danthropologist-blog

[danthropologist-blog]

Audiodocumentary

Link for Audiodocumentary: https://youtu.be/q0IJW0XsHV8

[danthropologist-blog]

Ethnographic Photo Essay

[danthropologist-blog]

Photo Elicitation

[danthropologist-blog]

Data Visualization

Data Visualization Links:

https://netlytic.org/network/sigma.php?c=5rKN208u4n6ObRC8&viz=2&datatype=instagram

https://netlytic.org/viz/5/viz5stack.php?vizcode=200&id=80684&datasetname=Dataset%20Name

[danthropologist-blog]

Mobile App Walking Tour

Link to Walking Tour: 

https://izi.travel/en/browse/5daa104a-239e-4f95-bc79-0119cde5b9d6#tour_details_first

[danthropologist-blog]

Infographic

[danthropologist-blog]

Media Portfolio

[danthropologist-blog]

Examining Essentialism and Advanced Capitalism within “Cannibal Tours”

The film “Cannibal Tours” by Dean MacCannell and Dennis O’Rourke interrogates the ideas of colonialism, othering processes, and how these ideas interplay in a milieu of advancing capitalism. The film begins with faraway shots of an island which depict distancing tropes, a formalistic technique to symbolically convey the distance between observer and observed. This is further developed with the shot of an individual, taken to be the subject, whose gaze directly confronts the viewer and stirs uncomfortability within them. MacCannell then complicates the simple dichotomy of observed and observer in his method for depicting both tourists and the subjects of the tours. While the viewer would initially assume that the ‘cannibals’ are the individuals made vulnerable by the camera, MacCannell’s rendering also subsumes the white, European travelers.

MacCannell and O’Rourke’s lens offers the viewer an essentialized depiction of tourists and tourist culture, casting them in an ignorant light. In many ways this fits the films commentary on the repercussions of a colonialist heritage, and in many ways the actions and ignorance of the tourists turns the viewer’s stomach. But a more productive way of discussing this intentional representation exists beyond a simple claim-making exercise. While the othering and demeaning actions of these individuals is hard to witness, even if it is unintentional, the camera nonetheless renders them as a subject to be exploited. Thus, the cameraperson is complicit in this manipulation, and consequently feeds the narratives surrounding both of these cultural caricatures. The impact of MacCannell’s choice here isn’t good or bad per se, but being aware of its presence within an ethnographic film is imperative nonetheless and important to be mindful of during our own shooting processes.

In the film, many of the tourists develop and express problematic notions of cultural evolution, and position the peoples of the Sepik as ‘primitive’ ancestors within this lineage. These individuals, through the capitalistic and touristic enterprise are forced to sell goods and carvings for low prices in order to survive. In this way, their economy has become linked to tourism, even though this tourism simultaneously cheapens their labor and necessitates individuals to perform personas and roles which fit the fantastical expectation of the tourists. Even if such performances are provoked by this dynamic, this doesn’t necessarily mean that they are less valid, or less representative of the cultural attributes of these peoples. They are a coping mechanism and survival strategy within a larger framework of capital flow and are rooted in traditional cultural expressions.

The ‘ex-primitives’ or community members which have been forced to adapt to the external pressures that these systems demanded, express confusion and anger at the inequality which the tourists embody and flaunt. Individuals’ poverty is violently commodified and repackaged to an audience which feels compelled to view due to the “disillusionment and alienation” provoked within them by the processes of advanced capitalism (Robb-Larkin). The film thus offers a critique of capitalism, tourism, and the productive relationship that these elements have in encouraging different forms of violence, which remains salient within our current moment. As touristic processes of spectacle have become heightened overtime, one might ponder whether violence, and hyperviolence, are intrinsically tied to our conceptions of modernity as it stands.

#cannibaltours #maccannell #advancedcapitalism #violence #hashtag

[danthropologist-blog]

Jay Ruby Drops the Mic

1)      Is Robert Gardner an ethnographic filmmaker or visual artist?  Does it matter when attempting to document culture?

Ruby would argue that Gardner’s claim to either of these labels is dubious, and I would tend to agree. As one who doesn’t even identify as an ethnographic filmmaker, Gardner’s ethnographic methodology is equally lacking and is shown in his repeated ethical oversights and desire to film decontexualized “exotic” Others for a Western audience. As for being a visual artist, Ruby critiques the argument of ‘artistic license’ more generally, stating that artists need to be held accountable for their behaviors; as such, his ethical and neocolonial practices again haunt this label. The distinction between these labels does matter when attempting to document culture, because if this is one’s mission, employing an anthropological or ethnographic toolkit is the best way to proceed. Not doing so paints an offensive and ignorant picture of one’s subject and is antithetical to cultural relativistic thinking.

