Jubilee Partners
Our first stop, Jubilee Partners, is a well established Christian Community located in north Georgia. They take in refugees and adapt them to U.S. culture.
Greensboro, NC
We then go to Greensboro, NC where we will be staying at the Friendship Friends Meeting. Details are still being worked out for what type of service work we will be doing due to the last minute change in plans (Thank you incessant snow!), but it will either be with the Anarchists or the Amish. We'll let you know.
Amish
Then we drive to Lancaster County, PA where we will visit the Amish and stay at a Friends Meeting. While we are there we will go to an Amish Mud Sale and then a buggy ride through the country side.
Washington DC
We will go to the Holocaust Museum and hopefully meet up with the Power Trip for a tour of the White House.
Philadelphia
We will then visit MOVE, an African American community formed by former Black Panthers. We will do service work on their urban farm.
New York
We will stay Ganas an international community on Staten Island. We will visit some ethnic neighborhoods and hopefully do service work at a homeless shelter or a soup kitchen.
Charlottesville, VA
We will visit Yogaville, a Buddhist intentional community, and Twin Oaks Community. We will do service work for Joel Slezak's farm and stay at the Tandom Friends School.
Home!
Tuesday, February 23, 2010
Thursday, February 4, 2010
Same culture, new perspective
For our next big assignment, I wanted the students to take a step back from their own world and look at mainstream American culture from the perspective of an outsider. We spent a few days thinking about issues related to cultural relativism and ethnocentrism, and learning what it means to do ethnography using the anthropological method of participant observation.
We were ready to go out into the field! Our fieldwork site: Walmart.
The students were given the following assignment:
You are from Jupiter. You have never been to Earth before, and you were sent by your government to find out about human life. Your government is very curious about humans in the US in particular, because they have determined the US to be a dominant player in Earth politics. Your government wants you to gather data about how typical Americans live. They want as much information as you can provide about what Americans eat and drink, wear, and entertain themselves with. They also want to know how Americans think and behave, what they believe in, and how they communicate.
Excerpts from student essays:
Upon entering [Walmart], one immediately notices that there are cages upon cages with metal grills constructing it, and no cover for the top. Presumably, people use them to put their offspring in if they are runts, misbehaving, or are weak or ill. I notice that some human children are indeed wailing as they are stuck inside the cage...
The rows and rows of towering, and short, columns of Walmart are lined with an enormous array of puzzling, confounding and seemingly purposeless items. To try to get a better understanding of what these things might be, I opted to follow a person entering Walmart, and follow them through out their visit.
The human I chose to follow was a female in her later years. She had no offspring but she took a cage anyway. At first she took her cage and started off purposefully, her cage rattling noisily in front of her. Presentely, after much glowering at people who were going along the same row as she (which made me wonder if the right direction to travel through Walmart was her way), she arrived at a row with shelves that were lineds with boxes that were made of a highly flammable material, something I learned when I touched a box, and the heat from my finger burn a hole through the box.
- Taro Ohta-Weir, 9th grade
In one of the sections [of Walmart] that I was most drawn to there were lots of tiny bottles and tubes of colored stuff. When I opened one of the bottles and smelled it, it had no smell, when I touched it, it left a small print of red on my finger. When I tasted it, it didn't taste like much but it wasn't good. Maybe they use it for war paint, or writing, or maybe it is a healing stick. Of the many rows that were filled with this stuff, I was confused that they had so much of the same things. And all of them seemed to be basically the same color.
Above the tubes and bottles that were pictures of what seemed to slightly resemble humans, but no one that I saw in Walmart looked like the people in those pictures. In fact, every picture in the store in all the sections looked the same way. They had smooth skin and white teeth. In the section with the colored sticks some of the smoothed skin people had bright colored lips and dark lines around their eyes and on eye hairs. A couple even had bright blue shimmering color behind their eyes like scales. Maybe this was what the humans used to look like or what they will look like, but I didn't like these smoothed skin people at all. Of the many bottles and tubes of colored sticks and liquids even some of the humans did not know whjat it was. The aged old wise woman was confused whereas a younger woman seemed to understand everything and had no trouble figuring out exactly where what she wanted was.
- Iris Rountree, 9th grade
There was a particular section that caught my eye, there were many different shapes that were hard and clear a substance which I had never seen before, and inside some of them were different colored powders, some of them even had a liquid skin inside them it was the same color as the humans. When I asked one of them what it was they replied that they did not know and that they would "call customer service." Not knowing what that was I left in search of more uself data.
- Delphi Fishbach-Waters, 8th Grade
We were ready to go out into the field! Our fieldwork site: Walmart.
The students were given the following assignment:
You are from Jupiter. You have never been to Earth before, and you were sent by your government to find out about human life. Your government is very curious about humans in the US in particular, because they have determined the US to be a dominant player in Earth politics. Your government wants you to gather data about how typical Americans live. They want as much information as you can provide about what Americans eat and drink, wear, and entertain themselves with. They also want to know how Americans think and behave, what they believe in, and how they communicate.
