updates

Over at the AAA blog Richard Price reflects on his time studying under Lévi-Strauss.

A follow-up post at Savage Minds directing readers to more obituaries plus interesting bits of Lévi-Strauss’ writings circulating around the web at the moment.

Freedom, art & open source

Last Thursday evening I made my second trek of the day out to the west side of Manhattan and sat in on an awesome talk that was part of the Upgrade! NY series focused on activism and creative practice.  It was a discussion called Free as in what? A debate on open source vs. free culture and featured Gabriella Coleman and Zack Lieberman as anthropologist/activist and artist, respectively.

I had heard of Coleman because she’s writing the forthcoming article on digital anthropology for the Annual Review. I was expecting a discussion which would have Coleman playing the part of academic and heavily covering the theory territory, while Leiberman would provide the ‘on the ground’ perspective of the day to day interaction with open source.  The talk did have these aspects, but I was pleasantly surprised that the dichotomy between the two roles was minimised.  Leiberman did cover his first hand experience, relaying some entertaining and instructive stories about free/open source conferences he had attended and also his experience with licensing his own work.   But Coleman frequently referenced her own on the ground fieldwork experiences – with hackers and other coders – to bring their voices and points of view into the discussion.  Yay!  I’ve left so many talks and conferences where the anthropologist never mentions their fieldwork that produced the data or experience that they’re talking about (I don’t know why this is – was it really that bad of an experience, or does everyone just assume that it doesn’t need to be mentioned?)It’s always seemed weird to me.  In any case, it was a relief to see someone talk about their fieldwork research as if they actually enjoyed it and found it productive, and mentioned it in a way that recognised it as producing crucial data.

Coleman opened the discussion outlining the changing definitions of freedom that have occurred throughout the evolution of the free/open source software movement (FLOSS). And Leiberman closed the pre-Q&A session by sharing his hopes that the part of open source which focuses on creating and sharing will remain a strong ethos in spite of the tedium of licensing.

Key and interesting points:

• tracing the idea of ‘free’ and ‘freedom’ in FLOSS from the idividual to an institution, then being grounded in social practice and finally being seen in a set of politics or political ideals
• “narrow moral politics” often present in FLOSS as opposed to those in activist groups such as Rise Up which utilise free/open source software
• participation in open source projects give rise to/brings about awareness of a moral order
• associations between free code and free speech
• difference between web 2.0 and FLOSS – there should be a distinction between FLOSS web 2.0 technology and proprietary web 2.0 technology.  there is an inherent imbalance of power between owner and participants that runs contra to FLOSS ethos in much of web 2.o tech – no data portability – your labour and data goes into a platform, but you can’t easily get it out – there is also the possibility that you loose access to it altogether

Things to follow up:

• story of Microsoft trying to tag FLOSS as socialistic in en effort to bring about its downfall
• the differences between all the licenses – BSD, GPL, CC – I thought I had a general grasp on them; it turns out I don’t
• the difference between free software (social movement?) and open source (development technology?)

And if you happen to be in NYC on 9 Nov there is a talk on the relationship between art & activism: Tactical Art for Social Shaking.  I’m loving spending time in this city!

This week in sustainability news

Big: Ahead of the Copenhagen Climate Summit Eurozine published their ‘Climate of change? Debating the politics of global warming’ article series.  It includes a theoretical section with articles ranging from ecofeminism to ecological materialism.  There are also sections on the links between politics and policy and the tensions embedded within the relationship with scientific experts.

Art: Recycle a used juicebox into a protective iPod case

Building & Recycling: A profile of Dan Phillips who combines his environmentalism with a broader social conscience.  With his company, Phoenix Commotion, he designs and builds houses for low-income families out of salvaged materials.

Blogging: In the most recent of the Pew Research Project for Excellence in Journalism New Media Index, blogging about global warming was one of the leading topics.  Global warming skeptics dominated the discussion with comments often linked to Gordon Brown’s warning of dire consequences if an agreement is not reached at the Climate Summit in December. Pew’s conclusion: “The global warming story, in particular, reveals how a sector of the public, passionate over a particular subject, can quickly assemble online.”

Let NaBloPoMo begin…

National Blog Posting Month … posting every day for a month.  Every day.  EeGad.

The NYC High Line – Reclaimed public space

The High Line 29 Oct 2009

The High Line was built in the 1930s as part of a transport upgrade in the Chelsea area of Manhattan.  This 30ft raised freight rail replaced the Hudson River Railroad which had separated the neighbourhood of Chelsea from the Hudson River since 1847.  The High Line was a solution to the frequent pedestrian and vehicular deaths in the area resulting from train collisions – 10th Ave was even called Death Avenue for a while.  From the 1950s onward the use of the High Line decreased as freighting was progressively shifted to road transport instead of rail.  The last train ran on the High Line in 1980 – since then it has been dilapidated space without easy access for the public.

1984 High Line

via oldnyc

The High Line 29 Oct 2009

In 1999 the Friends of the High Line formed in order to convert the rail into a public space.  It opened as a public park in June this year.  The High Line isn’t the first converted rail to be transformed into public space, but it is the most lavish example I’m familiar with -  and it is beautiful – especially in autumn.  The trees have turned into waving reds and oranges and there are still purple and pink flowers blossoming. It’s beautiful not just for what can be found within it, but for the view that it provides of the city.  Unfolded in front of you is a completely new experience of walking through the city – strolling 30ft in the air – literally walking through some buildings – and the views out into surrounding NY are amazing.  You can see across the Hudson River, glimpse the Statue of Liberty, and see the Empire State Building peeking out behind the neighbouring buildings.