2) What are Ruby's main critiques of Robert Gardner and his films?

Ruby, in a not-so-subtle way, feels a critique of Gardner is long overdue. He bases his critique on the criteria that the theoretical perspective Gardner employs is inadequate and that his films are uninformed by ethnographic fieldwork, especially since,-but not excluding- Dead Birds. While it’s easy to eviscerate past cinema, Ruby is cognizant of this and most of his critique deals with Gardner’s ethical oversight and self-aggrandizement.

3)      How does the notion of 'salvage' play into the critique of Gardner by Ruby?

One of Gardner’s guiding purposes in filmmaking was to ‘salvage’ cultures that were ‘disappearing’ in order to have a record of primitive groups which exhibited certain ecological adaptations. This points to Ruby’s critique of Gardner’s theory being a form of outmoded anthropology, especially in his pursuit of this supposed task without employing an ethnographic methodology.

4)      What are the direct critiques of Forest of Bliss by Ruby?

Some of these shortcomings are clearly evidenced in Gardner’s Forest of Bliss. Ruby directly critiques this film for mistaking ignorance as mystery. “India is mysterious only to those too lazy to learn something about it.” Damn, Ruby! He also states how Gardner treated his participants as objects, rather than people, and openly has no ethical qualms about doing so. In this project, Gardner’s ‘feelings’ and personal vision took priority over any sort of informed insight informed by people and research.

5) What is your take on the difference between Ruby and Gardner's perspective on this film?

Ruby and Gardner approach film very differently. Gardner is a romantic. Ruby is in Jean Rouch’s camp of shared anthropology, which emphasizes collaboration; Gardner is much more interested in his own mental/emotional take on his ‘subjects.’  Ruby is also critical of Gardner’s usage of words and a ‘voice-of-god’ narrative technique, believing that The Visual shouldn’t be contested in the filmic enterprise. At the same time, Ruby understands that when making an ethnographic film, one must guide their viewer with direction and context; Gardner has failed to do this, leading to the perpetuation of Westernized myths of ‘exotic’ people. In this way Ruby prizes reflexivity much more than Gardner in the film-making enterprise. To an extent, Ruby also acknowledges that anthropology and ethnographic film has a duty to keep pace with the innovation and technology of the time. Thus, to Ruby, Gardner’s overlooking of cinema-verite techniques was another shortcoming in his films. That said, Ruby acknowledges Gardner’s importance to the genre of ethnographic film while still providing a salient critique of his work.

[danthropologist-blog]

Multimodality and Design Anthropology

From both a design perspective and an anthropology one, the Critical Visions Program and the work produced contain interest in both their content and method. These works can be termed Design Anthropology, but also represent a form of Multimodal Anthropology.

From their description, the University of Cincinnati’s Critical Vision Program, which fosters a student-produced work at conclusion of each semester, is one that values interdisciplinarity and aspires to a critical synthesis of theory and practice both in design and anthropology. Their program is concerned with understanding how people see, as well as developing novel ways of representing information. With the influence of John Berger looming over their curriculum, their mission includes examining ways of seeing cross-culturally as well as engaging and interrogating how power is manipulated and represented. The students also appear to receive work-force preparation through the production of a journal which can be circulated and understood from inside these disciplines, as well as outside of them.

Their work’s inclusion under the label of Multimodal Anthropology stems from this mission. By exploring the junction of social and aesthetic concerns, students create a product which engages multiple modes of understanding and can convey an anthropological purpose. The utilization of a tumblr site with the same or similar information also acts as a way to circulate this program’s work among online networks, again attesting to a multimodal approach. In an increasingly visual age, exploring how to represent an anthropological or social methodology in an appealing way is vital for outreach or readership beyond the academic institution. These issues of media and technology also feature prominently in their content.

For example, in their Publication “CVSN vol. 1 – Space” (2013), the idea of Space is explored conceptually and is coupled with grid-based design elements interspersed with images of streetscapes and close-ups of the human figure. The work features an approach to Space scientifically, followed by a conversation on the public and private implications of space, eventually developing into an expansive idea of different spaces allowing different actions and norms to occur within them. The coupling of these intellectual dialogues with aspects of visual interest provide a way of learning that benefits from a multimodal aesthetic. In their following publication, “CVSN vol. 2 – The Future” (2014), similar methods are pursued but with a greater integration of text and image. The featuring of timelines and infographics as well as an implementation of a consistent grayscale/teal color scheme unifies an otherwise heavy visual load. Incorporating such design elements into an academic publication helps the reader/viewer garner that, while the future is daunting and uncertain (especially in a context of social media technology), the social and cultural aspects of these inventions necessitate contemplation from the reader/viewer/author and are not beyond discussion.

