हे विल

Don't Knock the Hustle: In Preparation

Smith: I will not be out-worked, period. You might have more talent than me, you might be smarter than me, you might be sexier than me, you might be all of those things you got it on me in nine categories. But if we get on the treadmill together, right, there's two things. You're getting off first, or I'm going to die. It's really that simple, right?

So let's go back to the question about what if people block me out. It's going to be two options. I'm going to get back in, or I'm going to be dead, right? It's, like, you're not going to out-work me. It's such a simple, basic concept. It's the guy who is willing to hustle the most is going to be the guy that just gets that loose ball. Oh, and he got that - oh, he got that, oh, okay, he got two. He got - ooh, god, he's a hustler, he grabbed that one.

That was going to be out of bounds, but he saved it. Back in. It's like the commodity that I see the majority of people who aren't getting the places they want or aren't achieving the things that they want in this business is strictly based on hustle. It's strictly based on being out-worked; it's strictly based on missing crucial opportunities.

I say all the time if you stay ready, you ain't gotta get ready.

Will Smith

Just a Lil snapshot of me and Nikki G. doin a lil bit of the PCFP: The People Could Fly Prject Folks...Salsy conversation we had. Good tho. A meeting of generations. hip hop or not. you dont feel me.



Check out this article on us. Ya dig! (Ew. I hate thse words)

http://www.tri-statedefenderonline.com/ et http://thepeoplecouldfly.blogspot.com/

Exploration Enjoy!



Sound. Sense.Feel.Taste.Touch.Listen.Breath. Hear.See. Know. Have.Smell
All of these processes are mentioned in the above. We must go through all to achieve one. God She Said Let there be Sound.

Is it possible not to know how you feel?
To be so confused
make me jus dont care
so confused you become chagrin?
Let me just take a break
Let me just sit down
Feel like///Feel Like...
Makes me question
Am Im livin right.
y is world right and wrong?
I dont think im that type of person... on either side of the fence
Let me be free and have a right. For myself, thats all

You know?
You know how someone catches you off guard?
Like stumbling
In falling
Yeah you know what I mean...

"No Matter How You Slice It Im Your Motherfucking ..." IMAGES WITH BEAUTY

IM GETTING THERE
IM LIVEN THERE
STATE YOUR COURSE
AND YOULL UNDERSTAND
Nights have unfolded into days so much so that I forget that I am moving, forget that I am moving, and forget that there is a point to it all. There is so much to this PROJECT. PROJECT with audacity. The People Could Fly Project continues to go whether or not you and I understand it. I have many times contemplated what I am doing, and if I should be creating given my history, my present living situation, and my current ability to love. I can love myself enough, love you enough, love the men and women enough to do this.

Now that I am old I come forward.

Nina : “I knew a man Bojangles and He danced for you. He jumped so high. Then He lightly touched down”
I have been the tongue. I have been the feet.
So much so that I forget that I have gone anywhere
Or Said much of anything
Pushed and broken the seal I have been trying. Is that enough? I say ‘what a pathetic word’. Trying.
Trying isn’t good enough. I must make it be. Must make it/Must make it/Must make it/Must Make it be.
I feel my body no more. Can’t feel it. Cant touch. HehheheeHHEEEEHHHEEE
Mr. BbboooooOOOjanles!

I am just asking you.
To guide me.
Just Hold me.
Just Hod me.
Just Hold me.
yeLLow eyes turning dark brown.
Tired of speaking saying so much.
WHy say so much
Don’t want you to talk to me.
Written and talked so much fluff that I didn’t understand the words coming
Had so many goals that haven’t panned out.
Talk to so many people that haven’t talked back to me.
So, I sit in the room with lights ablaze asking for you to come.
Just come
I want to see your fingers painted back red, thumb mashed in Louisiana country
way back when
.Just come. When I
When I am feeble then
indecisive like now
Just come. Be here with me.
Don’t need to know if you are hiding among the trees.

