Cultural Anthropology

Perspective and commentary on our ever-changing world.

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Renegade Dreams Response Questions

1) How does the author utilize and expand the scope of ‘injury’ in his fieldwork and ethnography?

        The author utilizes and expands the scope of injury in his fieldwork and ethnography by explaining that it exists beyond the physical realm. With help from members of the Crippled Footprint Collective, Ralph learns that, “the myriad of injuries,” that existed for Eastwoodians existed in ways far beyond violence. (5) He saw injury in the community affected by the loss of those who fell victim to gang violence, both members of rival gangs and innocent non-affiliates who found themselves in the wrong place at the wrong time. He saw injury caused by government initiated re-gentrification and deeming dilapidated of a neighborhood that sees itself of thriving. Finally, Ralph identifies injury caused by disease and disability. Ralph notes that it is not just those who are directly associated with gang activity that feels, sees, or experiences injury. What he notes is that no matter what, being an Eastwoodian means being associated with, or related to some sort of injury – whether that be physically or emotionally. Ultimately, he encompasses this idea in the fact that the bodies of Eastwoodians, whether they be directly or indirectly, bare witness to the violence that often sends rifts through Eastwood.

         “People did not merely speak of injury in terms of gunshot wounds. Longtime residents saw injury in the dilapidated houses that signaled a neighborhood in disrepair; gang leaders saw injury in he “uncontrollable” young affiliates who, according to them, symbolized a gang in crisis; disillusioned drug dealers saw injury in the tired eyes of their peers who imagined a future beyond selling heroin; and health workers saw injury in diseases like HIV and the daily rigors of pain and pill management that the disease required.” (5)

2) Who are the renegades and what is a renegade dream to the author and to the residents of Eastwood?

         There are two different definitions offered by Laurence Ralph throughout this ethnography outlining who the renegades are. Firstly, when talking to previous members of the Divine Knights, Eastwoods most infamous gang, they define “gang renegades” as, “young gang affiliates that seasoned members claim don’t have the wherewithal to be in the gang.” (56) And according to other gang leaders, “they are the chief instigators of “senseless” violence.” (36) Ralph then expands the idea of renegades, of those who do not have the credibility to officially be gang members, but whom wish to see and initiate change within the community. This includes business owners, and members of the community who wish to initiate change, but on their own terms, separate from that being instigated by outside forces whom claim to understand or know the conditions in which Eastwoodians operate under every day. Ralph gives new meaning to renegades to include the members of the community who see positivity and possibility of what others believe are “dilapidated” and helpless.

         A renegade dream to the author and to the residents of Eastwood all are these dreams for improvement. And while these dreams aren’t extravagant, they are hopes that community members hold to overcome struggles including safe passage to and from school, stable jobs and consistent income, and affordable housing with livable health conditions. What Ralph determined was that for the renegades of Eastwood, “the power of such dreams is in having them and working toward them, regardless of whether or not they come to fruition.” (8)

         Ralph makes the connection that “if injury immobilizes people, dreams keep people moving in spite of paralysis,” that “injury endows dreams with a renegade quality.” (8)

3) What are the various arguments against/for certain types of development by residents in Eastwood? Who are the various parties?

        The local government in Eastwood believes that, “the area was “doomed for failure” because residents lacked the basic skills and qualifications to secure livable wages.” (10) The Delivery Development Corporation, paired with the Eastwood Community Church is interested in and associated with building and rehabilitating housing units within the area known as the Eastwood Plan. (22) Delivery and the Church work together to rehabilitate members of the community whom are, “misguided,” yet residents of the Eastwood community say despite their efforts to, “heal physical and emotional injuries… its [the church’s] development projects [that] inflict a form of social injury through the threat of dislocation.” (30)

        Those feeling the social injury discussed are the groups that juxtapose the government, Delivery, and the Church. These groups include the Neighborhood Coalition, “one of the most influential political action groups in the area,” who works closely with the Divine Knights, one of the most infamous gangs in Eastwood. (22) Mr. Smalls, an employee of the city’s Department of Planning mentions to Ralph the low-wage jobs who do not offer a stable enough income, the amount of drug abuse that has rampaged the community, as well as poverty, low rates of education and low quality housing that all add up to the reasons why, “Eastwoodians have a lack of resources necessary to improve their community.” (10)

        While it may seem throughout the book that all partners living within and around Eastwood have improvement for the community in their best interest, it is often that the provisions pursued by the government, Delivery, and the Church are from the view of those who do not understand the true meaning of living as an Eastwoodian, including all those for which Mr. Smalls eluded to.  Where the Neighborhood Coalition wishes for reforms that affect the community from by working from within, including community members and using their voices and experiences to make change, the Church, Delivery and the government are interested in demolishing the structural foundations that they have deemed dilapidated and rebuilding from the ground up, which means potentially displacing families who currently live in those “deemed dilapidated” homes. In the Neighborhood Coalition’s view, “community problems should include the common herd, who the church would say are in need of shepherding.” (46)

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?

        Renegades, the young members of gangs are viewed as recklessly disorganized and wild – more often paired with the terminology “thug.” They are known as the, “instigators of the “senseless violence” that has entrenched the experience of the Eastwood community.

         Positioning within the gang is key to, often delegated or delineated by, the type of gym shoe worn which Ralph describes as, “wearing the latest pair of sneakers is considered the first status marker in the life and career of a gang member.” (57)

        Gym shoes however, are a “symbol of speculative capital.” (60) On one hand, gym shoes represent to outsiders, to those who critique and criticize the young renegade, a signifier and symbol for the stereotype. On the other, for young renegades, gym shoes are a symbol, not only of pride, but also of respect and honor. To the young renegades, gym shoes offer a symbol of success, of moving up in the world in a way that demands and asserts respect. Ralph sums this in his notion that, “just as city planners project future tax revenues based on empty and abandoned domiciles, a young renegade speculates on his future by buying a pair of Jordans.” (59)

        There is more beyond the gym shoe delegation that Ralph offers, however, what he suggests is that renegades are often, whether it be in a positive or negative light, identified by the “badge” they wear, the brand upon their feet. (57)

5) How does the author explain the rise in the drug trade in the Knights and the implications of that for the neighborhood? 

        The Divine Knights were traditionally a politically oriented and driven organization. Over time, with deindustrialization leading to a loss of jobs and suburbanization uprooting movement towards the middle class with disinvestment in the inner city, becoming involved in the drug trade became an economic necessity that the Divine Knights, and other gangs, capitalized on. To members of the Divine Knights, there was a social and economic rationale for moving into the informal economy because there weren’t enough jobs with equity to provide for stability the same that the drug trade could.

        Implications that have arisen for the neighborhood following the rise in the drug trade are higher rates of addiction and disease. The drug trade has lead to physical, mental and community injury by the violence, rates of addiction, and disease that have spread throughout the community. The drug trade, as well as its implications for addiction, violence, and disease, has also provided a stigma for racial and ethnic injury that has become associated with the neighborhood.

6) What is wrong with ‘keeping it real’? How do notions of authenticity and ‘truth’ play into this notion?