Excerpts from student essays:
Upon entering [Walmart], one immediately notices that there are cages upon cages with metal grills constructing it, and no cover for the top. Presumably, people use them to put their offspring in if they are runts, misbehaving, or are weak or ill. I notice that some human children are indeed wailing as they are stuck inside the cage...
The rows and rows of towering, and short, columns of Walmart are lined with an enormous array of puzzling, confounding and seemingly purposeless items. To try to get a better understanding of what these things might be, I opted to follow a person entering Walmart, and follow them through out their visit.
The human I chose to follow was a female in her later years. She had no offspring but she took a cage anyway. At first she took her cage and started off purposefully, her cage rattling noisily in front of her. Presentely, after much glowering at people who were going along the same row as she (which made me wonder if the right direction to travel through Walmart was her way), she arrived at a row with shelves that were lineds with boxes that were made of a highly flammable material, something I learned when I touched a box, and the heat from my finger burn a hole through the box.
- Taro Ohta-Weir, 9th grade
In one of the sections [of Walmart] that I was most drawn to there were lots of tiny bottles and tubes of colored stuff. When I opened one of the bottles and smelled it, it had no smell, when I touched it, it left a small print of red on my finger. When I tasted it, it didn't taste like much but it wasn't good. Maybe they use it for war paint, or writing, or maybe it is a healing stick. Of the many rows that were filled with this stuff, I was confused that they had so much of the same things. And all of them seemed to be basically the same color.
Above the tubes and bottles that were pictures of what seemed to slightly resemble humans, but no one that I saw in Walmart looked like the people in those pictures. In fact, every picture in the store in all the sections looked the same way. They had smooth skin and white teeth. In the section with the colored sticks some of the smoothed skin people had bright colored lips and dark lines around their eyes and on eye hairs. A couple even had bright blue shimmering color behind their eyes like scales. Maybe this was what the humans used to look like or what they will look like, but I didn't like these smoothed skin people at all. Of the many bottles and tubes of colored sticks and liquids even some of the humans did not know whjat it was. The aged old wise woman was confused whereas a younger woman seemed to understand everything and had no trouble figuring out exactly where what she wanted was.
- Iris Rountree, 9th grade
There was a particular section that caught my eye, there were many different shapes that were hard and clear a substance which I had never seen before, and inside some of them were different colored powders, some of them even had a liquid skin inside them it was the same color as the humans. When I asked one of them what it was they replied that they did not know and that they would "call customer service." Not knowing what that was I left in search of more uself data.
- Delphi Fishbach-Waters, 8th Grade
Tuesday, February 2, 2010
Student responses to culture-creating activity
After the students debated the best courses of action in our culture-creating activity, I asked them to respond in writing to a series of questions about the issues that came up. Each student was required to find a connection between a difficult decision the group had to make during the activity and a real world issue that is or has been debated in the US.
Some examples of the connections students made:
I thought that the most interesting thing while we were on the island that compared to the US was the system pf punishment. As a single man, I was killed. However, the expecting couple of which the man used to be the leader was spared, to almost being accepted back into the group. This compares to how in the US racial/cultural status plays a large role in figuring out sentences.
For example, until recently, the sentence on crack was longer than that of cocaine. Even though they are essentially the same drug, African Americans more commonly use crack, while richer, upper class white people did cocaine. This shows that a lot going into one's punishment is one's race, and social status, and even though the type of crime committed does have some say, it may not be the most primary reason.
- Gavin Maddock, 7th grade, who played the professor who was killed by the group
Some examples of the connections students made:
I thought that the most interesting thing while we were on the island that compared to the US was the system pf punishment. As a single man, I was killed. However, the expecting couple of which the man used to be the leader was spared, to almost being accepted back into the group. This compares to how in the US racial/cultural status plays a large role in figuring out sentences.
For example, until recently, the sentence on crack was longer than that of cocaine. Even though they are essentially the same drug, African Americans more commonly use crack, while richer, upper class white people did cocaine. This shows that a lot going into one's punishment is one's race, and social status, and even though the type of crime committed does have some say, it may not be the most primary reason.
- Gavin Maddock, 7th grade, who played the professor who was killed by the group
Monday, February 1, 2010
You're stranded on a deserted island...
Now that we had explored some of the ways that existing cultures meet human needs, it was time for the students to create their own culture.
I gave the students the following scenario:
You have been ship-wrecked on a deserted tropical island. You were caught in a storm and blown off your charted course by hundreds of miles. You are the only survivors, and nearly all the remnants of the ship washed out to sea. You have enough fresh water to last 6-7 days and enough canned food for 4-5 days. You will need to create shelters, and look for sources of food and fresh water. You have a few knives and 1 flashlight.