Cross-Cultural Filmmaking

Creating films independent of the "anthropological" stand point is a complicated process. To study a situation, people, or specific culture we must be as open and truthful as possible without giving the purpose of the piece away. Not only are the different mechanics of filmmaking essential but also research and the collaboration of outside influences (i.e. subjects) are necessary in the making and ultimately the distribution of the film. Cross Cultural Filmmaking speaks honestly about these matters in a way that is so helpful to someone who is beginning the processes. Because I have been introduced in some form to such concepts of documentary styles collaboration, and such through helpful documentaries, people, and books the reiteration and newness of the methods helps to redefine and strengthen my abilities as a visionary filmmaker in training.
IT WAS SO VERY INTERESTING; YESTERDAY I HAPPENED UPON A MOVIE, AN EDUCATIONAL DOC. HIGHLIGHTING THE AMAZING WORKS OF FOLKLORE WRITER ZORA NEALE HURSTON PREVIOUS TO FINISHING CROSS CULTURAL FILMMAKING. A HEART WITH ROOM FOR EVERY JOY WASN’T ONE OF THOSE FILMS YOU WOULD WATCH OVER AND OVER AGAIN BUT IT DID SERVE ITS PURPOSE: TO EDUCATE IN THAT CURT MINI SERIES KIND OF WAY. DURING MY YOUNGER DAYS IN MEMPHIS, TN I HAD HEARD AND READ TIDBITS OF HER NAME, WRITINGS, AND SAYINGS HERE AND THERE BUT WHAT INTRIGUED ME MOST WAS HER IMMENSE BODY OF ANTHROPOLOGICAL WORK IN CONJUNCTION TO HER INSTINCTIVE STORIES. I HAVE ALWAYS LOVED THE THINGS THAT I HEARD ABOUT HER BUT I DID NOT REALIZE THE EXTENT OF HER ANTHROPOLOGICAL WORK THAT NOT QUITE SURPRISINGLY INCLUDED A FILM STUDY. HURSTON, AN ARTIST, USED HER WORK AND HER ABILITIES TO WALK THROUGH HARLEM WHILE MEASURING HEADS, TREK THROUGH THE SOUTH SINGING SONGS WITH THE PEOPLE, AND JOURNEY THROUGH HAITI PERFORMING IN RITUALIZED VOODUN CEREMONIES. UOPN STUMBLING UPON THIS NEW FILM TITLE RECENTLY RECEIVED BY WHYNDHAM ROBERTSON LIBRARY, IT QUIETLY FERMENTED THE IMPORTANCE “ANTHROPOLOGY” IN DIFFERENT GENRES AND SERVED AS ONE OF POTENTIAL OTHER GUIDES IN THE PEOPLE COULD FLY JOURNEY. THOUGH HURSTON DOCUMENTED IN MOSTLY WRITING I COULDN’T’ HELP BUT BE GLAD THAT AS A FILMMAKER THE STORY OF HER WORK WAS COMING TO ME THROUGH FILM LANGUAGE AS I AM CREATING MY STORIES AND OTHERS THROUGH THAT MEDIUM. THOUGH NOT OBVIOUSLY CONNECTED SHE WAS AN ANTHROPOLOGIST, I AM SOMETIMES WORKING THROUGH THAT VAIN, I AM CONSTANTLY READING A BOOKS ON AND ABOUT ANTHROPOLOGICAL FILM, AND WHAT DO YOU KNOW? IT ALL CONNECTS!
BEFORE I GET TOTALLY OFF THE TOPIC OF THE BOOK AND ETHNOGRAPHIC FILMMAKING LET ME REDIRECT TO THE TOPIC OF THE DIFFERENT STYLES OF DOCUMENTATION. WHAT STOOD OUT DURING THE READING MOST WAS “OBSERVATIONAL” FILM STLYE. THIS METHOD SEEKS TO TELL OR SEEM TO TELL LIFE OR THE SUBJECT AS IT IS BY OBSERVING ACTIONS AND HAPPENINGS RATHER THAN IMPOSING POV NARRATIVE OR POETIC SCENES UPON THE VIEWING AUDIENCE. AS I CONTINUE TO EXPERIMENT WITH THE SHOOTING STYLES OF MY PROJECT I FIND THAT OBSERVATIONAL FILMING STYLISTICALLY IS VERY INTERESTING. IT REQUIRES THAT I BE IN TUNE TO WHAT IS GOING ON IN AND AROUND MY SUBJECTS. THIS STYLE SEEKS TO MAKE THE AUDIENCE “PUT THE PIECES TOGETHER FOR THEMSELVES” WHICH “ALSO DEMANDS A MORE ACTIVE VIEWING EXPERIENCE”(28).
IT CAN ALSO BRING A NEWNESS AND EXCITEMENT TO THE FILMMAKERS AS THESE FILMS “RARELY HAVE A SINGLE TIGHT NARRATIVE AND ARE USUALLY CONNECTED THROUGH A SERIES OF SEMICONNECTED SCENES.”(28)
ANOTHER IMPORTANT CONSIDERATION AND HEAVY TOPIC IS COLLABORATION. WHEN CREATING A DOCUMENTARY I FEEL THERE IS ALWAYS COLLABORATION OF SOME KIND WHETHER IT BE IN FICTIONAL NARRATIVE FILMS WITH COLLABORATION BETWEEN THE ACTRESSES, ACTORS, AND DIRECTORS OR, ACCORDING TO CROSS CULTURAL FILMMAKING, THERE CAN BE COLLABORATIONS BETWEEN THE ANTHROPOLOGISTS AND FILMMAKERS, THE MAIN SUBJECTS AND FILMMAKER, OR WHOLE COMMUNITIES.THERE IS COLLABORATION IN FILM PERIOD. HOWEVER, THERE ARE ALWAYS VARYING DEGREES. ANTHROPOLGICAL FILMMAKING, I FEEL, IS DIFFERENT BECAUSE THERE IS A MORE PERSONAL ASPECT. FOR ETHNOGRAPHIC FILMS SHOW PEOPLE HOW OTHERS LIVE OR THEIR PERCEPTION OF HOW PEOPLE LIVE. THEN THERE MUST OR MAY NOT BE COLLABORATION WITH THOSE INDIVIDUALS OR SUBJECTS. IN MY CASE, I AM COLLABORATING WITH MY SISTERS. THE GOOD THING IS THAT WE KNOW EACH OTHER AND CAN WORK TOGETHER. EACH PERSON HANDELS THEIR SPECIFIC FIELD WHETHER IT IS FILMMAKING, PHOTO, BUSINESS, ETC. HOWEVER, COLLABORATIONS CAN BE SOMETIMES BITTER SWEET OR JUST BITTER. IN MANY CASES “SOME CRITICS CHARGE THAT THE VERY CONCEPT OF COLLABORATION IS CHMERA.”(89) THOUGH I AM WORKING WITH MY SIBLINGS, I AM SINGULARLY WORKING ON THE CONCEPTION OF THE FILM. THEREFORE I WOULD NOT HAVE THE SAME HANGUPS AS SOMEONE WHO MUST APPROVE SUNDRY DETAILS BY HIS OR HER PARTNER/S FOR “IT IS NOT ONLY DIFFICULT IN PRACTICE BUT ALSO IN THEORY”(89).
APART FROM THE NORMAL FILMIC PROCESSES ETHNOGRAPHIC FILMMAKING HAS ITS DETAILED PROCESSES. THOUGH I DON’T NECESSARILY THINK OF MYSELF AS AN ANTHROPOLOGIST I AM STUDYING AND FILMING PEOPLE IN DIFFERENT REGIONS, DOWN BYWAYS AND HIGHWAYS, AND IN SECRET AND NOT SO HIDDEN PLACES, SO THIS BOOK HITS THE MARK IF EVER I NEEDED TO NOW SOMETHING IN THE ANTHROPOLOGICAL VAIN OR IN SIMPLE FILMMAKING PROCESSES IN GENERAL (F-STOP). ON TOP O’ THAT, MANY OF THE FILMMAKERS THE AUTHORS REFERENCE, FROM ANDRE BAZIN TO THE MAYSLE BROTHERS, ARE EXCEPTIONAL ARTISTS. THEREFORE CROSS-CULTUAL FILMMAKING IS A HELPFUL AND STRAIGHTFORWARD GUIDE TO THE PROWESS OF LEARNING PRACTICAL YET IN DEPTH KNOWLEDGE ABOUT DOCUMENTARIES.