        Ralph states, “The primary use of the “keeping it real” defense, then, is to prove hip hop’s role as truth teller.”  (90) What hip hop culture and rap music have allowed is a stage and platform for those who have experienced the injury and disability for which Ralph surrounds his ethnographic research in Chicago to discuss the happenings of these communities and what true life is like on a day to day basis for them. Where this can be a positive outlet for the emotions associated with the injury felt by these experiences, they also create an unfortunate stereotype to live up to or a place for blame for those who are experiencing these struggles.

        With the notions of authenticity and ‘truth’ in mind, Ralph believes that, “keeping it real is a slippery slope leading to no where good.” (90) What he means by this is that the exaggeration of the persona and the daily experience of the street gang member discussed in hip hop culture and rap music has proliferated the ideas and expectations of those getting involved in the drug trade, as well as continuing to stimulate, expedite, and expand the stereotypes surrounding gang members and the communities for which these gangs exist within. Laurence Ralph eloquently states that these musical and cultural representations, “representations of blackness become quicksand that swallows urban futures in a sea of negativity.” (91)

7) What are the models of ‘disability’ described by the author? Can you detail these through an individual depicted in the ethnography? 

        The two models of disability described by the author are social and medical disability. Discussions about social disability argue, “it is not an individual’s actual ‘impairments’ that render that individual subordinate in terms of social status, but socially imposed barriers – anything from inaccessible buildings, to limited modes of transportation and communication, to prejudicial attitudes.” (125) In contrast, the medical model defines disability simply in that of the physical realm, as, “physical conditions that reduce a person’s quality of life and thus pose clear disadvantages to that person.” (126)

        An individual who represents both these models of disability within the ethnography is Justin, as well as the other members of the Crippled Footprint Collective. Justin represents social disability because of his involvement with the gang and being an Eastwood native at all. He turned to the gang not only because it was expected of him, because he saw these boys as his brothers, but because that was the only way of life that the structure for which he lived had shown. He represents physical disability, as well as the implications of social disability, because of his injury – physical and emotional, that have been caused by his gang affiliation. Justin is handicapped, paralyzed from the waist down from a gunshot wound. He has had to learn to readjust his life because of his permanent handicap and reliance on a wheelchair. Injured gang members such as Justin have used their physical disability to further explain the social mobility. Justin and the Crippled Footprint Collective have used the notion of disability to create a critical consciousness and, “illuminate an often over-looked aspect of gang sociality: Disability is a distinct possibility, yet frequently invisible, reality.” (139)

        Ralph represents the association between social and medical disability by stating, “because bonds between gang members are so often solidified through violence, the testimony of a disabled gang member can be strategically deployed… to disrupt a cycle of vengeance. Within this violent world, wounds become the precondition for enabling social transformation.” (121)  

8) How does the author describe the ‘renegade will’? Can you exemplify this notion through an individual depicted in the ethnography?

        A renegade will represents the intentions of the individuals in Eastwood to improve their community, despite injury or disability. Their never faltering faith in change and improvement, for a better tomorrow, even if better is only in a small or minute condition, are what uphold their strength and their “will” to continue on through the pain felt by the injury they have endured both mentally, physically, emotionally, socially, structurally, racially, ethnically, economically, ect.

        Amy represents the renegade will because although she has seen and experienced much struggle and strife in her life, although she has suffered extreme losses, and although her life is threatened by her diagnosis of HIV, she has decided to continue on through all of the shortcomings that life has handed her. Amy has decided to work towards the betterment of herself, as well as contributing to the betterment of her community and therefore embodies what it means to dream as a renegade, and have the will to continue to do so through all odds.

9) What has been the impact of HIV in the community and how does adherences play into dealing with this phenomenon?

        There are social and health impacts involved with HIV in the Eastwoodian community. The social impact that HIV has impended on the community is the injury felt by the death of young infected individuals. The medical impact on the community though, more heavily involves the idea of adherence. Those unwilling to adhere to a drug regimen, unwilling to seek medical attention for their ailments, or who have continued to use (and share) needles in their drug addiction have proliferated the diseases and caused drug-resistant strains of the disease to emerge.

        What Ralph, through individuals such as Mark and Amy, has suggested is that HIV has caused both social and medical impacts throughout Eastwood. The continued rise of HIV diagnoses among the young in Eastwood, Chicago can partially be attributed to the lack of adherence to medical advice and health suggestion. “Non-adherence poses risks for not only for the individual but for the entire community” (148)

10) Describe the ‘theory of isolation’ posited by the author of the ethnography. What are his recommendations for those studying urban issues going forward?

        Social isolation proliferated by redlining and other governmental reforms have provided the means for the structural violence that has further isolated members of the Eastwood community. The economic and social institutions that isolate this community continues the poverty, violence, disease, addiction, and other injuries that these people face but isolation doesn't occur accidentally - the conditions for which isolation occurs were manipulated, situated and built by the institutions in power of reform that affect these communities.

        Ralph recommends that before academics (and anyone else for that matter) point fingers on the behaviors of this community, or others like it, they should look towards the structures of institutions, and the reforms that they implement, that affect the community and assist in these behaviors being acceptable or necessary.

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Review and Summary of Towson University’s Media Methods Conference: Using Technology for Research & Engagement in Higher Education on April 18, 2015

          On Saturday April 18, 2015, I had the privilege of attending Towson University’s first anthropology conference, Media Methods: Using Technology for Research & Engagement in Higher Education. Throughout the day I attended workshops and conversed with peers and professors alike about the rising prevalence and influence of media and technology, in both our lives and in the anthropological field.

           John Jackson, whom was the keynote speaker of the conference, gave the introduction to the day, as well as an introduction to the topic of different media methods that have emerged in the field of anthropology. John Jackson gave what he called a “digital intellectual autobiography” for the audience.

           As a member of the anthropological field, academia was always stressed to him, although his larger interest lied in filmmaking. Jackson stated that as an anthropologist he felt, “only after making films could he put bigger than life issues into proper perspective.” What John Jackson says he appreciates the most about film is the materiality of it. In academia, you can write about certain experiences all you want, but much comes from the readers’ inference of what the culture and environment for which the ethnographic research that is taking place really looks like. Here, Jackson references Clifford Geertz’s idea of thick description, saying that film allows for much more “powerfully thick” images than writing in academia can. Many argue that what film can offer is only thin, by what you can see and by physical framing, and Jackson agrees. What he counters this with is that he doesn’t think film can be taken on its own, what it needs is the anthropologist to fill in the blanks and detail what is not captured in the films frame. Jackson continues to counter this argument by explaining the reason that film can be so appealing for an audience. Visual images carry thickness, “they offer all the imagined images that you fantasize about off a printer page.” What Jackson finds powerful about simple basic short films is that there is much focus on what’s beside the point, meaning there is more to what the filmmaker is trying to emphasize.

           Jackson reiterates his belief that beyond a printed page, film gives identity, exclusiveness to the individual and specificity that doesn’t allow hovering as omnisciently as research does. He boasts that the limitations for which the written approach of academia has, is expanded with the use of film. He continues this argument by his belief that film mobilizes subjects and environments, a film maker cannot easily write out or write around a certain individual whom may be a key figure but whom may not be central to their thesis, where an academic writer can. He offers that film allows a concrete indexical relationship between what we can see and what we understand.

