2007 Annual Student Conference Abstracts
Panel 1 - Global Im/moral Economies
Andrea Swartz (Wellesley) "The Transnational Kidney: From My Father to Me"
Abstract: This is a transnational study of dialysis that looks at how patients negotiate their health within a regulated medical cosmology. In a global system that is simultaneously medical, economic and political, tracing the historical production, uses and meanings of dialysis technology and transplantation reveals how the patient’s body is a contested site of personhood even on a molecular level. The careful management of the chemical composition of the patient’s blood necessitates a ritualized procedure which links the patient’s body to a life-sustaining machine. Technology reconstitutes the symbolism of blood and further reconceptualizes the self as cyborg. How patients employ bricolage to recast the dominant medical cosmology with a folk taxonomy expresses the tensions concerning their health and personhood. This research moves away from the notion of the passive body and towards understanding how patients negotiate the boundaries of their own bodies, and use their bodies, or body parts, as materials of exchange and technologies of power. Kidney transplantation is a contested transnational issue because the body and its parts are materials that can pass between different cultural and legal systems of meaning and challenge accepted notions of exchange. The debates and controversies over transplantation are a microcosm of the tensions between medical cosmology and a patient’s agency. The implications of this study are important not only in understanding the health care system of the United States, but also in the context of a growing global population of people with kidney failure.
Jodi Lasseter (Clark) "Another World Without Feminism?"
Abstract: The prefigurative politics of "Global Justice Movements" require radically democratic processes in order to attain the goal of shaping a more just world. Therefore, evidence of marginalization and exclusion of subaltern groups within these movements raises important questions about the limitations of post-modern dialogic spaces as the basis for universal liberation from oppression. In this paper I will employ ethnographic accounts from women within the Zapatista movement and the emergent US Social Forum to explore the implications of different kinds of marginalization and feminist attempts to address it. Specifically, I will use the lens of transnational feminism to highlight the linkages between the struggles of women within both movements and to consider the benefits and drawbacks of gender-based approaches.
Caitlin Felsman (Tufts) "Seeing Red: Locating Value in a System of Moralized Consumerism "
Abstract: In a world where consumerism reigns, we rarely take the time to stop and examine the implications of exchange and value within society. On television, in magazines and across internet pages we are bombarded with images of objects that promise to make life easier and more enjoyable. Recently, however, these objects have received a makeover of sorts, becoming attached to social causes. This is part of a brand new business model designed by individuals known as “Philanthropreurs”, motivated to benefit the greater social good, while still making a profit. A recent campaign of this nature, Product Red, is designed to engage big business to raise awareness and funds for programming that addresses the African HIV/AIDS pandemic. This process of moralizing capitalist exchange has enormous social implications. What kinds of consequences arise when social causes become associated with fashion trends? In this paper I seek to explore the complex social relationships that exist within this amalgamation of capitalist consumerism and philanthropy, locate the place of value within this commodity exchange, and critique the problematic social structure that it reinforces. Engaging the work of Marcel Mauss and Karl Marx, as well as their contemporaries James Boon, Arjun Appadurai and David Graeber I examine different theories of value and the cultures that are built around commodities in theses systems of exchange. By placing Product Red within a larger social totality, I hope to unveil the latent power structure that reinforces systems of inequality, alienation and injustice, and provide a missing social commentary on this new business practice.
Panel 2 - Work Ethics: Labor, Freedom, and Alienation
Sara Withers (Brandeis) "Queens, Goddesses, and Working Women: Mother's Day Experiences in Oaxaca, Mexico"
Abstract: Arrive at any school on the morning of May 10th in Oaxaca, Mexico, and you will hear lovingly hand-crafted poems and songs, see elaborately costumed children performing regional dances, and be offered cups of steaming coffee and trays of fresh pastries. To a child, almost all of their mothers attend these Mother’s Day festivities to be celebrated as the most influential factor in their children’s lives, and to hear how being a mother is the most important role for women. Emotions run high, and it is not unusual to see tears shed. What is less likely to be seen in public, however, are the tears of the female teachers who are missing their own children’s performances because they are working that morning. These teachers—caught in the middle of responsibilities to work and home—personify the constraints and contradictions that arise from filling dual roles as professional women and mothers. How do the images of mothers and motherhood valorized in public contexts such as Mother’s Day performances relate to the realities of everyday life for these middle-class working mothers? How do these women justify their careers and the practical impossibility of living up to idealized images of women to themselves and their families? In addressing these questions, this paper explores the ways in which a newly emerging group of professional middle-class men and women in Oaxaca juggle competing gendered guidelines surrounding notions of work, care, and how to be a good husband or wife, father or mother, man or woman. The study of gendered roles in Oaxaca—a place that exists at a crossroads of cultural and moral ideologies such as machismo, Catholic Church teachings, Mexican ideals about the central role of the family, as well as images and life-styles offered up by the media and tourism—also resonates cross-culturally, and contributes to the study of gendered relations in North America by showcasing alternatives to increasingly world-wide concerns about family and work.