Black Feminist Anthropology

Black Feminist anthropology is a bit of a misnomer to most people though it is a significant tool that is just now really coming into its fullness. Though not totally understood or supported, it has come a long ways since Zora Neale Hurston first traversed the South using black folk and their daily realities to color her stories. Because media glorifies, yet in the same breath, tears down what is considered to be the unintelligent or ghetto part of black life, that which is considered to be academic is torn asunder because blacks aren’t suppose to be that way. They are meant to be cool, of a certain walk, or talk. Although it is disheartening it must be transgressed into power, which has been is already happening. Black feminist anthropology takes apart, investigates, reclaims, understands, and puts together a new retelling of lives, culture, and identities. These anthropologists are returning home, just as Zora returned to Eatonville, to do fieldwork and understand, really understand, where they have come from just as many black people today are doing genealogical research. This is a powerful thing; however, black feminist anthropology is not fully understood yet, not even by myself.
Johnetta B. Cole gives the forward for Black Feminist Anthropology. What is most interesting about this is that she has been a chief figure in the recent Anthropological readings that I have done thus far, which haven’t been of significant number. However, she mentioned that black female anthropologists are able to reach across into different fields of study and bring solidarity to both themselves and the public. These anthropologists are even starting at home as Cole says “the authors are engaged at intersections where the personal is political and professional”. (x) A need to go deeper and document their own stories has sprung from the lack of women in the field. For instance, “virtually all written accounts and verbal discussions of the Civil Rights Movement and any effort of for improved human rights sound as if only African American men were involved”. (xi) To an extent I have even fallen victim to this generalization that women have had a mediocre role in the changing and shaping of our societies. Because women have not written our own history or studied ourselves we had yet to see our significance in society and surely if we cannot see it then certainly we cannot expect others to.
One of the most intriguing things about these Black Feminist Anthropologists is that they have chosen to go back home to conduct research pertaining to not just their communities but also themselves. Upon writing I am beginning to understand the use of the word feminist between that of Black and Anthropologists. For me these words seemed to be meshed together just because they looked boring enough to fit. However, by looking at and understanding these words one by one, it makes complete sense. The use of the word feminist is very telling. Many of these women, growing up, according to the readings, questioned their place in society whether they were a middle class citizen, nerd, or one of mixed ancestry. Carolyn Martin Shaw speaks about how “not having the cultural competencies that could comfort me as a representative of black culture, I saw race primarily in terms of the black body and racism”. (103) Dr. Shaw began to understand and study why she felt estranged from her black community, though she lived and grew up in it. Therefore I call her a feminist because she understood that something was in opposition to who she was as a young female, and decided to address those problems while also dispelling myths and documenting her story.
Not only have I been reading about Dr. Coles’ studies, but an audience, with me included, heard her speak last night on issues concerning leadership of women, women’s institutions, and a list of ‘isms’. As I sat there, trying my best pose questions that would not formulate, I still could not understand why someone would call themselves a feminist or an anthropologist. Just as I was thinking this thought, which consisted of almost the whole lecture, the word audacity sprung from Dr. Coles’ lips. Then I knew that the work that was being done and had been done was an audacious move on these women anthropologists’ parts. It is a telling of their and our own stories. To simply know information is important on the part of the anthropologist, but to ‘tell’ and shout to the world that black feminist anthropology is alive and well is audacious.