          John Jackson believes that the images given by film allow an attached emotionality to subjects, environments, and research that writing in academia simply cannot offer. He states an appreciated flaw in film making, because as a filmmaker you can never completely control what’s in the frame, and he believes that when the distraction of the narrative eventually goes away, what audiences are left with is the raw emotion and raw existence of the society or community that is being researched. John Jackson praises the beauty in the lack of control that filmmakers have, something he believes ethnographic writing cannot employ.

          What John Jackson’s take away message for the audience was is that there is value in film, with the sociality and community it brings between the ethnographic research team and with those in the environment in the locations by the training involved in the research conducted. The process, Jackson stresses, is and always will be far more important than any final product.

          Jackson closes his speech by relating back to his autobiography, stating that as he has watched the use of ethnographic film in research transform, he is proud that his students will be the first to have visual dissertations not met with opposition, and that they are just the tip of the iceberg for the development of the field. He reiterates to the audience that conferences such as this one are valuable in the future of the academy, and that throughout the day he hopes the audience uses their new insights to think about the criteria we use to adjudicate this new field and to continue to think critically with peers and colleagues about what the future of this field may look like.

          Following Jackson’s opening words, I attended my first workshop of the day. Given by Gala True, the core investigator at the Department of Veterans Affairs who gave a presentation detailing her most recent and proudest work, “From War to Home: Through a Veteran’s Lens” in which True collaborated with 40 veterans from all major branches of the military who partook in Operation Enduring Freedom and/or Operation Iraqi Freedom in order to tell their stories of their military service, deployment, and homecoming. True and the veterans from her project utilized photovoice media, “process of giving people cameras to help document context, causes, solutions, or resources within a community to address certain and specific issues.” What True reiterated throughout her presentation was that photovoice was not just the researcher, but that participants were seen as collaborators who developed a partnership and shared responsibilities of the decision making process throughout the project with the researcher. True stated that photovoice, in short, is, “exploring lived experiences through photographs.” After seeing just part of the wonderful exhibit that True has put forth with these veterans, and hearing the efforts she has gone through to make their voices heard, I couldn’t help but be moved. I have had experience with a loved one whom is a marine veteran in Afghanistan and have seen the trouble that he has faced adjusting to life at home, as well as the walls and closed doors he has come up against with the VA. I appreciate, applaud, and am thankful for Gala True and her veteran collaborators effort in trying to publicize the struggles that veterans face both personally, within their community, and with the benefits they are supposed to be promised by the government following their time of duty.

          After a lunch filled with conversation about new methods of conducting research and the ability that technology has given us to reach far larger groups of people with information, I was able to attend my second workshop of the day. This workshop, given by William Shewbridge, detailed video archiving and websites and exemplified this through UMBC’s stories of Sparrows Point Mill. Video archiving and websites allows for the creating of a personal narrative through digital stories. Shewbridge refers to these videos as, “visual essays,” explaining that these archives and the websites for which they are displayed are not meant to serve the purpose of giving a voice; rather, they are there to amplify the already existing voices. Shewbridge stressed that in the making of these websites, there is a delicate balance act between the complexity of the website and the flexibility of the website that must occur during creation. During his workshop, Shewbridge detailed for his audience the importance of contemporary video archives by use of websites and how he sees its affects to be useful in the future. He stated that these websites archive, place into the Interweb storage, stories that can be accessed well into the future.

          I am very glad that I was able to experience this conference and that I was able to open my networks not only with my peers, but with people making headway within the field of anthropology. My take away from this conference is that technology is merely enhancing the field of anthropology, making the academia side more accessible to others, and that this is just the beginning of positive change for ethnographic research. I hope that I am able to participate in a conference such as this in the future, for I learned a lot and enjoyed my time with my peers and the professors and working researchers that I met.

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When I Wear My Alligator Boots Response Questions

Question 1: What is a narcocorrido? Please explain this term and its place in both historical and contemporary Mexico. How are these songs part of contemporary drug trafficking culture? What is the style and persona associated with this music?    

        Traditionally, corridos “celebrated the heroes and social bandits of the 1910 - 20 Mexican Revolution.” (Muehlmann, 93) Today, the corrido takes new form in narco-corridos, “drug ballads, a genre of folk songs that tells the stories of men and women working in the drug business on the border.” (Muehlmann, 86)  Historically, the corrido represents stories of battle. Currently, they represent the same notion, but rather, the battle of the war on drugs, and the consequences faced by the Mexican people in relation to it. They speak of violence and death associated with the drug trade. Both historically and contemporarily, corridos represent stories not covered within the Mexican media. “Narco - corridos speak “la pura verdad,” the pure truth, as well as, “la voz del pueblo,” the voice of the people.” (Muehlmann, 88) Narco-corridos highlight the political and social conditions that allow narcotrafficking to occur. (Muehlmann, 88)

        Often, narco-corridos “describe the protagonists’ rural and humble past, often beginning with the traumatic incident in which they experience some injustice, both perpetrated and survived, and ending with the description of how they are now revered and feared.” (Muehlmann, 87) These songs are a part of contemporary drug trafficking culture because they embody the “narco-chic” allure. Their style embodies the lavish life of the narcotrafficker, the parties, wealth, power and strength in masculinity. Their upbeat rhythms mask the violence and bloodshed, the pain and sorrow that they speak of. They represent for the Mexican people the true dream story, rising from poor and poverty-ridden lives to lives of comfort, wealth, and power. This “narco-chic” style and persona is represented in both dress and attitude, including lavish dress, large belt buckles, and alligator boots, who symbolize and signify, true narcotraffickers.

        Andrés, a previous narcotrafficker that Shaylih Muehlmann meets during her ethnographic work, embodies the men that these narco-corridos speak about. When he wears his alligator boots, he takes on the persona of narcotrafficker – puffed out chest, fierce, angry and powerful; he is the emblem of masculinity. He also represents the stories that these narco-corridos speak of because he found an alternative to the poverty-ridden life he was living, but was eventually arrested and put in jail for his involvement in the trade. Although he is “not involved” any longer with the drug trade, he occasionally wore his alligator boots in order to remind others of his previous life, and what he is capable of, as well as takes on the hard-shelled persona of masculinity when he wears them or speaks about his involvement as a narcotrafficker.

Question 2: Explain the alternative framework the author is providing for understanding the drug trade.  How is this different than predominant explanations for drug trafficking?

        Muehlmann explains in the introduction of her ethnographic work her premise for her research. She states that through her research, she hopes, “to complicate the very notion that there is a definable “in” and “out” of the trade.” (Muehlmann, 7) Rather than taking each entity, the legal and the illicit trade on their own merit, Muehlmann argues through her research that they are directly and complexly intertwined. She attempts to elaborate this notion through the stories of the people that she meets who have suffered the direct consequences of NAFTA and the illegal drug trade, that the formal legal economy needs the illicit, that one cannot and does not exist without the other. She also attempts to blur the lines of divide between where the drug world begins and ends, and argues that this line has been created by government coercion, for there really is no beginning or end at all.