Anna Goldstein (Wellesley) "Beyond the Latte: The Culture of Exchange at Starbucks"
Abstract: There are over 11,000 Starbucks Coffeehouses in the world at this moment in thirty-seven countries across the globe. Starbucks Coffee Company was founded in Seattle’s Pike’s Place Market as a small retailer of whole-bean coffees in 1971. Today, Starbucks is the world’s leading retailer, roaster, and brand of specialty coffee and a company the prides itself in Italian luxury, everyday convenience, and a passion for coffee—an identity collectively referred to as the “Starbucks Experience.” The focus of this study examines the exchange that takes place in a Starbucks coffeehouse. Exchange clearly exists in each coffeehouse as it is a place of commerce, but exchange goes beyond coffee and profit. The cup of coffee is obvious, but as with any item of exchange there exist underlying social meanings. The exchange over the Starbucks counter involves more than a simple cup of coffee, or even a double tall non-fat latte, the exchange that takes place in a Starbucks coffeehouse involves the exchange of the “Starbucks Experience.” This paper seeks to determine the many aspects of the so called “Starbucks Experience.”
Tanya Palit (Clark) "Sex Work and Social Change: Durbar Mahila Samanwaya Committee of Kolkata, India"
Abstract: Durbar Mahila Samanwaya Committee, or simply “Durbar,” is the largest and most widely influential grassroots organization for sex workers’ rights in India. The organization began as a government-sponsored HIV/AIDS intervention in 1992 and has since spiraled into a highly visible social movement run by sex workers themselves. Based in the city of Kolkata, Durbar has mobilized over 60,000 sex workers across the state of West Bengal to demand social, political, and economic rights from the government and raise social consciousness among the Indian public. Unlike other organizations that target women in prostitution, Durbar challenges the fundamental social structures that oppress and marginalize sex workers, sexual minorities and all women. The organization rejects the moralizing notion of a sex worker as a “fallen woman” and the simplistic idea that all sex workers are trafficked or coerced. For this reason, Durbar’s approach can be considered truly radical rather than reformative. While Durbar actively resists the presence of underage and non-consenting adults in the brothels, the focus of the organization is on creating space for and protecting the rights of those women and men who legitimately choose to do sex work. In this paper, I will explore the kinds of strategies and social theorizing the sex workers of Durbar have employed in an effort to better their own quality of life and transform society. This serves as a useful analytical entry point into understanding how grassroots social movements, especially those of the poor and marginalized, are often powerful vehicles of social change.
Panel 3 - Mis/recognition and the Paradoxes of Community
Casey Miller (Brandeis) "An Ethnographic Investigation into the Effects of the Internet on the Development of Gay East Asian Communities, Cultures, and Identities"
Abstract: The importance of how the Internet is being employed by gay East Asian individuals to create community, identity, and self-awareness is garnering increasing academic attention. This paper, adapted from a recent master?s thesis, presents an ethnography of one important gay East Asian online community. It also participates in ongoing discussions taking place in the theory and literature regarding identity and sexuality construction; globalization and questions of cultural transmission and production; the Internet and computer-mediated communication; and the relationships that exist between these phenomena. The study incorporates ethnographic data gathered for over a year in English and Chinese, including participant-observation, personal communications with over 100 informants, and a formal survey questionnaire. Historical perspective, in addition to observations from fieldwork conducted at gay bars in Beijing, is also utilized to ground the ethnography in some of the specific offline political and social environments in which gay East Asians live. Conclusions reached by previous related studies are reexamined in the light of new forms of Internet-user interaction and changes in online and offline community structures. The result is an in-depth look at the complex ways that new technologies are enabling the formation of gay East Asian communities, cultures, and identities both on and off the Internet. This paper gives a detailed description of how the discursive and dialogic nature of the Internet is making possible the large-scale collaborative formation of pan-East Asian gay communities, identities, and cultures. New forms of online community are not only empowering some gay East Asians to transform their own sexual identities, but are also assisting in the construction of localized and culturally-specific online and offline gay cultures and communities which have the potential to significantly improve the lives of all gay East Asian individuals.