Ethnography

It is interesting that the need for ethnographic retrospective and investigative research come up at this time. I have recently talked with film anthropologists and ethnographers, in NYC, who have told me how initially in their examination or studies they had to go back and do numerous research on how to go about learning and translating the nuances of a culture. “Ethnography”, serves as a guide or brief description of how to carry out Ethnographic study and also the different processes ethnographers go through in order to immerse themselves, investigate, and transcribe information regarding cultures that is explicable and diverse. “Anthropologists depend almost exclusively on ethnography to make broad generalizations about human beings”, as their goal is to often immerse themselves, access, and render their findings into some form of documentation. (67) As stated in the previous essay there continue to be many modifications and perspectives concerning ethnography; however, it is always fruitful to take a retrospective look at the foundations of modern anthropology and how its foremost participants such as Bronislaw Malinowski made their way.
MANY ETHNOGRAPHERS BEFORE THE ADVENT OF MODERN ANTHROPOLOGY SOUGHT TO BRING BACK A SKIM VIEW OF WHAT THEY OBSERVED BY SIMPLIFYING ASPECTS OF THE OBSERVED CULTURE. HOWEVER, A SMALL FEW DID BEGIN TO VERE FROM THAT NARROW POINT OF VIEW.MALINOWSKI, AN ENGLISH ANTHROPOLOGIST WAS THE FIRST TO REALLY EMPHASYZE THE RECORDING, STRUCTURE, AND ORGANIZATION THROUGH “CONCRETE DOCUMENTATION” WHICH SERVED TO IMPACT ETHNOGRAPHY. (69) ONE SUCH METHOD WAS THE PROCESS OF DOING EXTENSIVE FIELDWORK OR “LONG TERM PARTICIPATORY FIELDWORK”, WHICH CAN SERVE TO DISPEL PREVIOUS ASSUMPTIONS MADE BY THE ETHNOGRAPHER AND EVENTUALLY THE WORLD. THIS KIND OF EXTENSIVE FIELDWORK REQUIRES THAT AN ETHNOGRAPHER BE AN OBSERVER AS WELL AS ACTIVELY INTERVIEWING, SOMETIMES COLLABORATING, AND TAKING NOTES OF ALL INFORMATION. THE REQUIREMENTS ARE PATIENCE AND TIME DEPENDING ON CIRCUMSTANCES. FOR NOT ONLY IS INITIAL CULTURE SHOCK EXPECTED, BUT ALSO “MANY ANTHROPOLOGISTS MUST GAIN PERMISSION TO DO THEIR RESEARCH FROM EITHER GOVERNMENTS, ORGANIZATIONS, LOCAL COMMUNITIES, OR GROUP LEADERS.” (77) “FOR THIS REASON ETHNOGRAPHERS MAY HAVE TO WAIT YEARS FOR PERMISSION TO CONDUCT THEIR STUDIES.” (77) SO, THIS IS UNDERSTANDABLY AN IMMENSE UNDERTAKING, NOT TO MENTION VENTURING OUT OF AN ESTABLISHED COMFORT ZONE. HOWEVER, WITH ALL OF ITS NEGATIVES, THERE ARE GOOD REASONS FOR SUCH TRIALS, OR AS MALINOWSKI PUTS IT, BY “GRASPING THE OUTLOOK OF OTHERS, WITH REVERENCE AND REAL UNDERSTANDING…WE CANNOT BUT HELP WIDENING OUR OWN.” (75)
WRITING WHICH IS AN INTEGRAL PART OF ETHNOGRAPHY HAS EVOLVED EVEN FROM MALINOWSKI’S BELIEF THAT THE CHARACTERISTICS OF CULTURE CAN BE SQUARELY DEFINED. THOUGH MODERN ETHNOGRAPHY DID HAVE ITS BEGINNING AS STRAIGHTFORWARD DATA, SOCIAL SCIENTISTS HAVE TAKEN HIS MODEL AND DEVELOPED OR BROKEN IT DOWN INTO MORE EXPERIMENTAL FORMS. FIRST, WITH THE UNDERSTANDING THAT NOT ALL CULTURES AFFILIATE THEMSELVES WITH OR USE THE WRITTEN TEXT AS A MAJOR EXPRESSIVE FORM, WHICH IS INDICATIVE OF THE “EURO- AMERICAN TRADITION OF WRITING.” (87) AS A RESULT, “ETHNOGRAPHERS BEGAN TO WONDER HOW PEOPLE EXPLAINED THEIR OWN CULTURE IN THEIR OWN MINDS, IN THEIR OWN TERMS.”(87) AN EXAMPLE OF THIS IS, SYMBOLIC ANTHROPOLOGY, WHICH SOUGHT TO EXPLAIN HOW CULTURE WAS UNDERSTOOD SYMBOLICALLY, THROUGH “CULTURAL METAPHORS, KEY SYMBOLS, OR PUBLIC RITUALS” (90) THROUGH ACCEPTING THIS, ETHNOGRAPHERS OR ETHNOSCIENTISTS BEGAN TO LOOK INTO HOW LANGUAGE, SYMBOLS, OR ACTIONS WERE USED AND FROM THERE UNDERSTAND AND SHOW “HOW THOSE PEOPLE DEFINE THE WORLD” AS OPPOSE TO COMPARING CULTURES.
THOUGH ETHNOGRAPHY HAS GREATLY EVOLVED, IT HAS TAKEN AND BORROWED FROM PREVIOUS FORMS. EXPERIMENTAL ETHNOGRAPHY USES SYMBOLIC ANTHROPOLOGY AS WELL AS UNDERSTANDS THAT “ WE ALWAYS APPROACH ETHNOGRAPHY THROUGH OUR OWN EXPERIENCE”(92). THIS CONCEPT DEVIATES FROM MALINOWSKI’S BELIEF OF AN UNBIASED SORT OF STUDY; HOWEVER, HIS INTENSIVE METHOD OF STUDY, PARTICIPATION, AND DOCUMENTATION IS STILL VERY MUCH ALIVE. NOT ONLY THAT, BUT HIS STRONG BELIEF THAT WE ARE TO CONTINUOUSLY CHALLENGE AND QUESTION OUR OWN VIEW OF OURSELVES, A TIMELESS IDEA THAT IS A UNIVERSAL STANDARD BY WHICH PEOPLE SHOULD AND CAN LIVE BY.