[danthropologist-blog]

Rouch, Cinema-verite, and Chronicle of a Summer

Jean Rouch was an iconic filmmaker whose theory, method, and mystique have cemented his work as perennially important to visual anthropology and beyond. The article by Feld illuminates major themes in Rouch’s work, connecting them to Rouch’s training as an ethnographer and anthropologist, which much writing on Rouch’s impact to the genre fails to do.

Rouch and Feld discuss how his methods were influenced by the theories of Flaherty and Vertov. In his article, Rouch elucidates the history of film and discusses the condition of film in his day. In this process he notes the influence of Vertov’s idea of the “cine-eye”—which determines how the viewer is shown the world—and Flaherty’s “participating camera”— which emphasizes the role participant observation occupies in capturing this reality. Both Flaherty and Vertov were interested with cinematic reality, and Rouch’s synthesis of their ideas were crucial in developing his improvisational and reflexive methodology.

Hallmarks of Rouch’s work are shared anthropology and cinema-verite. Rouch describes cinema-verite in Vertov’s terms, as the “the art of life itself” which enables filmmakers to reach “the truth in movement.” It is literally the truth of cinema, and exists as a method of provocation which contemplates how truth can be rendered or uncovered through the filmic process. This type of cinema provokes the viewer to interrogate the idea of truth. Vertov suggested that one edits every time that they observe, and that choices are made in the mere act of seeing and determining what is shot.

Shared anthropology, or shared cine-anthropology, develops from Flaherty’s ethnographic work and emphasizes the importance of participants’ perspectives and roles within the ethnographic process. For Rouch, when the camera person and interlocutor mutually participate and share in the filmmaking process, the distance is lessened between who films and who is filmed. This then relates to how the film should be shared with the participants at the outset of the project, throughout, and during its viewing/distribution.

These considerations are brought to bear in his film, Chronicle of a Summer. Rouch evidences his reflexivity when he directly involves and records himself in the interviewing process of the film. Additionally, he finds himself in the middle of debates regarding the Algerian war, Civil War in the Congo, sexual racism against Landry, and Marcelin’s Holocaust survival while also interjecting what appear to be off-the-cuff questions. Additionally, Rouch concludes his film by screening that very film to his participants. The closing lines spoken in the film between Morin and Rouch are that “we’re in it,” which couldn’t be more accurate – the recorded experiences, the director and camera, are all intertwined in the filmic and cultural processes.

The discussion of Rouch’s reflexivity speaks directly to his cinema-verite methodology. Rouch isn’t separate from the film, so he is able to provoke the ideas of his participants and construct settings filmically by which truths can be garnered, explored, and interrogated. In addition, while some scenes are staged, it can be gathered that the conversational interchanges are not. For example, a scene is recorded where the individuals are talking about racism before Morin began the more-formalized interview about events in Congo.

Similarly, Rouch’s ability to pair individuals such as Angelo and Landry, who may not have interacted otherwise, provides insight into a conversation between a French worker and an Algerian immigrant which may not have occurred otherwise. That this media was recorded and then projected enables viewers to question what was said through revealing the process by which this interchange was created, attesting to film’s capacity to generate insight. This scene is especially prescient in the film when coupled with the context of decolonization in Algeria and class/worker relations in France.

The screening at the end of the film also directly questions and contests claims of truth within the film. Even though Rouch attempted to capture the plain and revelatory truths of individuals such as Mary Lou and Marceline, some viewers interpreted their performances as over-the-top, to which the directors muse that “truth beyond everyday truth” is seen as exhibitionary.

Following the screening, Rouch and Morin are seen talking, and Morin notes that they intended to make a film about love, and made one about indifference or one that doesn’t necessarily provoke sympathy towards their subject. In this revelation, their cinematic process and attempt at cinema-verite confirm that life is full of conversations from which truthfulness can and will be contested, and that an artist’s intent isn’t always their result. Rather than prescribing a definitive message to the viewer, the closing itself is left open-ended, which speaks to Rouch’s process. This demands the viewer to question if it’s possible to act sincerely in front of the camera, and whether capturing truth filmically is impossible or constantly achieved.

[danthropologist-blog]

Responding to Photo Wallahs

While not an anthropologist by training, David MacDougall has produced some of the most prominent and widely regarded ethnographic films. MacDougall’s project “Photo Wallahs” is an endeavor which captured the practice and influence of photography among people in Mussoorie India.

MacDougall discusses the colonial roots of photography in India. The British exercised power over the Indian peoples through the documentation and registration of individuals photographically, with the camera being an instrument of authority. Since then, photography has maintained cultural importance and evidences the ability of individuals to adopt, remix, and customize this tool through the exercising of agency.