Hana Akselrod (Brandeis) "Doctors Across Borders: Identity and Practice in Russian Boston"
Abstract: During the last decades of the 20th century, thousands of physicians from Russia and the former Soviet Union emigrated to the United States. They came carrying hopes for a secure future in a society free from oppression, as well as hopes of becoming re-established as professionals – as doctors – in this new society. I set out to interview doctors of Russian origin and training about their immigration experiences; what I heard in the course of my project were poignant stories of the struggle to reconstruct personal and professional identities, penetrating to the core of both the immigrant experience the medical encounter. The first part of my study explores how a complex identity is configured in an émigré community: what (often conflicting) sets of institutional and cultural guidelines are involved, and what role is played by professional affinities. The variables of age, gender, ethnicity, social status, and specialization, are analyzed as factors in integration into the American medical community. The second aspect of the study addresses the role of immigrant doctors as “cultural brokers” in today’s world, with implications for pluralism and social justice. The two sides of what used to be the Iron Curtain were separated by ideology and history; yet both shared a fervently stated commitment to the Western scientific tradition, and to the biomedical outlook on human health. By taking a close look at the adjustments made by former Russian doctors to life and practice in the United States, therefore, I set out to unravel the role of the unstated in the medical encounter. How do implicit expectations about the role of the patient and the doctor, and of the social structures around them, define their interactions? How do cultural assumptions about the body and its place in the world – figuratively as well as literally, in the case of the displaced and the diaspora – affect the definition of health and the experience of illness? The insights of the Russian medical practitioners of Greater Boston make for a fascinating dissection of human identity and healing in the modern multicultural city.
Cody B. Wheeland (Olin) "'Integrity Anyone?': How a Public Blog Changed a Small Community"
Abstract: In October 2006, an influential programmer visited the small campus of Olin College, and wrote an uncomplimentary review of the school on his blog. This act sparked a flurry of discussion and arguments within the Olin community and the wider Internet community. This event provides a backdrop for an analysis of the impact of the context of various forums and communities on ensuing discussions. I discuss how anonymity and access affected the topics and styles of posts, as well as how the particular characteristics of this community affected the form of the discussion that followed. Context is an integral part of understanding an event. Significant portions of this paper are devoted to providing a context for the interactions that occurred, in order to provide the requisite "thick description." For instance, if this exchange had taken place in regard to a large established school, the ways the community interpreted it would have been much different. The blogger's attempts at pseudonyms would have been more effective in concealing identities, and the blog posting would have had less effect on the reputation of the school and certainly would have had less effect on the student body. For this reason, an understanding of the Olin culture is vital to the understanding of this blog post and its repercussions.
Panel 4 - Borderline Citizens
Allison Taylor (Brandeis) "Seeking Asylum: Power, Resistance, Assistance"
Abstract: This paper will address the experiences of asylum-seekers as recipients of social services in the U.S. After surviving trauma in their homelands and (often violent) separation from family, community, and nation, asylum-seekers often arrive in this country alone. For these reasons, they interact with and receive assistance from a large network of medical, legal, and social service providers. Through fieldwork with a small refugee service agency, called Church Assistance to Refugees or “CAR” (a pseudonym), I explore the parallel narratives of asylum-seekers and those providing this assistance. Asylee informants migrated from central and eastern Africa and sought protection in the U.S. from danger and/or persecution in their home countries. Those providing the assistance included case managers, some of whom were refugees themselves, and volunteers, all of whom were white, middle-class, American women. Others have highlighted the power inherent in helping relationships, and the vulnerability of asylum-seekers makes them potentially subject to these dynamics. What makes asylum-seekers particularly vulnerable is not only their lack of social capital, but especially their precarious position with respect to the law. There is no government assistance to asylum-seekers, they are unable to work legally for some time, and state-funded agencies are limited in their ability to help. So by accepting the help of organizations like CAR, they may be submitting to a relationship of dependency, but there is often little else available to them. Within this system, asylum-seekers may need to prove their worthiness, not only to lawyers and judges, but also to representatives of refugee agencies like CAR. They must portray themselves as vulnerable and even dependent, but at the same time possessing potential to thrive independently once granted asylum. This complex dance of self-presentation by asylum-seekers and evaluation by others reveals dynamics of power and resistance among the various players. Through participant observation and interviews with asylum-seekers, social service workers, volunteers, and others, I will show how power is key to how refugees and their helpers talk about the process of adjusting to life in the U.S. and how the helping relationship is constructed.