Some students were given assigned characters, including a pregnant woman with a very protective husband who is also a skilled carpenter, a professor who believes strongly in consensus decision-making, an ex-Navy seal, and a feminist college student.
I then provided them with specific tasks and challenges that they had to work through as a group:
Challenge 1: Figure out how to organize yourselves to build shelters and find food.
Solution 1: After much arguing, the students decided to choose a leader to assign tasks.
Challenge 2: The professor panicked in the night and ate all the remaining food supplies. Decide if and how you will punish him.
Solution 2: The group came to the decision to kill the professor very quickly, but spent a long time deciding the method and how to make his death profitable to the group. Ultimately, they chose to cut off his hands and genitals and send him into the jungle to serve as bait for wild animals.
Challenge 3: The married couple have taken all potential weapons and are standing guard over the only source of fresh water on the island. They will only give the rest of the group water if they bring gifts of food.
Solution 3: Bring gifts of food to start out because the group needs water to live, but plot a rebellion and take over the water supply by force at the first opportunity.
Challenge 4: Now that you have successfully overthrown the water dictators and they are tied up, what will you do with them? Consider the precedent you set by killing the professor, the fact that you will have to provide food and water to the prisoners if you decide to keep them alive, and that the prisoners won't be able to do any work to support the group without risking their escape.
Solution 4: The students were very hesitant to kill a pregnant woman, and also to lose the valuable carpentry skills of her husband. However, they realized that they would have to work to provide food and water to them and get nothing in return as long as the couple were held prisoner. They decided to negotiate with the couple and let them go.
Challenge 5: One member of the group becomes very ill with a rash and fever and dies. How do you deal with her death, both in terms of her potentially contagious body and possessions, and to give her a respectful farewell?
Solution 5: Burn down her hut, with her body still inside it. The students felt this would address both issues because no one would have to touch her body or belongings, and the fire would be an appropriate time to say goodbye.
At first the students were hesitant to get into character and take their predicament seriously, but by the time we had to stop they were arguing heatedly and disappointed I didn't have more challenges for them.
We finished with a discussion of what had happened and related some of the challenges and their solutions to debates going on in the US right now.
Coming soon! Student reflections on this activity and thoughts about how the problems they faced in their mini culture mirror US society.
I gave the students the following scenario:
You have been ship-wrecked on a deserted tropical island. You were caught in a storm and blown off your charted course by hundreds of miles. You are the only survivors, and nearly all the remnants of the ship washed out to sea. You have enough fresh water to last 6-7 days and enough canned food for 4-5 days. You will need to create shelters, and look for sources of food and fresh water. You have a few knives and 1 flashlight.
Some students were given assigned characters, including a pregnant woman with a very protective husband who is also a skilled carpenter, a professor who believes strongly in consensus decision-making, an ex-Navy seal, and a feminist college student.
I then provided them with specific tasks and challenges that they had to work through as a group:
Challenge 1: Figure out how to organize yourselves to build shelters and find food.
Solution 1: After much arguing, the students decided to choose a leader to assign tasks.
Challenge 2: The professor panicked in the night and ate all the remaining food supplies. Decide if and how you will punish him.
Solution 2: The group came to the decision to kill the professor very quickly, but spent a long time deciding the method and how to make his death profitable to the group. Ultimately, they chose to cut off his hands and genitals and send him into the jungle to serve as bait for wild animals.
Challenge 3: The married couple have taken all potential weapons and are standing guard over the only source of fresh water on the island. They will only give the rest of the group water if they bring gifts of food.
Solution 3: Bring gifts of food to start out because the group needs water to live, but plot a rebellion and take over the water supply by force at the first opportunity.
Challenge 4: Now that you have successfully overthrown the water dictators and they are tied up, what will you do with them? Consider the precedent you set by killing the professor, the fact that you will have to provide food and water to the prisoners if you decide to keep them alive, and that the prisoners won't be able to do any work to support the group without risking their escape.
Solution 4: The students were very hesitant to kill a pregnant woman, and also to lose the valuable carpentry skills of her husband. However, they realized that they would have to work to provide food and water to them and get nothing in return as long as the couple were held prisoner. They decided to negotiate with the couple and let them go.
Challenge 5: One member of the group becomes very ill with a rash and fever and dies. How do you deal with her death, both in terms of her potentially contagious body and possessions, and to give her a respectful farewell?
Solution 5: Burn down her hut, with her body still inside it. The students felt this would address both issues because no one would have to touch her body or belongings, and the fire would be an appropriate time to say goodbye.
At first the students were hesitant to get into character and take their predicament seriously, but by the time we had to stop they were arguing heatedly and disappointed I didn't have more challenges for them.
We finished with a discussion of what had happened and related some of the challenges and their solutions to debates going on in the US right now.
Coming soon! Student reflections on this activity and thoughts about how the problems they faced in their mini culture mirror US society.
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