        Muehlmann thesis differs from predominant explanations for drug trafficking because she argues that the legal production of goods is directly linked and intertwined with the production and delivery of illicit ones. Predominant explanations try to separate these two entities, stating that majority of the consequences faced by the Mexican poor are in direct and exclusive relation with the illegal drug trade, where Muehlmann argues that NAFTA and government prohibition on drugs in the United States has made the illegal drug economy prevalent and fueled its establishment and continuation.

Question 3: How did NAFTA (North American Free Trade Agreement) facilitate sweeping changes in drug trafficking?

        Following the introduction of the North American Free Trade Agreement, the increase of cheaper agribusiness ways of producing crops put Mexican farm owners and rural workers out of business and out of jobs. “Increased legal trade between the United States and Mexico also facilitated increased illegal trade, because the same routes could be used to smuggle narcotics across the border with much more ease.” (Muehlmann, 12) The influx in the number of trucks crossing the border “has tripled since NAFTA.” (Muehlmann, 12) There is a one to one ratio between illicit and legal trucks crossing the borders of Mexico into the United States, indicating that each facilitate the other.

        In addition to the influx of trucks over the border, maquiladoras set up shop, assembly plants, essentially sweat shops at access points that exist in a state of liminality because they are territory not delegated to either Mexico or the United States under NAFTA. Here is where the consequences of the sweeping drug trafficking culminates, where violence and desolation are fueled by marginalization, specifically involving the already poverty stricken Mexican community.

        Shaylih Muehlmann offers that there is culpability on both sides of the trade. Essentially she suggests that the United States is exceptionally culpable for the consequences faced by the Mexican poor due to the high demand of both legal and illegal products.

        During her participant observation, Muehlmann met El Chibo, “the Goat,” a truck driver who was affected following the implementation of NAFTA. El Chibo found that the trucks transporting legal goods were being raided by drug cartels and converted into hidden transport of illegal products as well. Rather than being a “blind mule,” El Chibo decided to get into the drug trade knowingly in order to reap some of the financial benefits that came with his awareness and willingness for participation. He explained to Muehlmann, “I figured it was better than unknowingly taking a load and not getting paid.” (Muehlmann, 13) She also met Alvaro, a Mexican man attempting to make a living through fishing. After the implementation of NAFTA, Alvaro’s fishing business suffered immensely. He was unable to afford the cost of his fishing nets following NAFTA and exclaimed to Muehlmann that he needed to support his family. To him, his involvement in narcotrafficking was a, “response to being denied the right to work by the Mexican government.” (Muehlmann, 20)

Question 4: Is there an alternative explanation for the rising militarization and violence of the drug trade in Mexico other than those that rest on criminality or strict behavioral explanations?

        Many believe that prohibition of drugs will help with the violence, but Muehlmann argues that, “Prohibition polices and U.S. and Mexican interdiction efforts have not stopped the flow of drugs but instead, have outsourced to Mexico much of the violence associated with the trade.” (Muehlmann, 15) She follows this argument with the fact that, “addiction rates and availability have increased with prohibition.” (Muehlmann, 16) Prohibition has actually fueled the illicit drug trade, and the alternative economic argument comes from the scarcity for which the drugs are available but are under such high demand. This has fueled the violence associated with the drugs because it proliferates tensions surrounding the trade. Rather than reconsidering prohibition for decriminalization or legalization, militarization has increased a crack down on these illicit drug organizations, only further widening and intensifying tensions amongst them.

Question 5: What are the elements of the narco economy?  How does this penetrate the everyday experiences of the rural poor in Mexico?  Please illustrate with an example of an individual depicted in the ethnography.

        The narco-economy is the economy surrounding the drug trade in poverty-ridden Mexico. Elements of the narco-economy are seen in popular culture through fashion trends that are “narco-chic,” that denote wealth or perpetuate the violence, as experienced through Shaylih Muehlmann’s interaction with the young children as they act out and try to imitate the narcocorrido they are watching at a family party.

         The narco-economy is intertwined with the everyday lives of the individuals of the Mexican poor, whether they chose to willingly be a part of the drug trade or not. High rates of incarceration for involvement, violence closely associated often resulting in deaths, as well as mass rates of addiction affect each and every member of the rural poor in Mexico in one way or another.

        For example, Andrés, a former narcotraficante whose family Muehlmann becomes close with during her ethnographic work, was working legal odd jobs far from home and for little pay, just trying to make ends meet for his family. When he was pulled into the drug trade, he was done so not only by the benefits that the narco life allure contends, but mostly because he was enticed by the financial gain he would get as a result of his part in the trade. Andrés was eventually caught and put into jail, facing consequences not only of incarceration, which for Andrés was physical injuries sustained while in jail, but also of the adjustments to life following his release. Many of Andrés friends had dabbled with the drug they sold, some of them falling susceptible to addiction. Andrés spoke of the violence and death not only that he had seen, but also that he had experienced as a result of the drug trade, losing close friends and relatives whom were involved in different degrees. The largest repercussion on Andrés life came as a result of incarceration, as he tried to distance himself from the narco life and find alternative means of a stable income, only to realize that it is complexly intertwined in every aspect of rural Mexican life and that he could never truly escape the drug trade.

Question 6: How does the role and image of the narcotraficante create an allure for individuals to enter the drug trade despite the danger of violence and/or prosecution?

        The role and image of the narcotraficante is alluring for different reasons for different individuals. Sometimes it can be the allure for attention or the allure to get rich quick that draws people in. For others, the culture that perpetuates the image of the narcotraficante, displaying it as masculine, strong, and powerful offers allure.

        For example, Isabella, well aware of the danger and violence and threat of prosecution for those involved in the narco-life due to her involvement with Andrés, is allured by the image of the narcotraficante because of the role of the narcowife. For her, the narcowife is the image of security, particularly financial security, something she has always sought to have. The narcowife also lives a life of luxury due to the wealth that her significant other matriculates, something that Isabella enjoyed the thought of as well.

        For Cruz and Andrés, the allure of power, masculinity, strength and wealth all allowed the oversight of the violence and prosecution that are consequences of being a narcotraficante. Unfortunately for Cruz, he also overlooked the addiction complex closely associated with being so engrossed in these drugs and unfortunately fell victim to them.

        For many who get involved with the drug trade though, the largest draw of the narcotraficante life is that of economic security, which the people poverty stricken poor of Mexico dream of. They hope to provide for their family so that they can live safely, happily, and with enough financial security to live comfortably. Many of the men and women who get involved with the drug trade see no other alternative to providing for their family, and therefore they see no other choice but to overlook the danger of violence and prosecution that could come from it.

Question 7: How is the role of women in the drug trade rendered invisible?  Please explain through an example of a woman depicted in the ethnography.

        The role of women in the drug trade is rendered nearly invisible because their stories are never told. The stories of the drug lord men who run or operate the organizations are explained in the news, through the stories of their arrest or through the stories of their death. The women whom are left to care for the families and the homes when this occur are rendered invisible because there is no structural foundation or support for the families left behind following this.

           For example, Paz, Andrés mother, had to find alternative ways of making money while her son, the sole provider in their family, was incarcerated. She had to sell tamales, and used most of the money that she earned to bribe the guardsmen in jail to protect her son from harm. For women in similar situations as Paz, whose family members or loved ones have had previous or current involvement in the drug trade, they face a system of obligation or debt to the organizations for which their loved ones once belonged. For Paz, and many women like her, this obligation came with unspoken understanding that while their drug mule sons, brothers, and husbands, ect. are incarcerated or incapacitated from working, their obligations are now the responsibilities of these women including housing or transporting drugs.