Diego Villalobos (Tufts) "Latino Political and Civic Engagement in Somerville: Immigrant Involvement in Local Politics"
Abstract: Much of contemporary U.S. political discourse focuses on “the Latino community”, concentrating on immigration reforms, border security, and minority electoral power. Diverse civil rights movements (i.e., African American, Asian, Latino) have stressed the importance of minority political representation as a way of improving the socio-economic situation of these ethnic/race/nationality-based communities. While there has been significant national attention given to these historic changes, there is still a great need to understand the dynamics of political participation and leadership at the local level. In this presentation I will discuss the pitfalls and potential of Latino participation in local Somerville politics. According to the 2000 census, 29% of Somerville’s population is foreign born. Somerville’s Latino/a American community is 25 years old, and yet no Latino has held an elected position in local government. Since September 2006 I have conducted interviews with Somerville government officials, residents, and Latino leaders. My ongoing research focuses on the structural factors preventing Latinos/as from effectively engaging in local political institutions. Preliminary findings indicate that while there is a strong desire among Latinos to engage politically, the obstacles – communication, trust, access, socioeconomics, lack of continuous organizational leadership, and an immigrant’s status – greatly challenges their motivation, leading to disengagement. While the oral histories of interviewed participants teach us much about the numerous ways in which Somerville City government fails to build trust and create “citizen/stakeholder buy-in,” their greatest value is in uncovering the as of yet unexplored methods for creating solidarity across diverse, and currently silenced, groups within this community.
Amanda Carlson (Wellesley) "Learning, then Living: Citizenship"
Abstract: This project concerns the impact of the United States naturalization process on migrant understandings of personhood. In the Post 9-11 political climate, much of the current debate over immigration is framed around undocumented immigration and border security; this project takes an alternative approach by investigating an often-overlooked area of immigration —the identity of legal permanent residents who wish to secure their status through naturalization. This project rests on the foundations of scholarly literature focusing on personhood, citizenship, and transnationalism, but ultimately seeks to set forth a new model of citizenship as observed through my own fieldwork in the Boston area. Research for this project is being conducted through fieldwork with a grassroots organization, Centro Presente, in conjunction with their Citizenship and Naturalization Project, and involves direct contact with legal permanent residents who are involved in advocacy, outreach, and adult education programs.
Poster Session
James Canales (Tufts) "My Work, My Cultura"
Abstract: My work comes from the realization that I am not alone in the creation process. The work represents my family, my friends, my cultura, San Antonio, Falfurrias, Texas, and me. The images are representations of what I have seen, thought, heard, believed, experienced and felt. My paintings have, therefore, become a part of my being. For me my work acts as a link back home, back to San Anto. It is through this separation that I believe I have made my best work. Although I have done some good pieces in San Antonio where I am “in it”, I have learned that sometimes it is best to step outside that environment and work somewhere completely different. This ability to be outside the community and still do work based on it gives me the opportunity to really think about the subject matter, the beliefs, the colors, the characters, and the places. In this paper I will analyze five of my most recent paintings using Maxine Baca Zinn’s idea of an “insider’s perspective” (1995: 180). With this as my major theme I will create an anthropologic autobiography. This research, although very personal, would represent a young male painter from south Texas who is also a third-generation Mexican-American brought up in a middle class family. Incorporating concepts drawn from visual anthropology, I present images of my work and apply them to anthropological writings that have similar concepts and themes pertaining to my paintings. This paper and presentation will in turn become a study on how Latino artists see themselves, their community, their country and their world. It will also depict how these artists have become the most modern and purest anthropologists using symbols, metaphors, images, and colors from present popular culture to make art works that not only represent him or her, but their culture as well. This work draws on the ethnographic and theoretical works of Rina Benmayor (2001), Ana Castillo (1991), Karen Mary Davalos (1996), Elisa Facio, Kevin Johnson (1997), Vilma Ortiz (1996), Vicki Ruiz (1993), María de los Angeles Torres (1998), Erika Aignor Varoz (1993), Carlos Vélez-Ibáñez (1994), Patricia Zavella (1994), and Maxine Baca Zinn (1995).