Empire State Building in background

Right now the High Line is only 1/3 completed – the next section will open summer 2010 – but it is already showing evidence of turning into more than just a public park.  It is a reconstruction of an historic NYC landscape, reimagined as a space that will foster community and a greener impression of this area of town.  The High Line crew sponsor all sorts of events, from astronomy nights to art and music installations.  Additionally, the current plantings were inspired by the hardy plants that took root while the rail line was out of commission – there are whole swaths of scrub plants that line the walkway.  Much of the planting has transformed what were slowly rotting rail road ties into a lattice frame which hold the various sections of gardens.

planting directly into the rail road ties

The highline is also turning into an open air gallery of sorts, where public art is displayed alongside the landscape artistry.  Graffiti artists were some of the few people who managed to access the High Line and many of the buildings that the High Line runs alongside are still covered in their artwork (although there has been a controversy over the continued removal of graffiti).

1984 image

via oldnyc

29 Oct 2009: similar plants, no graffiti

There is also commissioned art work on display in the park that has been inspired by the surroundings.  The piece on display now, The River That Flows Both Ways by Spencer Finch, was inspired by the colours of the Hudson.  He took a photo of the river water every minute for 700 minutes and the panes of glass each represent one colour that emerged from those photographs.

The River That Flows Both Ways

Related Links

The Highline, New York video, created by Ben Wu & David Usui

Renovated High Line Now Open For Strolling, New York Times article

Official website of the High Line & Friends of the High Line

Virtual tour of the High Line as it was in 1984

This week in sustainability news

Big: The 24th of October was the International Day of Climate Action.  Groups around the world staged events highlighting the importance of action on climate change to their communities and their politicians. In New Zealand, Greenpeace divers unrolled a banner reading “350, or we’re all sunk” in front of the Rainbow Warrior, a Greenpeace ship sunk in 1985 by French foreign intelligence agents.

Interesting: Contrary to the often heard idea that vegetarianism is the most environmentally-friendly dietary choice, Lisa M. Hamilton posits that raising and eating animals is a crucial part of a sustainable farm, and on a larger scale eating more sustainably raised meat is necessary to change the nature of the current industrial agriculture system.

To take the environmentally friendly road to the afterlife, Michael at Groovy Green points to the bike hearse, an alternative to the gas guzzling Cadillac model.

Scary: Steve at Sustainablog reports (with graphs!) on the recent Pew survey – the short version is that it’s bad news.  Fewer Americans now believe that there is evidence of global warming, and fewer now think that human activity is a major cause of global warming.

Article note: The radical act of ‘mommy blogging’

Lopez 2009 The radical act of ‘mommy blogging’: Redefining motherhood through the blogosphere.  New Media & Society 11(5): 729-747

At the inaugural BlogHer Conference in 2005, where women gathered to discuss their roles in the online community of bloggers, a clear tension emerged between two segments of the conference participants.  In one group were those women who blogged about politics, business and cultural commentary; the other group consisted of what has become known as ‘mommy bloggers’, women who primarily blog about their children and family.  The mommy bloggers felt their blogging had been deemed inconsequential throughout the conference and that it was being measured against standards for which it wasn’t intended rather than treating it as its own niche in the blogosphere.  One mommy blogger countered the marginalisation by describing mommy blogging as a radical act.  Her statement aroused intense discussion after the BlogHer Conference and the following year a session titled ‘Mommy Blogging as a Radical Act’ was held.

Lopez uses the controversy which emerged out of the BlogHer Conference to probe why the term ‘mommy blogger’ is so controversial, how these women are challenging dominant representations of motherhood through their blogging (there was a recent article in Ms. Magazine revolving around similar themes), and the way the women form communities around their blogs.  By blogging about motherhood, these women are pushing a topic that is traditionally characterised as a private and feminine sphere into the blogosphere, which is hyper-public and still male dominated. Mommy blogging becomes a radical act because it presents, as one of Lopez’s participants says, an unsanitised and unidealised version of motherhood.  It’s radical because it is redefining representations of motherhood in the public sphere; it’s radical because they refuse to be trivialised by other women bloggers – their writing is staking a claim to legitimation in the eyes of the public.

Lopez also draws connections between the historical practice of journaling or keeping a diary and the modern context of mommy blogging.  While both are intended to narrate the day’s happenings, the intended audience differs.  While one is meant to be deeply personal, the other aims to reach out and communicate with a community.  In the act of blogging and engaging with a blogging community, the blogger creates a somewhat bounded identity for herself based on the central feature of her blog – the title mommy blogger.  Lopez explains that one of the reasons women dislike the term mommy blogger is because it overshadows the other aspects of their identity that are presented online.  She highlights the use of categories and tags as ways to illustrate the multiple/fragmented identities that the bloggers present to their audience.

In the conclusion to the article she sums up with, “Women who blog about their children are transforming their personal narratives of struggle and challenge into interactive conversations with other mothers, and in so doing, are beginning to expand our notion of motherhood, women bloggers and the mother’s place within the public sphere.”