The MacDougall’s process was focused on capturing the significance of photography, but how they went about this changed with the progression of their research. They initially sought individuals locally who practiced photography, but found that individuals often traveled to cities when seeking the services of a photographer. Structure was also important to the MacDougall; he describes how their film could be broken into three thematic parts, and how the oftentimes kaleidoscopic rendering of the individuals enables the viewer to formulate understandings of the visual media without these messages being dictated to them directly.

The viewer  contemplates notions of authenticity which are brought to the fore through MacDougall’s capturing of individuals adorning traditional dress or “costume” in order to reference or project an identity. For example, the photographer recommends that an individual wears a Punjabi-style turban since it would evoke a stronger, more authentic feeling.

Arguments could be made for and against “Photo Wallahs” being an ethnographic film. MacDougall himself attests that it possesses ethnographic qualities, and I agree; I believe the film is ethnographic. While not being explicitly reflexive, MacDougall includes participants referencing being recorded, which breaks the forth wall and provides the crucial revelatory aspect within ethnographic work. MacDougall also acknowledges that observational cinema can lend itself to objectification, but his handling of the film doesn’t overtly fall into this camp. While his work isn’t participatory, and authorship rests within the authority of MacDougall, thoughtfulness and respect are evident in handling the accounts of recorded individuals. It’s a highly interesting piece, with care devoted to the individuals captured, their unique cultural expression of— and interaction with—the photographic media, and the pursuit of filmically documenting people’s relationships with a form of documentation itself.

[danthropologist-blog]

Push It Along & WAYM

In the forthcoming piece from the Durington and Collins duo, “Push it Along: On Not Making an Ethnographic Film in Baltimore,” the great philosopher Q-Tip is quoted, and anthropological meaning is given to A Tribe Called Quest’s 1990 track of the same name. Ethnographically, the idea of “Pushing It Along” alludes to a restructured interpretation of an ethnographer’s role as an author; rather than recasting the narratives held within indigenous media and shared through social networks, circulating this media, and these voices, is more of a priority.

This mode of thinking fuels their argument for not making an ethnographic film about Baltimore. Locally produced media produced through organizations and youth groups such as Wide Angle Youth Media (WAYM) evidence grassroots productions that fulfill an ethnographic function. This represents a facet of networked anthropology that involves the anthropologist speaking alongside, rather than for, the producers of this media that structural forces directly impact.

The authors also recognize that Baltimore, and these individuals, are faced with a profound representational burden, compounded by media outlets which reify stereotypes. Following the April Uprising ignited by the death of Freddie Gray, such representations predominated the mediascape. As a method of resisting these essentialized and violent representations of Charm City, students from WAYM describe their own lived realities within Baltimore which often oppose the mainstream portrayals.

For example, in her video “Poems, Protests, and Power” Niajea Randolph describes her experience witnessing the initial protest of Freddie Gray’s death from a city bus, referencing how others consistently referred to the protesters as “they.” Randolph felt she was with the protesters in spirit, and echoed their outcry of the injustice from the repeated infliction of violence from structural forces.

Similarly, in his video “Innaugural,” Logan Young recounts an organized movement in which he and his classmates participated, calling for criminal and justice and housing reform, among other issues afflicting Baltimore. He expressed sentiments of unity amidst oppression, and exhibited a hopeful tone regarding the agency he and his colleagues collectively demonstrated. Durington and Collins prominently feature the words and accounts of these individuals in their piece, which is also a strategic way of emphasizing their focus on accurately capturing the voices of their collaborators and co-authors. These counter narratives would represent media that individuals could strategically push along through their social network, effectively sharing voices of Baltimore to help reframe how this city is represented.

[danthropologist-blog]

Gill’s Article and Films

Dr. Harjant Gill’s perspective on ethnographic film, visual anthropology, and the methodology and process described in his article are extremely valuable especially when contexualized with his film Roots of Love. In the article, some of his first advice was in regard to determining what to say before beginning to shoot. This enables time for revision, reflection, and the ability to proceed with clarity of focus. It also allows for the filmmaker to be efficient in their production and determines the interest, or lack thereof, of one’s initial idea. Also critical in the ethnographic filmmaking process is the strategy of pre-interviewing. Once rapport is established, pre-interviewing is an effective way for the author to gauge the authenticity and openness of their participants, especially when compared with subsequent interviews. For Gill, these interviews are vital in determining how effectively such testimonies fit within the themes the author is considering.