Studying People

Ethnography As Politics

WE ARE TELLING OUR OWN STORIES, RICH AND ALWAYS ALIVE. “ETHNOGRAPHY AND POLITICS” SEEKS TO QUESTION ANTHROPOLOGISTS AND ETHNOGRAPHERS WHO STUDY AND TRANSLATE CULTURES. IN THE BEGINNING THIS TEXT, THERE WAS A STATEMENT MADE THAT IN THE PAST “ANTHROPOLOGY WAS A POLITICALLY NEUTRAL QUEST FOR OBJECTIVE KNOWLEDGE” HOWEVER TODAY THE MAIN CONSENSUS HAS BEEN THAT“ ANTHROPOGY (IN FACT) IS POLITICS.”(88) IN THE PAST, MOST ANTHROPOLOGICAL RESEARCH WAS DONE FROM THE PERSPECTIVE OF A WESTERN, LIBERAL, OR CONSERVATIVE,OR TO BE MORE UP FRONT,A WHITE OR CAUCASION MALE'S PERSPECTIVE. WHETHER THE AIM WAS TO GLEAM INTO “THE OTHER WAY OF LIFE”, EXOTICIZE, PROVE HIERARCHY IN THE WORLD, OR TO JUST UNDERSTAND DIFFERENT CULTURES THESE WERE THE SOLE OBJECTIVES UNDERGIRDING THEIR ETHNOGRAPHIC STUDIES. WHOEVER IS TELLING OR TRANSLATING THE INFORMATION, WHETHER OR NOT THE INDIVIDUAL IS BROWN, WHITE, OR BLACK, THE STUDY IS GUARENTEED TO BE SLANTED. THE IDEA IS TO HAVE A WIDE RANGE OF SLANTED OPINIONS OR PERSPECTIVES SO THAT WE ARE ABLE TO CONNECT AND TELL OF DIFFERENT EXPERIENCES WHILE TELLING INHERENT TRUTHS OF CULTURAL OBSERVED. THE SOONER WE COME TO THIS CONCLUSION, THE BETTER OFF WE’LL BE. ACCORDING TO MAGUBANE AND FARRIS, TWO ANTHROPOLOGISTS, “FREEDOM AND EQUALITY CANNOT EMERGE UNTIL ANTHROPOLOGY BORN OF THE RATIONALIST AND LIBERAL INTELLECTUAL TRADITION IS DESTROYED.”(88)
LUCKILY,WHAT IS HAPPENING NOW IS THAT PEOPLE OF DIFFERENT AND LIKE CULTURAL BACKGROUNDS ARE TELLING OF CULTURE, COMMUNITY, AND EXISTENCE FROM THEIR OWN PERSPECTIVES, AS ETHNOGRAPHERS.
OF COURSE, BY THE TRANSITIONING OUT OF THE OLDER IDEA OF ETHNOGRAPHY, WHICH IS MORE CALCULATED OR IS SEEMINGLY EXPERIENCED MORE OBJECTIVELY WILL STIR THOSE WHO CALL THEMSELVES PREEMINENT FIGURES OR CLASSIC ANTHROPOLOGISTS. HOWEVER, CURRENT TRENDS, WHICH SET THE TONE FOR THE FUTURE LANDSCAPE, ARE AFFECTING THE MAKEUP OF ETHNOGRAPHY DRASTICALLY. WITH THE EMERGENCE OF THE INTERNET, DIGITAL MEDIA, AND PRODUCTION AND CONSUMPTION OF DOCUMENTATIVE DATA A NEW ANTHROPOLOGIST HAS ARISEN.
A POINT THAT MAY HAVE BEEN OVERLOOKED IN THE TEXT WAS THAT HAD MORE INFORMATION AND NECESSARY EQUIPMENTS BEEN MORE ACCESSIBLE TO “OFFSET THE EUROCENTRIC AND COLONIAL CHARACTER OF THE DISCIPLINE’S METHODOLOGY, PERSONNEL, AND TRAINING PROGRAMS” THERE WOULD HAVE BEEN MORE PRODUCTION OF “NATIVE” OR “INDIGENOUS” ANTHROPOLOGY. (88). FOR EXAMPLE, THE INTERNET ALLOWS INFORMATION THAT ONCE WAS OUT OF REACH NOW AVAILABLE RIGHT AT, YES, OUR FINGERTIPS. ‘HOW DO WE RESEARCH ETHNOGRAPHIC DATA, ANALYZE IT, DOCUMENT, AND TRANSCRIBE THIS INFORMATION?’ ARE ALL QUESTIONS THAT CAN BE ANSWERED, OVER THE WORLD WIDE WEB. DIGITAL MEDIA ALLOWS FOR A MORE DEMOCRATIC WAY OF “RENDERING SENSITIVE AND INSIGHTFUL ETHNOGRAPHIC ACCOUNTS”(89). WITH THE ADVENT OF DIGITAL MEDIA, THE CONCEPT OF THE DOCUMENTARY WAS POPULARIZED. THERE IS A STRONG WANT FROM PEOPLE TO KNOW THE TRUTH. AS A RESULT MORE NON-FICTIONALIZED ACCOUNTS OF PEOPLE, PLACES, AND CULTURE HAVE BEEN MADE AND WATCHED THAN EVER BEFORE WHICH AGAIN IS “CONTRIBUTING TO THE DECOLONIZATION OF ANTHROPOLOGICAL KNOWLEDGE AND AUTHORITY.” (89) I AM DEFINITELY SAYING THAT WHERE IF THESE TOOLS HAD NOT BEEN AROUND THE NUMBER OF DIVERSE PEOPLE MAKING AND CONSUMING THIS INFORMATION WOULD NOT BE AS PREVALENT BUT THERE IS STILL EVEN IN THESE “NATIVE/ INDIGENOUS” GROUPS INDIVIDUALS WHO MAY NOT HAVE ACCESS TO THESE TOOLS. THIS PUTS INTO CONTEMPLATION THE FORMIDABLE QUESTION OF WHETHER CLASS, RATHER THAN GENDER, RACE, OR SEXUALITY REPRESENTS THE NEW DOUBLE CONSCIOUSNESS THAT DU BOIS, WHO IS ALSO MENTIONED IN THE TEXT, HOLDS AS A TRAIT STRICTLY RESERVED FOR THOSE OF A DARKER TONE. AGAIN THIS MAKES ME WONDER WHETHER ANTHROPOLOGY HAS TRANSFORMED FROM BEING POLITICS INTO “A POLITICALLY NEUTRAL QUEST” JUST YET (88)
IT IS SAID, “SOME OF THE MOST THOUGHTFUL AND CONSTRUCTIVE ALTERNATIVES WITHIN U.S ANTHROPOLOGY HAS EMERGED FROM BLACKS AS WELL AS WOMEN-PARTICULARLY FEMNINISTS”. (88, 89)
A GOOD EXAMPLE OF THIS IS JOHNETTA COLE, A PAST OR PRESENT PRESIDENT OF SPELMAN COLLEGE WHO WENT IN THE 70S TO DOCUMENT AND UNDERSTAND THE POLITICAL AND SOCIAL CLIMATE OF JAMAICA AND ITS UNDERCLASS POPULATION.AS A RESULT OF THE BATTLE FOR POLITICAL SUPREMACY BY THE PNP (SOCIALISTS) AND THE JLP (LABORITES/CAPITALISTS) GANGS AFFILIATED WITH POLITICAL IDEOLOGY OF EITHER GROUP WERE THE TOOLS THROUGH WHICH VIOLENCE WORKED THROUGH KINGSTON. ALTHOUGH IT WAS A DANGEROUS SITUATION FOR ANY PERSON, SHE FOUND, AS AN AFRICAN AMERICAN WOMAN, THAT SHE WAS ABLE TO RELATE IN MANY WAYS TO THE JAMAICAN RESIDENTS OF “OCEANVIEW” ON MANY LEVELS. BEFORE THERE IS CONCLUSION HERE, THE ASSUMPTION THAT HER JOURNEY WAS WITHOUT PAINS CONSIDERING HER RACE WOULD BE TRITE, FOR “TO BE EFFECTIVE THE ETHNOGRAPHER IS OFTEN COMPELLED TO MANEUVER IN A COMPLEX POLITICAL ENVIRONMENT”. (95) COLE REMEMBERS “ I WAS AROUND THE NEIGHBORHOOD ON A DAILY BASIS, INTENSIVELY MINGLING WITH SOCIALIST, LABORITES, PTA MEMBERS, AND STREET GANGS.” WHICH IS OF COURSE PART OF THE ANTHROPOLOGICAL PROCESS ITSELF. (97) ALONG WITH ASSUAGING JUDGMENTS ACCORDING TO HER SKIN COLOR, GENDER, AND PRIMARY LOCUS COLE WAS STILL ABLE TO FIND COMMONALITIES BETWEEN HER HOME, FAMILY, RELIGION, AND COMMUNITY AND JAMAICAN CULTURE. UPON LEAVING SHE WAS PRESENTED WITH A PAINTING BY HER JAMAICAN BORN ASSISTANCE WHICH “ CONSISTED OF MYSELF AND A GIANT SIZED JAMAICAN FLAG WHICH REFLECTED HIS ACCEPTANCE OF ME AS A SISTER FROM THE SAME ANCESTRAL MOTHER-AFRICA.” (104)
THIS SYMBOLIZES NOT SO MUCH AN ANALYZING OR TAKING OF CULTURE FROM ONE PLACE TO ANOTHER BUT A SORT OR SHARING AND UNDERSTANDING OF CULTURES IN ETHNOGRAPHY TODAY. IN ALL, THIS SIGNALS A TRANSFORMATION OF HOW WE IN WESTERN SOCIETY USE AND OBJECTIFY CULTURES. I THINK WE WILL COME TO UNDERSTAND BETTER THE NUANCES OF PEOPLE AND PLACES AND CONTINUE IN HOW MAGUBANE AND FARRIS PUT IT, “ A NEW GLOBAL ORDER COMMITTED TO SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC JUSTICE, SOLIDARITY, AND LIBERATION” (88)