           Many of the women in similar situations as Paz also face the violence and corruption in the form of the deaths of those close to them. There is no structural condition set up for these families to recover following the devastation of the loss of their loved ones, and there is no structure for help in rehabilitation for families such as these whose members become riddled with addiction.

           The role of these women in the drug trade is rendered invisible not only because there is no structural foundation set up to assist them, but also because there is a lack of coverage of the aftermath of the consequences of the drug trade on these women’s lives.

Question 8: How has drug addiction emerged in Northern Mexico and impacted its population in recent years?

          Following the implementation of NAFTA, drug addiction has further emerged in Northern Mexico due to the escalated flow of drugs through this area, as well as the increased local production of products that make them readily available to members of the community. (Muehlmann, 130) The number of meth users has greatly escalated since the introduction of the program. Rather than help efforts, “Prohibition has fueled the expansion of criminal networks and facilities such that there has never been greater availability of highly potent drugs in the United States or Mexico.” (Muehlmann, 131)

           For example, Muehlmann experiences Cruz trying to fulfill his addiction complex through legal means, as he goes to the store to purchase cigarettes. But when the store is closed, he can easily find more than five places to purchase methamphetamine with the same money, and there the impact of NAFTA on the legal economy shows its effect on the illicit, and where Muehlmann sees the true impact of the drug trade in its relation to government interdiction.

          In recent years, the drug addiction that has become prevalent in Northern Mexico has impacted the community in many ways, but unfortunately there are little to no means to help with the recovery from their addictions. Rehabilitation program facilities are a hub for the violence that comes from the drug trade, and are too financially costly to families who wish to send their loved ones for help as well. A large number of users are often incarcerated after charges of possession, only to find that drugs are readily available within these facilities as well. Muehlmann states that until Mexico and the United States change their approach to addiction and addicts there will be no change, “until there is such a restructuring of priorities of government investment in the problem of drug addiction, people like Cruz have very few options and no support for recovering from their addictions.” (Muehlmann, 133) Under this notion, until changes are made, the Northern Mexican population, as well as the population in the United States, will unfortunately continue to see the plight and downfall of the community.

Question 9: How is it riskier not to get involved in the drug trade?

        For most of the Mexican poor population, it is far riskier to not get involved in the drug trade whether it is for financial, social, or cultural reasons. Financially, there aren’t any jobs available that pay remotely as much as jobs associated with the drug trade. It is financially riskier to not get involved because these families cannot sustain themselves on income from legal means alone. It seems that the only way to find comfort in living and to escape poverty is to get involved with the drug trade, regardless of the possible violence or threat of incarceration associated with the narco-life.

        Socially and culturally, the Mexican heritage is built off of patronage and debt, for the members of this society, “risk is not simply weighed against financial gain. It’s also weighed against social debts – what you owe your children, your friends, your parents, and those who have helped you before.” (Muehlmann, 165)

        For example, Andrés got into the drug trade mainly to sustain his family because he wasn’t making enough money to do so through legal means. He felt a debt to his mother Paz, to take care of her and make her feel comfortable in whatever means necessary.

        For Paz, this idea of patronage and debt came when Andrés was in jail and his boss, El Gordo, came to have her keep packages under her watch. Paz was unable to say no, thinking that if she did so, it could cause conditions to worsen for Andrés within jail, and because she thought that if she did El Gordo a favor, he would help to ensure his safety within the facility and his early release.

        Lupita felt this social debt to Don Emmanuel after he offered to drive her 36 hours from Mexico City. She could not tell him no to helping him carrying large sums of money because she owed him for doing her the favor of driving her such a far distance back home.

        Muehlmann sums up the main reason why it is riskier to not get involved in the drug trade, “Ultimately they are already positioned in the drug trade regardless of whether they “choose” to take on the role of smuggling or stashing drugs.” (Muehlmann, 166) Whether they choose to or not, members of this community’s lives are directly intertwined with the drug trade, and it is far riskier to be blind to this involvement and not seek the benefits, rather than to participate and understand the calculated risk.

Question 10: Explain the author’s statement that the ‘war on drugs’ is really a war on the Mexican poor.

          Muehlmann states that the war on drugs is synonymous with the war on the Mexican poor because, “the social conditions that put people at risk of developing substance abuse problems are precisely the conditions that make them vulnerable to being drawn into direct involvement in the trade as small-time traffickers and mules.” (Muehlmann, 186) What Muehlmann relates is that the implementation of prohibition policies has moved violence further into these communities, and while the government tries to associate this violence with the drug trade, the lines of those who are “in” and “out” of the trade are quite blurred. Mostly without choice, the lives of the rural poor of Mexico are touched in one way or another by the drug trade.

           While lawmakers in the United States tend to place a behavioral blame, they fail to look at the economic and social consequences of the Mexican poor that their policies affect. What Muehlmann suggests is that the problems of the drug trade in the social, daily lives of the Mexican poor are amorphous with the economic and political issues occurring within the region, and that while lawmakers continue to disregard this fact, they will continue to exacerbate the violence and consequences of addiction that the Mexican poor face, and the desperation that they feel to which they see no alternative but to get involved in the drug trade.

Question 11: What are the author’s critiques of the ‘war on drugs’ and her premise that prohibition of drugs in the United States exacerbates drug trafficking and creates violence rather than the Mexican supply of drugs?

       Muehlmann argues that the United States is taking a “top-down strategy of enforcement,” attempting to cut off the supply of drugs to the United States rather than penalizing consumers. (Muehlmann, 111) What she suggests through her thesis is that supply cannot be blamed alone. Muehlmann states that the lens needs to be turned on the demand coming from the United States, for much of these organizations would no exist and the magnitude of the violence surrounding the drug trade would not have reached the tensions it has, without the pressure from the demand aspect of this economic exchange.

         Shaylih Muehlmann  suggests rather, that supply and demand exist on a continuum, that the larger the demand is, the more pressure there is for delivery for more potent and higher quality products at a faster and larger rate. She juxtaposes the open trade of goods that NAFTA supposedly was supposed to allow by stating that, “while Mexico exports the drugs and profits to the United States, the United States exports the guns, the bloodshed, and the blame to Mexico.” (Muehlmann, 175)

Important Characters:

Paz: Andrés’s mother, represents the gender dynamics of drug smuggling and the “invisible women” of the drug trade idea because she had to deal with the repercussions of Andrés’s involvement following his incarceration.

Andrés: Paz’s son who experienced the standard story of the narcotraficante. He rose to wealth from his poor socio-economic status after his involvement with the drug trade, but was arrested and incarcerated because of it. Even after his arrest, Andrés continues to glorify his trafficking days. He fell to the allure of the narco-life for financial stability, as well as the power and prestige that came with the title. Mainly though, his cultural necessity to care for his family was the driving factor behind his involvement. He struggled to re-assimilate following his time in prison because he found there was no way to fully rid his life of traces of the drug trafficking world. 