One of the advantages of film that Gill describes is the immediacy and reach that distribution of anthropologically guided work maintains; the filmmaker is able to capture the emotive or sensorial aspects that develop differently in the written ethnographic form. That said, a drawback of this media compared to traditional ethnography is the difficulty for the author in establishing a theoretical distance from the subject being depicted. This is then negotiated in how the material is presented, ideally without resorting to the infamous ‘voice-of-god’ narration technique. As mentioned in Durington’s article, another primary concern echoed by Gill in this process is reflexivity for the filmmaker. Gill understands that the process of editing is a type of manipulation or narrative-construction in its own right, but that this is innately part of ethnography. To do so responsibly, however, Gill notes the importance of intending to accurately depict one’s interlocutors; this can be achieved by ensuring the participants review the media produced and that their own voice is captured truthfully. By coupling this article with Gill’s filmic work, the viewer sees the end result of these thorough and tedious workings.

Roots of Love is documentary style, which may give some visual anthropologists pause in relation to how the voice of the director versus the participants is being prioritized; Gill, however, perceives the distinction between documentary and film that is driven more directly by the participants expansively, in a way that blurs traditional disciplinary distinctions. In essence, the goals of each of these endeavors are broadly the same and each is a visual manipulation of culture, with one being conducted and presented with slight modifications in comparison to the other. Regardless, the films provoke and educate the viewer effectively on the issue at hand.

Common themes for Gill include migration and gender performativity in the Punjab in a globalizing era. In Roots of Love, Gill explores the changing role and meaning of the turban for men and their families who are Sikh. Traditionally, the turban has stood for the uniqueness and self-aggrandizement of Sikh men, and continual hair growth within the Sikh religion represents the strength and importance of God. With the diaspora of men in the Punjab to countries like the US, where turbans are less common or turban-wearers face stigmatization through the association of labels like ‘terrorist,’ younger men appear to be changing their views on letting their hair grow. One older individual equates cutting hair to murder, and others testify that if a Sikh cuts their hair, even if they apologize and rejoin the religion, they will never be a whole practitioner again. Conversely, the primary interlocutor in the film attests that cutting his hair has provided him with a feeling of liberation.

Gill’s combination of aesthetics and interviewing techniques render a film that is impactful and intriguing to the eye. Interview-style shots are frequent, as well as longer sweeping shots of landscapes which promote introspection in the viewer and combine for a dynamic piece that captures the tensions and multi-faceted nature of his topic of study. While the film is only 26 minutes in length, after familiarizing oneself with the arduousness and intricacy of ethnographic film-making described in Gill’s article, one is even more appreciative of the subject’s rendering.

#harjantgill #rootsoflove #ethnographicfilm #visualanthropology #hashtag

[danthropologist-blog]

Media Journal Entry: Anthropology by the Wire

Largely because of depictions in The Wire, Baltimore City is often represented negatively, as a hopeless/desolate wasteland. The city, and by extent its citizens, have essentialized representations placed onto them which render the city as a dangerous and unwelcoming place. This dominant discourse is often difficult to escape, reframe, or restructure, but the Anthropology by the Wire project has attempted to do this.

Anthropology by the Wire is a National Science Foundation funded project encouraging usage of multimedia and anthropological methodologies to document narratives within Baltimore that media and media outlets tend to ignore or overlook. This project represents a cooperative effort between Baltimore’s residents and the students and professors of Towson University. Each party has the potential to benefit from this partnership; the anthropologists garner valuable locally-framed insights into urban living within Baltimore and citizens of Baltimore are able to leverage their rendered representation for funding initiatives while simultaneously re-exerting control over their representation.

The article by Collins and Durington notes that networked anthropology methods are utilized within this project. The authors note their use of metadata, social media and social networks that the current digital mediascape creates as useful analytical tools within the endeavor. They also discuss how networks, and the forms of representation they depict, aren’t created equally. Thus, the representational burden of poorer Baltimore communities is compounded. The Anthroprology by the Wire project, however, attempts to restructure the power dynamic of this representational regime.

This is accomplished through negotiating traditional definitions of authorship. For example, individuals in Baltimore are included and consulted in the filming, editing, and dissemination processes to ensure that their projected images are in accordance with how they conceptualize their identities and want to be portrayed. For example, the video “The Clean and Green Team of Sharp Leadenhall” represents a demographic which is often stereotyped and marginalized - young African American men – as stewards of the environment and citizens who want to contribute to the Sharp Leaden Hall community and care about its community members. They are shown laughing and working diligently while displaying an endearing mix of camaraderie and late-adolescent uncertainty. Also depicted in the video are their mentors within the group.

In this video, a participant mentions the closure of recreation facilities in their community, evidencing one of the myriad obstacles faced by this community. The Clean and Green team is therefore and involved and concerted response to a structurally violent setting that emphasizes growth, teamwork, and pride in one’s home. The Sharp Leaden Hall community is one with a rich history of African Americans in Baltimore which has fallen victim to forces that have harmed its population, purpose, and resources. In collaborating with this community, the Anthropology by the Wire team maintained cognizance of the gentrification and displacement affecting this area, as well as the importance of residency to an individual’s identity. Throughout the process, the Sharp Ledenhall Planning Committee was consulted and they have collected archival documentation of this initiative.