Win!Win!Win!
Today my gud pEOPLES, animals, and cannibals.
I am Dreamin of Winning the lottery!!!!!!
Dreamin of trains criss crossing the U.S.of A
connecting the South to the North
and maybe the East to the West.
Oh, There should be a revival!
Kickin up Dirt and Shoes and Stankin Feet
Think. Great migration
They were building the highways
Making byways for sweaty men.hairless babies. For People
To Dance. To Prance. Oh shit!Oh Shit! Here we go!
What We could do! The mess we would get into.
Lottery. Lottery
Just to find my way. Our Way Out. Out of THAT "mess"
jus to be ri bak again
I dream that dreams have no limitation and even
this dream is minuscule to what really can be fathomed.
Oh...jus oh
Criss Crossin me
Got the lottery.

K.A

Adverntures oF pcFP

Dremas of Spoken: T.J Anderson

Click To Play

NightFlights:Memphis10

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American Somali: Women

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Ernest Withers: Photographer Extraodinare. Artist. Civil Rights Activist

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Anthropology

Kalimah Abioto
10/29/07


Disorientation and Orientation

In this chapter, Disorientation and Orientation, the author gives us an introduction to the many facets of anthropology and how it was conceived or thought to have been in the past. The many things that are grappled and debated within the text are the associations of cultural and social anthropology, what is culture, power within culture, and how to begin anthropological research. When first beginning The People Could Fly Project, I never thought of this searching out of dreams within a certain cultural sphere as an anthropological study, yet as I have read within the text, the encounters, feelings, and questions that I have asked are similar to those regarding culture, orientation, society, and power. We, my four sisters and I, are historians, artists and anthropologists. We are documenting culture, society, dreams, and perceptions.
Disorientation and orientation, of the anthropologist, “student”, or “investigator” is what is required in order to enter the field or realm of study, observation, and analysis. A dichotomy exists for me, as I am both a student and one who has just begun fieldwork.
It feels as though I am going through a long disorientation process of learning that I can no longer depend on the safety of school and, to some extent, the things that I have been taught in terms of what to expect or want in society. The author uses the example of students just entering college having been disoriented in order to be immersed and oriented to their new environment without familial support. Though I am no longer a freshman in college, as the author states, “you could easily imagine the entire four years of college as a prolonged initiation ritual; for during that time, you are separated from the rest of society”, the process of being inserted to a degree into society while searching for resources and answers without as much padding that an institution offers, can be the same as the “culture shock” that the author makes mention of.
Culture is a very interesting thing and concept. It is held as a focal point within anthropology. As anthropologists have questioned the validity or meaning of “culture”, many times I questioned the validity of the project. In, this American society, as multicultural as it is” the power voices have not predominantly been that of black Americans. The majority of the interviewees have been black, though not all. Therefore, I would say that the project is coming from the viewpoint of individuals who are female and black Americans. Though I feel that my perception should not be skewed or marginal, I am rethinking certain doctrines and teachings for even today there are teachings and principles that have been thought of as, “better or natural” than the other according to a one sided scale that can no longer be one-sided. In the text, western culture was held to be the epitome of civilization. Talking and conversing individuals of different racial and class backgrounds in this short time has taught me that this so.
Because film is my medium and I am dealing with the perspectives of life for people throughout the African Diaspora I will take for instance Tyler Perry’s film, Why Did I Get Married. Upon first seeing the film, I couldn’t help but be angered by the lack of cinematic detail, as I felt it was a representation of African American Society. As I later researched, many critics felt the same way, so of course it had been received negatively though it was a box office success. However, as I began to think on and on about the standards by which this movie was judged, by the critics and myself, it didn’t seem right for I was using the same standards set by that of Third World Cinema or Neo-Realist Cinema to judge the quality of that film. Analogously, the author explains that “in the nineteenth century, social theorists ranked peoples of the world on an evolutionary, progressive, unilateral, scale of culture that ended, not coincidentally, with themselves at the top.” Likewise, this was not a film based on couples portrayed in typical American dramas nor was it about the juxtaposition of images to be favorable to the eye. This was a theatrically released gospel turned film, which in itself holds different implications from that of another modern day tail of marriage/ break up or a personal or political film of upheaval. Does this mean that the film should have been judged according to the same scale as the latter? Old measurements of culture or what it means to be cultured must be broken down for “it was simply assumed that that all peoples tread the same path to civilization”.
While recognizing that we develop having cultural differences, we must know, as anthropologists, that we are also part of a whole which can’t be ignored and develop simultaneously with personal awareness. Claude Levi Strauss says that anthropology, “consists not merely in knowing that one knows nothing but resolutely exposing what one knows, even to ones own ignorance.” Awareness and openness is the beginning of anthropological work.