Don Emmanuel: Money launderer who utilizes the Mexican cultural ideals of patronage and debt to justify his work. He operates in both the global capital arena as well as under the traditional patronage culture. He believes he is “assisting women in the formal economy” by helping them open accounts for money laundering, and claims he is working under the best interest of his customers. Andrés begins working for Don Emmanuel but is naive in believing that this doesn’t incorporate him back in to the drug trade, since the money Don Emmanuel is laundering is for large drug organizations and cartels. 

Isabella: Andrés’s ex-girlfriend. She represents the role of the allured woman to the narco-life because she dreams of being a narcowife. She dreams of embodying the narcochic style, and values the ideas of Western capitalism. She also embodies behavioral and structural contradictions. Yes, Isabella makes some poor life choices, but she is also in a structural formation where she finds that living the narco-life and being a narcowife are her only means of finding financial security for her family and herself. To her, the lifestyle of the narcotrafficante and narcowife are made common sense because of this ideal, and therefore she symbolizes hegemony in the trend of globalization. 

Cruz: Represents the addiction complex, he was influenced and allured by the drug trade both culturally and economically but unfortunately succumbed to all the pressures that the trade entails. He represents the journey of addiction that much of the rural Mexican poor population experience in result of the drug trade. His addiction was fueled by capitalism, for it created the conditions that made his addiction possible.

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Anthropology Games 3: Globalization of Illicit Drugs - Heroin Surge in New York City

     On May 19, 2014, The New York Times published an article by J. David Goodman discussing the recent surge in heroin trade identified in New York City. Head of the Drug Enforcement Administration’s New York office, James J. Hunt described the reason for this rise by noting, “it’s cheap, it’s potent, and there’s a user demand here right now and so they’re flooding the market.” (Goodman) The article attempts to outline what is being done by detective and police task forces within New York, explaining the number of “arrests of users and dealers has shown steep increase in the amount of heroin taken off the street so far this year.” (Goodman) Goodman also attempts to examine the appeal to users that has caused rise in not only the number of participants, but the number of overdoses, stating, “for users in the city, that proximity to the distribution points means lower prices than in other areas of the country.” (Goodman)

     What Goodman tries to describe in the duration of his article is the process for which the drug trade is occurring. He explains that the drugs are being delivered by the truckload from north Mexico, decoyed as trucks transporting legal products such as produce, and delivering the drugs at each truck stop along the way. He details the Sinaloa cartel, as well as mentions other well known drug organizations, whom are capitalizing on the increase in demand, stating that this capitalization has continued to occur even after the arrests of well-known cartel leaders. Goodman incorporates the recent glorification of drugs and the drug industry with commentary from a recent raid, for which the bags of heroin found were stamped with the face of Heisenberg, the character from the show “Breaking Bad,” which features a high school science teacher who finds himself part of large scale production of crystal meth. Finally, he reports on recent arrests that have allowed for drug officials to get a better glimpse at the operations and production of these growing local drug businesses.

     Goodman is just brushing the surface of analysis when he describes the continuation of production and delivery by these organizations, even with their leaders out of commission. Focus cannot simply be targeted to the head honchos of these organizations, for the labor and delivery of these drugs follow a hierarchical structure of organization. All of the little and middle men, the mules who do the work and those who do the delivery, are taking orders from higher up, and may not even be aware of the whereabouts of the leader of the organization for which they are working for. These drug organizations have continued to be profitable in an essence described well by Goodman, “every pair of hands it [the heroin] goes through, you’re taking on money.” (Goodman)

     Where I disagree with Goodman’s approach comes from his tone of inference that the Mexican drug cartels are the only ones to blame. The surge and trend in heroin usage has continued because of the production and trade occurring within the US borders, and specifically within the border of New York. Goodman’s piece tends to place blame strictly on Mexico and the Mexican cartels, where there should be more reflection and discussion on the fact that the surge in demand on the East Coast has caused the need for production to move inside state lines. Where Goodman gives credit to law enforcement officials in their identification and capture of important drug organization leaders, as well as their accomplishments in the seizure of product before delivery, his writing should stress the lack of attention given to users to combat addiction, and lack of effort to stop the proliferation of these drugs at a local level. What Goodman also fails to note are the other factors that have contributed to the abundance of heroin demand in these areas.

     Describing these organizations as, “highly organized, high volume, and being moved much more efficiently and effectively to reach out to a broader user base,” special narcotics prosecutor Bridget G. Brennan summarizes the increase and growth of the supply in relation to the demand for the heroin product. (Goodman) What is important to note is that where demand is high, supply will always be, and this fact exists on a continuum. Rather than law enforcement cracking down remotely on the organizations, this crack down needs to be met with reforms for the little and middlemen, alternatives of money making for those who have participated in these organizations and more rehabilitation work done in the communities where heroin addiction has become prevalent.

     Goodman’s article serves as a good starting point to the discussion of the globalization of illicit drugs within the United States. Where there are gaps in his report about the other factors to the surge of heroin usage and dealing besides Mexican cartel activity, Goodman’s initial review of how the proliferation of drugs has occurred offers up the question of supply versus demand, and how to combat both. This article and the trend on the East Coast in heroin usage should serve as starting points for both law enforcement and the community to create reforms to begin to diminish the numbers of lives affected by this drug – both within Mexico, where according the Goodman the drugs stem from, and within the United States where numbers of users and abusers are at an all time high.

Goodman, J. David. "New York Is a Hub in a Surging Heroin Trade." The

       New York Times. New York Times Company, 19 May 2014. Web. 12

       Apr. 2015. <http://www.nytimes.com/2014/05/20/nyregion/new-york-

       is-a-hub-in-a-surging-heroin-trade.html?_r=0>.

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Towson University’s International Symposium Review - April 1, 2015 Presented by Chris Dixon

           Entitled “Another Politics: Talking Across Today’sTransformative Movements,” Towson University’s 2015 International Studies Symposium lecturer Chris Dixon’s presentation on April 1, 2015 was based upon the lessons, questions and challenges he found during his research projects of US and Canadian social movements.

           Dixon, a humble man who begins each of his presentations with a dedication to a certain activist groups, reiterated before he began that none of what he speaks of are his own thoughts alone, everything he discusses, and all ideas he presents, are influenced by the opinions of the activists he has interviewed and the movements he has come in contact with. Dixon believes that a social movement in its bare and most simplistic definition can be defined as, “a group of people figuring things out.” If to expand the definition to include complexities, Dixon believes successful social movements come from two places. The first, the combination of political interlocking systems, including the state, that produce inequality and violence and secondly, grassroots organizing of ordinary non-activist people.

           Dixon states that the political current of social movements has always been built upon historical lineages, for which he provides examples such as early fights of the colonies and abolitionist movements against slavery. Specifically, Dixon traces three political strands of the 1970’s to have held important influences from the past.

These three political strands include women of color feminism or anti-racist feminism, prison abolitionism, and anarchism. Chris Dixon points out that insight is drawn from insight, experiences of social movements of the past has developed current realizations including the importance of “intersectionality.” Dixon defines this as the need for, “taking into full account experiences of oppression – not based just on class, race, or sexuality, but at the intersection of how power operates in relation to them.”