In summation, Anthropology by the Wire is a digitally-relevant project that uses anthropological methods to question power dynamics within Baltimore while restoring agency to its residents through media representation, like in the video mentioned above. This project is an effort to resist the representational burden placed on Baltimore’s marginalized individuals who are often rendered invisible in policy and media representations except when an entity makes them hypervisible by casting a negative, mystifying light.

#anthropologybythewire

[danthropologist-blog]

Photo Elicitation Reaction

After conducting the photo-elicitation exercise in class, I can certainly see its usefulness in the ethnographic process. Two strangers are paired together, and instead of the interviewing process being stymied or limited by hard-to-answer questions like “So tell me about yourself” or “What’s your family life like,” the photos presented enable the interviewee to respond fully and even comfortably to questions that their pictures prompt. This is supported by Doug Harper’s assertion that evolutionary, humans have responded to visual stimulus longer than they have through formulations that take a linguistic form. I share his evident enthusiasm for this process, since this close biological linkage simultaneously fosters collaboration and cross-cultural sharing. For example, both Amanda and I discovered through our pictures that our older siblings maintain important roles in our lives, and function closely as “best friends” – extrapolated further, the development of these formative relationships have helped in the formation of our own identities. If this were a component of ethnographic research, we would have a shared starting-point from which further rapport could develop. 

#dougharper #photoelicitation

[danthropologist-blog]

Renegade Dreams Blog

-alternative futures: Future dreams / aspirations that renegades have which do not fit the social conception of their “pre-determined future.” The idea of an alternative future comes from the ability to dream.

-reciprocity – This is the idea that, similar to the principle of debt-incurred, everything is give-and-take. The residents sharing their stories and their time with Ralph is a commodity, so he as an anthropologist feels a necessary compulsion to give back. This takes shape in the accessibility of the reading as well as his attempt to represent their conditions fairly and accurately.

-accessability – The ethnography, while intelligently written and able to interject theoretical and historical components, is made with the intention of being accessible so the residents in which Ralph collaborated could read and provide feedback on what he’d written. This is a bonus, because it’s in turn readable and not overly-daunting for undergraduates like me.

-methodology and anonymity  - Ralph sought voices from a variety of positions in Eastwood’s community, and was conscious of previous study of urban areas so that he didn’t follow into some of the same problematic patterns that they did. He expressly stated how this novel wasn’t about gangs and gang violence in an urban area, although that was a part of it. He maintained anonymity for individuals, such as Kemo, who’s positioned could be jeopardized if they were named directly.

-dialects and race – As Ralph said in the introduction, he wanted to convey the speech of the participants as it sounded to him, but Mrs. Pearl wanted him to write following the rules of English – they compromised in conveying some of the AAVE in as it was spoken, but with spelling that fit the formalized rules of English.

-bodies bearing witness to violence – This is evident in Justin, the Crippled Footprint Collective, and even HIV positive individuals like Amy. Their bodies are living examples of violence, both physical and structural, inflicted on Eastwood.

-injury – Injury takes many forms in this novel; physical, structural, and injury as a generative force. Residents of Eastwood suffer from injuries garnered from violence as well as disease, these incidents (while behavioral) are also the product of the injurious structural conditions under which they find themselves, and the idea that injury isn’t the end – there is life, and the ability to dream, amidst injury.

-dreams – Any pursuit or vision of oneself that an individual or a renegade peruses, even if it contradicts the expected narrative of someone in their situation. These dreams encompass and involve the factors of these renegades’ situations.

-history as registered/history as lived/history as emergent  - This has to do with isolation; its often easy for the viewer to assume that people in urban areas are a product of their history as it was recorded. Since history is recorded from a typically non-inclusive perspective, this doesn’t tell the whole story. The history of individuals experiencing it, using the agency that all people have, is just as valid is recorded history. The recognition of these experiences, along with the recognition that these individuals can break from the frame they’ve been placed in, testifies to emergent history.

-the shoe list – The hierarchy of the shoe list represents the social status and social mobility that the symbology of shoes has developed in the youngest iteration of the Divine Knights gang, and in gang culture across Eastwood. Shoes function as a display of achievement, individuality, and control for these members.

-riots and loss of business/divisions in the Knights – The ‘60s rioting lead to an economic shift from the formal to informal economy in Eastwood, as well as a split in the Knights – one which held to the belief of the gang as a community organization and one which adapted to the realities of their new situation, despite its greater involvement in violent gang activities.