10/22/07

Our Bodies, Ourselves

Many, many, many passed time ago we were conceived in these bodies. I was conceived as a female, he was conceived as a male, and the bird was conceived with wings. As I grazed the streets last night asking the quiet question of dreams, some hearsay, deep yearning, or sheepish delight, I came upon bodies of different shape and sizes. One girl, said “ As a child…I used to want to be an astronaut”. I said “ You don’t want that no more?” She said “ naw… it’s too much math and science: I just want to chill.” I looked at her. I looked at her friend. I looked through the camera. I then said, “oh”.
I think about an astronaut and the body of an astronaut, ok? I think to myself, you must be of lightweight to be an astronaut. Not only must you be light physically, for I am sure you must be of sound health when you go beyond the ozone layer, but you must be light mentally in order to move beyond the gravitational pull of complacency, and nay sayers. Now, as I looked at her, she was a beautiful young woman, but I knew that wasn’t light enough to take off into the abyss right then and there. If she were to go on a journey to outer space, would she be ready? Would her body be ready? Do I think her body ready? Should someone else think her body ready? Should her body determine her readiness move? Is it fair that I judge her based on my perception of her body? Should I call her a she? She’s a person too. Would that be rude? So… I’m asking too many questions. Maybe that is all I could come up with. To be honest, we do exist in places, space, bodies, and shells. There has been little time spent cultivating the persons or “souls” inside and more time assigning, playing roles, or associating ideas to these bodies. Today, yes we still forget to distinguish the soul first from the body and from which can stunt the dream or aspirations of individuals.

I wonder had this girl been born of another body, would she have to truly be an astronaut? The writer of the text mentions that “there is no such thing as ‘the body’, male and female bodies have different meanings”. This young girl, after having dismissed the idea of the astronaut, now wants to be a mother and aspiring minister of the word in the Church of God in Christ. The body of a church mother, much different from that of an astronaut, holds within itself assumptions of the body. Her body is “associated with nature”. Therefore, she must have a full body to bear the body of a child with inspiration left to give the ministry, which she does have. To many this description is much different from the body type of an astronaut, which could be masculine suited up in a blue jumper with a head-set to match. Had she planned to really be an astronaut maybe she wouldn’t have appeared as full or the image of the ideal astronaut would have changed.

Now, I can just imagine this black girl effervescently looking up to her mother or father. “ I want to be an astronaut”, she says. Her parents look at her gingerly and smile, “you can be anything you want to be” they say. That is what all parents say, or most, for that matter. So, she is satisfied with that and continues to look at books about the milky way and NASA. So, she gets a bit older and goes to school and doesn’t necessarily excel in math or science. “I want to be an astronaut”, she says. Do they take her seriously?” She doesn’t excel in math or science so she no longer takes herself seriously. Now, there are other things that I am not factoring into the scenario, for instance the persistence of the parents, the child, or quality of the education; however, if she had been born into the body of a black boy, for instance, would she have had more or even less of a chance? It would be easier for people to silently see an astronaut in other form gender or race wise; therefore, collectively reducing her dreams to a childhood fantasy and further reshaping her body into that of a preferred mother’s. So, the astronaut is left in the space-time of childhood dreams and thought of only on occasion.

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Never Thought

So. I'm sitting here listening.breathing.and thinkin my fellows that life changes so quickly. i never thought myself a writer but i guess sometimes we become the very things we never think we have the capacity to be. thank god for that my friends. at any rate...
sometimes my heart gets heavy sometimes i don't know what to do with myself sometimes i don't want to be bothered sometimes... - umi say. mos def

just imagine
sometimes being always right?
i know what im saying right now.
i know the feeling of uncertainty yet assurance that i want to convey to you
my prayer. hope. joy. belief. feeling
is that you understand the things that i say here. tomorrow.months.years. or decades from now it is that you feel me in whatever expression i decide to use to its advantage
whether i talk about women.art.society.or love of...the sometimes
I can not express the way in which i want this blog to be.what i want it to do for the faces in the dark. the people.myself.
You know how you had those sites when you were young that were just tantalizing. when you found that it existed you were so happy. went to bed happy. and at the same time weirded out because you were happy about an inhuman object. its not the same as film because film represents humanity.a story. imagination. time and space changed. and just hope. but in a different way the internet represented the same thing. a world open.faces there. possiblity there. connection there. thats what i mean
not knowing that places existed
then knowing
www.downelink.com
www.sensesofcinema.com
www.mogenic.com
and those little pop up porn sites
mmmhmhm
... goodday and more to come