           As he continued, Dixon pointed out four distinct principles that are consistent among people in this work, defining the combination of these perspectives to which he calls, “another politics”. The first shared belief comes from the idea of reorganization to encompass struggles against all forms of domination, exploitation, and oppression. Dixon states, “systems of power don’t just exist broadly, they exist interpersonally, and we have to change them at this level as well.” Next, Dixon believes the “another politic” agenda encompasses the idea of developing new social relations and forms of social organization in the process of struggle. Thirdly, all those wishing to further social movements have interest in linking struggles for improvements in the lives of ordinary people to long-term transformative visions. Lastly, Dixon believes all those who work, support and believe in social movements uphold the principle of organizing grassroots and bottoms-up movements, starting with the smaller or middle-man needs and gaining momentum to large-scale movements.

           The two defining things that Dixon stressed during his presentation were strategy and organization. Strategically, there must be a connection between concrete activity and change in the grand scheme. Not only is it important to enact change in the present, but also these social movements must form a plan to initiate a domino effect of long-lasting reform in the future. Organizationally, Dixon states that social movements, at their core are about bringing people together. Yet, they are so much more than that. To Dixon, organizing is, “bringing people together that link them in long term struggle and building their power.” Social movements are, “about developing relationships among people and building groups of people trying to come together to try and push for change in society.”

           Lastly, Chris Dixon identifies three lessons that have come from his experiences with organizers, and lessons he believe we need to take away in order to continue to develop better movement building in the future. He states an idea so simple in phrasing but what seems to be a struggle in practice; this idea being that how we treat each other really does matter. Currently, our day-to-day interactions are built upon rivalry and competition. Here, he suggests the idea that insight is built off of insight yet again. The more we change our behavior to include openness, generosity, and acceptance, the more that bonds will strengthen between different peoples. Dixon states poetically, “struggle can be a really humanizing experience,” and when people struggle collectively, the more united front there will be when facing an issue of social injustice. Chris Dixon also believes that experimentation is a crucial part of building an effective social movement. Organizers must think dynamically, they must “see movements as laboratories of existence” and believe that actions are experiments open to evaluation and discussion for adjustments for more effective change. Building a movement must be seen as a process – trying, learning, seeing the gaps and issues within the plan and eventually making adjustments to continue influence. Dixon ends these lessons with linking the “against-and-beyond”. To Dixon this means constructivism, building alternatives to put forward other ways of doing things.

           Chris Dixon closes with the rounding out of defining social movements. These organizers all across the world trying to change things in dynamic and innovative ways with hopes that people are able to connect through conversations cross-culturally. For Dixon, his hope for change and reform has been established through recent movements such as Black Lives Matter and in places like northern Syria fighting ISIS. Dixon ends his presentation by explaining that he believes in hope and has faith in the effectiveness of social movements, but under the pretense that it is on us to continue the conversation no matter the subject, and continue to sacrifice when necessary.

           Dixon’s International Symposium presentation was interesting and informative. Although he sees that change is possible, he offers suggestions to continue improvement, which shows that he believes there is still much to be done to create reform. His use of personal research details and experiences helped make the presentation relatable to his audience members.

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Cultural relativism

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Anthropology Games Assignment 2: Lust for Security or Looking for Love? Family Ties Ethnographic Film Review

     In the ethnographic film Family Ties, William Nicholson examines different kinship relations by comparing and contrasting kin systems such as polygamy in Kenya, extended family in Southern India, a clan family in Italy, and the revamped nuclear family in California. Nicholson presents the positive and negative aspects of each of these kinship organizations, based upon the opinions of those living within them, while relating seemingly different cultural practices of kinship back to one another. Along with the further examination of kin systems, Nicholson sheds light on gender roles and adds commentary of whether marriage is about economic benefit or love.

    Firstly, Nicholson observes a polygamous family in Kenya and speaks to George, the patriarch and husband, along with three of his four wives. They explain to him not only their lifestyle, but also how it adequately functions for their needs. Each of George’s wives and their children live in a separate home built on George’s land, and he transitions between the wives homes as he pleases.  In their community, Nicholson explains, “the men have the power because the men own the land and a polygamous system only really makes economic sense where the family lives off the land. The wives and their children grow the food, the husband earns the cash.” (Nicholson, 1986)

    Through his work with Adaro family, Nicholson unearths ideas about love, as well as reveals both a positive and negative to the economics behind polygamy. During his interaction with George’s wives, Nicholson found that many did not marry for love, but rather, for the economic benefit of a secure family organization. For the fourth and newest wife, Monica, marrying into the polygamous lifestyle was a, “matter of necessity.” (Nicholson, 1986) The wife talks about learning to love her husband due to the fact that “he is taking care of me and all expenses of me, of my children and I.” (Nicholson, 1986) While many outsiders see having to share love as a negative, practitioners of polygamy see it as a positive. The economic support of a stable man and family comes with the assurance that the children will be looked after and provided with care, given food, clothing, and shelter. However, there is also a downside to growing polygamous families. The more wives a husband takes on and the more children they produce, the more mouths they need to feed and the larger homes need to be. In other words, resources and financials are spread thinner over a growing family, and sharing of the expenses can cause woes in the kin relation.

    Next in his examination of kin, Nicholson spends time with an extended family in Southern India. This particular family, Nicholson explains, is wealthy enough to live in separate homes but decides to live together, under one roof, “because they like it.” (Nicholson, 1986) In the extended family kin system, finances of the family members are pooled and shared. The Kumar family follows the typical gender roles of this area of the world. The men of the family work outside the homes, each husband is self-employed and owns their own successful business, and the women care for the home responsibilities including the shared responsibility of raising the children. Through his fieldwork with the Kumar family, Nicholson explains the division of work inside the home to his viewers. The eldest of the women, he learns, are advice givers. The young girls are expected to help out, but aren’t given much responsibility. Therefore, the majority of the housework responsibility falls on the middle-aged women of the family.

    Members of the Kumar family tell Nicholson that sometimes living as an extended family gets to be strenuous both socially, and similarly to the Kenyan family, economically as well. Socially, members of the family discuss limited to no personal/private time available for husband and wife. While this may be true, the larger the family, the more people there are to interact with, which wife Beena says would be a tough loss if they were to split to be just a nuclear family. Although she states this, she offers that it would be worthwhile to do so due to the amount of pressure and stress she feels from her overwhelming workload of having to care for the children and the home. This stress is only further increased with the rising trend of the need for women to work outside of the household in addition to their homely duties. Here, Nicholson reflects on similarities between the extended family in southern India and the polygamous family in Kenya. The larger these families grow to be, the higher the demand for resources to accommodate everyone becomes. Therefore, just as in Kenya, there has been a recent trend of women having to go out and earn cash, in addition to what the men are bringing home, in order to provide for the growing family.

    Following his time in India, Nicholson moves on to conduct fieldwork in Catanzaro, Italy with the Lomona family, who are kin classified by clan organization. For this family, their clan lives on the same plot of land, but in separate apartment homes. The entire family splits the economic cost of the apartments and the family members rely on each other both for social and economic support. One of the family members states that the advantage to their kinship organization “is obviously the fact that you never feel totally alone.” (Nicholson, 1986) The Italian clan family, while their situation is seemingly opposite of that of the Kenyan family, is similar in that each portion of the family (each nuclear family) is regarded as a separate entity, but they relic in the social aspects of their intertwined relationships. Nicholson also makes connections so that the Italian family bores similarities to the southern Indian family in that they have similar social and economic benefits. Both types of kin work together to raise the children, and help each other when someone is in financial need.