-the politically oriented gang – This is a nostalgic notion as recorded from Mr. Otis – in his day, the gang wasn’t violent and was instead a positive force in the community, one which functioned as a group outlet in which civil rights voices could be articulated. The gang was taken seriously as a political force as opposed to being feared by the political establishment.

-keeping it real – This is a concept which questions the ideas of authenticity and truth. Individuals sometimes see physical injury as being “real” and individuals also define realness as by what they’re not. For example, Blizzard was seen as less authentic because he threatened someone with an unloded gun. Another aspect is how rap music, and rappers, develop a persona which may not be entirely authentic

– aspects of urban life that they then convey in their songs develop as authentic representations (and the only representations) of people and lifestyles in urban areas.

-importance of ‘Kemo’, ‘Blizzard’ – Kemo and Blizzard are foils in a lot of ways. Kemo is a gang leader who’s positioned has developed out of “typical” or stereotyped gang activity such as drug dealing and posturing (or proving) in order to gain and maintain authority. Blizzard on the other hand is someone who did deal drugs, and did get into some altercations, but decided to remove himself from the situation. Still participating in the informal economy by selling bootlegged movies, Blizzard is nonetheless pursuing a renegade dream by aspiring to be a rapper and by choosing against drug-dealing and typical gang life. -renegade will - The renegade will is defined by resistance, resistance to the expectation that people in communities like Eastwood are doomed, that their dreams are unattainable. The idea of the renegade will gives agency back to the individual – these individuals don’t have to succumb to the narrative that has been placed onto them.

-theory of isolation - The media and other distributors of information can make it seem like urban issues and urban violence are caused and executed only by the people inhabiting the “ghettos” but the discussion needs to be reframed; while there are behavioral elements there are also structural elements and the people on the outside-looking-in share in the culpability for the seemingly isolated occurrences of urban spaces. These issues don’t occur in a vacuum, we need to be more committed to understanding the frameworks that have created these situations

Reading Questions:

1) How does the author utilize and expand the scope of ‘injury’ in his fieldwork and ethnography? Ralph acknowledges that injury is commonly conceived as a physically debilitating phenomenon, be it a gunshot wound or the contraction of HIV. He expands this definition theoretically by saying that the individuals he describes live in a community that is witness to structural injury. From here he redefines the conception of injury; he notes that while some see injury as crippling, many residents in Eastwood see injury as a generative force. Those like Justin Cone understand that physical injury has placed him in a wheel chair, but at the same time, this injury can be used to advocate against gang-violence among the community’s youth – the wheelchair is the beginning, not the end.

2) Who are the renegades and what is a renegade dream to the author and to the residents of Eastwood? Renegades, generally, are those commonly exiled from a group who push back. In the ethnography, this manifests itself in the idea of Ralph’s conception of the renegade dream; going against what is the expected fate of someone in Gangland Chicago, and developing a meaningful existence. The author himself can be seen as a renegade in how he digs deeper into the commonly accepted notions of urban anthropology. Renegades appear throughout the ethnography. They form in the generational gaps of the gang: each iteration of the gang, with its own unique identity shaped by societal forces, looks down on the generation that follows (often being influenced by nostalgia harmfully.) This can be seen in Mr. Otis’s view of the young “hip hoppers” as contrary to the Knight’s past as a more-benevolent community organization.

3) What are the various arguments against/for certain types of development by residents in Eastwood?  Who are the various parties? Arguments for redevelopment are largely held by the Eastwood Community Church – this group articulates action and policy which seek to make Eastwood into a thriving middle class community where vacant and dilapidated buildings are re-developed to improve the community aesthetic. The counter argument to this, held by the Divine Knights in partnership with other community members, articulates that these “redevelopment” efforts will result in gentrification that displaces the members of the community currently living in these run-down homes. The Church wants to cleanse the community of these occupants, especially due to many of their linkages to the Divine Knights gang – this language creates an alarming linkage to homesteading and genocide.

4) What are the various assumptions about renegades and how does the author attempt to dispel them?  What do shoes have to do with it? Many in the community assume that renegades are “hip hoppers” and “thugs”—violent dope-slingers who are disloyal and care only about their own well-being and appearance— not the health and vibrancy of the gang as an organization, using it only as a means of helping themselves. While evidence of these stereotypes exist, Ralph dispels these notions by describing the moment in which these young gang members have found themselves. They’ve grown up in a setting where self-preservation and individuality have become necessary ways of living in a society that appears to care little about their well-being. While the community may view renegades’ emphasis on shoes as a superfluous bolstering of self, shoes are more than just a consumptive frivolity. Shoes, and the symbology of shoes, in Eastwood represent an aspect of life that these renegades have control over. They denote a type of social mobility and the worth of particular shoes carry status and power. Touting individuality and self-definition through appearance creates meaning and purpose for renegades who often find themselves in situations of intense anxiety.

5) How does the author explain the rise in the drug trade in the Knights and the implications of that for the neighborhood? Ralph makes a connection between the rise in the drug trade and the U.S. involvement in Afghanistan. Some would argue this is an unrealistic jump, but it seems believable to me. Before the U.S. got embroiled in Afghanistan heroine production there was decreasing. After we became involved, there was an increase – an increase which showed in the purity and quantity of heroine on the market in areas like Eastwood. Ralph also attributes this rise to punitive crime bills made possible through RICO along with deindustrialization of the community which drove gangs more into the informal economy as opportunities in the formal economy decreased.

6) What is wrong with ‘keeping it real’? How do notions of authenticity and ‘truth’ play into this notion? The trouble with notions of “keeping it real,” “truth,” and “authenticity” is that they’re relative ideas, and can be problematic when employed. In rap music, a rapper “keeping it real” can often include their rapping about activities within their criminalized culture – drug dealing or committing violence – even if these narratives don’t directly apply to the rapper themselves. Thus, authenticity is a contradiction. In this realm, we see how certain individuals capitalize on “being real” in this aspect since there is a market for music that does so. Thus, a sensationalized and criminalized urban culture makes its way into the popular imagination, which feeds stereotyping and exotic reification. Keeping it real often conceals the whole truth in urban areas, leading to a representation that isn’t completely authentic. Its also interesting how injury relates to keeping it real – if a gang member has a disability that results from gang violence, they can be deemed as “more real” than someone who doesn’t. Realness is thus often defined by negation – “I’m less real because I don’t have a gunshot wound”

7) What are the models of ‘disability’ described by the author?  Can you detail these through an individual depicted in the ethnography? The models discussed are the medical model of disability, in which an individual’s disability is defined by their physical condition of able-ness, and the social model of disability, which suggests that certain physical conditions create social challenges for the disabled and that healing is an ongoing process.  One individual who exemplifies this is Amy. Amy is HIV positive, physically impaired by this disease. She is also active in the church community, a social institution which like the medical field, stress her healing – except this time from a moral standpoint. She faces social stigmatization having HIV as well as physical difficulty grappling with being HIV positive. She straddles the realms of these two models of disability, especially as a representation of the issue of adherence.

8) How does the author describe the ‘renegade will’? Can you exemplify this notion through an individual depicted in the ethnography? The renegade will is defined by resistance, resistance to the expectation that people in communities like Eastwood are doomed, that their dreams are unattainable. The idea of the renegade will gives agency back to the individual – these individuals don’t have to succumb to the narrative that has been placed onto them. Justin again exemplifies this notion. Being wheelchair bound, he could have succumbed to the social narrative that in losing certain function, your life becomes less meaningful. Justin, however, instead of being defeatist, mustered renegade will against this pressure and decided to positively impact the community through outreach. By owning the narrative of being a product of gang violence, Justin uses his situation to aid the community.

9) What has been the impact of HIV in the community and how does adherence play into dealing with this phenomenon? HIV positivity is an affliction for this community, as it is in similar communities like those in Baltimore. It’s important here to recognize the spectrum of culpability – yes an individual is responsible for their behavior, but there are also structural forces which weigh in heavily. In communities like Eastwood, an environment was created through a history of structural violence that enabled an epidemic like HIV to thrive. The impact of this epidemic has led to various community responses at the intersection of medical and moral values. The church, for example, while naming sexual deviancy as a sin which causes HIV contraction, encourages a moral willingness to the adherence of treatment.  However, stigmatization, along with the difficulty of recognizing you have HIV, leads to individuals having difficulty with adhering to the lifelong antiretroviral therapy. People then wrongly assume these communities have a “reckless will” and even that antiretrovirals should be pulled out, not recognizing that even something as simple as missing one day of treatment can cause the development of resistance to the therapy.

10) Describe the ‘theory of isolation’ posited by the author of the ethnography. What are his recommendations for those studying urban issues going forward? Ralph posits that while the media can make it seem like urban issues and urban violence are caused and executed only by the people inhabiting the “ghettos,” the discussion needs to be reframed; while there are behavioral elements there are also structural elements and the people on the outside-looking-in share in the culpability for the seemingly isolated occurrences of urban spaces. These issues don’t occur in a vacuum, we need to be more committed to understanding the frameworks that have created these situations. While Ralph agrees with William James Wilson and his five factors, he seeks to disrupt this frame; there are more than five factors, the issues need to be expanded. Too often scholars reify these communities in the same continuing discussion by looking only at the social and historical reasons for the development of these urban areas. He suggests that going forward; more agency is given to individuals in these areas. Understanding that these individuals have agency, despite their surroundings, disrupts an isolationist theory to which Wilson and other scholars were unintentionally contributing.