    Finally, the last kin system that Nicholson observes in his fieldwork is that of a revamped nuclear family in California. This family is “revamped” because the typical nuclear family involves a mother, father, and their children. This definition however has been changed in recent years because of divorce and remarriage, with the bringing together of two “broken” nuclear families into one new one, a rising trend in the United States. The mother and father of the refurbished Gould family, Ron and Jennifer, speak of the hardships of forming a new family out of divorce can be. They speak of the grief, anger, and sometimes confusion that may have harmful affects on their children and their relationships with them. However, both of the Gould parents say that they weighed this sacrifice but that the undermining reason for their divorce, and the ultimate reorganization of their families, was in order to settle down with someone they truly loved. Nicholson relates this newly expanded definition of the nuclear family to include divorced families and relates them to the families he already studied by stating, “When divorced people with children remarry, the result is the creation of a new sort of clan, a kind of extended family, even a sort of polygamous family that brings into existence a new pattern of family ties.” (Nicholson, 1986)

    William Nicholson’s Family Ties has merit and is educational because he shows cultural relativism in his fieldwork by taking each culture and kin system at its own. Nicholson delivers an informational and educational ethnographic review of these cultures and their kin systems by offering underlying themes that connect them all, making the world seem not as large, and differing views and practices not seem so different, as many seem to assume they are. Rather than “othering” those who organize their kin differently, Nicholson adequately takes a relativistic view to relate all cultures and peoples through ideas such as marriage, love, family, and/or the idea of economic stability and comfort.

    One thing that could be critiqued in Nicholson’s media portrayal of this subject matter is that there isn’t much shown of his interaction with the families or their culture. Rather, Nicholson and his team take an interviewer and interviewee approach to much of the film. Audiences hear the interviewee prompted by an off camera interviewer who questions about their culture, kin organization, or belief system, and then get to hear and see their reaction and their response. This portrayal makes audience members infer about the interactions that Nicholson must have had with the family members off camera during his research, in order to conduct and conclude the findings that he did.

    William Nicholson was able to produce an informative, educational, and intriguing ethnographic film depicting marriage, love, and kinship. The underlying message he attempts to exemplify through his report on his fieldwork is the idea that for all types of families, “it begins with the desire for some sort of private life as a couple. It ends with the unraveling of all knows, all ties for the sake of love.” (Nicholson, 1986) Whether it be for love, lust, or security, the sanctity of marriage and the importance of family, through his film Family Ties Nicholson reiterates to his audience members that these symbols can be found cross culturally and are themes that relate all peoples, even of differing practice or beliefs, around the world.

Citation: Nicholson, W. (Producer). (1986). Family Ties [Video file]. British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC). Retrieved March 23, 2015, from VAST: Academic Video Online. 

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Anthropology Games Assignment 1: Human/Sex Trafficking Global Problem (As seen through a Local Lens)

Foam (in the form of fingers and/or beer), franks and fans – the perfect combination of symbols to represent an American cultural pastime: The Super Bowl. Recently, law enforcement agencies are recognizing that large sporting events, such as this one, draw a diverse crowd of people that cause trouble far beyond tiffs over whose team is better. Instead, these events are doubling as symbols for a larger world problem– human trafficking.

Human trafficking is defined by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime as, “the recruitment, transportation, transfer, harbouring or receipt of persons, by means of the threat or use of force or other forms of coercion, of abduction, of fraud, of deception, of the abuse of power or of a position of vulnerability or of the giving or receiving of payments or benefits to achieve the consent of a person having control over another person, for the purpose of exploitation.” (unodc.org) Human and sex trafficking is a non-discriminatory crime. Those of all races, genders, sexual orientations and ages are susceptible to being victims of human or sex trafficking, and this is one of the many reasons as to why these heinous crimes should be a concern of all people. To say that human and sex trafficking is a “neighborhood crime” may be an exaggeration, but it is a constant issue on the local, state, national, and global levels, although it often goes undetected because of the nature of the crimes. In 2012, The Polaris Project, “a non-profit organization that works to combat human trafficking received 20,652 calls reporting trafficking to its hotline” alone. (Zezima)

The uprising trend of reported human and sex trafficking offenses has recently come to public attention with one of the largest arenas for these crimes surrounding times of large sporting events, and ranking as one of the largest offenders, the Super Bowl. Republican Christopher H. Smith of New Jersey, chairman of the House anti-human trafficking caucus, was quoted in the Washington Post stating, “One Super Bowl after another after another has shown itself to be one of the largest events in the world where the cruelty of human trafficking goes on for several weeks.” (Zezima)

It can be theorized that the spike in human trafficking and prostitution in the weeks surrounding these sporting events, before and after, include but are not limited to – the influx of tourists, who don’t know where else to look for alternative entertainment in an unfamiliar place, the increase in alcohol consumption, and therefore, potentially lowered inhibitions or awareness of potential dangers and threats to ones safety, or simply the sheer multitude of people in one place at one time that allows for optimal unnoticed crime.           

There is often an ethnocentric, “us versus them” mentality when hearing the terms “sex and human trafficking.” There are many who believe that this problem cannot, or is not, occurring within the United States. What many don’t associate with these terms is the cultural hybridization of them; myself included, to what is known in the United States as a much less heinous crime, prostitution. Not only is it important to make public the issue of human and sex trafficking, but also to convey the magnitude to which it exists on all levels – locally, nationally and globally.

Unfortunately, at the national and global level, the issues of human and sex trafficking are far from being solved. However, at the local level, New Jersey, home to this year’s Super Bowl, attempted to combat some of these possibilities by implementing a plan of education and awareness on red flags of trafficking for all businesses and peoples associated with the event. These signs included, “look[ing] for women who may not be in control, who look frightened and may exhibit signs of physical abuse. Victims are often runaways, the impoverished, abuse victims or those living in the country illegally.” (Zezima) At all levels, heightening awareness of the extent of human and sex trafficking and increasing education on indication signs of a trafficking victim are extremely crucial, as is the work of law enforcement agencies to crack down on those who are associated with the trafficking rings. An increase in law enforcement presence in the areas, stricter security checkpoints on highways and roads in and out of the transformed cultural areas where the large sporting event occurs, and putting a concentration of detectives and undercover cops in more susceptible places where the trafficking and prostitution has been recorded in the past to take place could all be helpful in deterring this issue.

While the issues of human and sex trafficking cannot, and will not, be resolved over night, the continued research on why they seem to occur closer to large sporting events, as well as the continued work to raise awareness on human and sex trafficking and combatting of these crimes are the first steps to finding a much needed solution.

To find out more about human trafficking visit: http://www.unodc.org/unodc/en/human-trafficking/what-is-human-trafficking.html

http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/nj-works-to-curb-sex-trafficking-before-super-bowl/2014/01/23/53208444-7703-11e3-8963-b4b654bcc9b2_story.html