Rachana Agarwal (Brandeis) "Symbolic “Capitol”: A Postcolonial Interpretation of the New Olbiil Era Kelulau Complex in the Republic of Palau"
Abstract: Marking the twelfth year of Palauan independence on October 1st 2006 , the relocated Capitol Complex, which houses the Olbiil Era Kelulau (Palau National Congress) in the state of Melekeok, stands, ironically, as testimony to the continuing relation this young Pacific island nation-state has with its former “administrative guardian”, the United States of America. The architectural design of this new complex, which bears an unmistakable resemblance to the American Capitol building complete with a towering white dome and supporting columns, poses a stark contrast to the traditional Palauan abai, the meeting house of the chiefs. In keeping with the characteristic postcolonial condition, the new Capitol building embodies the quality of ambivalence that the prominent postcolonial theorist, Homi Bhabha (1984), propounds in his discourse on mimicry. On one hand, the architectural design of the new Capitol building is touted as a symbol of democracy, a form of “symbolic capital” in Bourdieu’s sense of the phrase, to gain recognition amidst a global community. On the other hand, it subverts the original intention to reclaim Palauan sovereignty by relocating the Capitol, thus transferring power from Koror, the previous capital and significantly the site of colonial administration, to its “traditional rival”, Melekeok. In this paper I draw on my preliminary research and interviews that I conducted in the summer of 2006 to demonstrate how this ambivalence is borne out in the varied, and at times distinctly opposed, reactions to this new edifice. The immense publicity that the relocation ceremony received evidenced through its conspicuous representation in Palauan newspapers may be interpreted as the announcement of the new Capitol as a novel symbol of a nascent national identity. In the same vein as Aijaz Ahmad (1995), I critically examine how power relations complicate the issue of self-representation that inevitably arises in the formation of such a national identity, especially in the context of an emerging nation-state such as the Republic of Palau.
Anne Blackstock-Bernstein (Brandeis) "Power Games: How College Males Use Video Games to Enhance their Masculine Image"
Abstract: Video games are a staple of dorm life, and they serve a vital role in establishing and strengthening relationships among male college students. Based on several months of participant observation at Brandeis University, I found that video games help male students establish their masculinity and validate themselves in front of their peers. The competition that these games require serves as a way of negotiating power among the males who are playing. The games help to create a hierarchy of talent, in which each player achieves a certain status based on his ability. Each student establishes a reputation, and has to be able to maintain his level of skill in order to gain the right to play. Many students seek to hide any weaknesses in their ability by blaming their mistakes on the game itself. Essentially, a student’s level of video game expertise has become a measure of his masculinity. A distinct gender boundary dictates who may play and who may not. Male students make a point of excluding females from playing their games, distinguishing themselves from females by engaging in a “male-only” pastime. The players also affirm their solidarity by joking with and insulting one another. They are strengthening their relationships by testing and establishing the boundaries of their friendships, and jockeying for a position in the hierarchy of masculinity. This paper seeks to explore the masculine power dynamics of video games and their impact on social interactions in dormitories.
Sarah Newton (Tufts) "'The Role of Symbols in the Development of a National Identity in post-Soviet Kazakhstan"
Abstract: Kazakhstan, a land once ruled by nomadic kingdoms and traversed by traders following the Silk Road, became an independent nation for the first time in its history following the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991. Defined by borders arbitrarily drawn by Stalin, this new nation faced a formidable challenge in establishing a national identity. The ethnic makeup of the Republic of Kazakhstan was, at the time of independence, almost equally Russian as it was Kazakh. The question for Kazakhstan was how to heave off the throes of a Soviet legacy and develop a distinct national identity. The driving force behind the development of a new identity for Kazakhstan was almost entirely perpetuated by the current president, Nursultan Nazarbayev. Choosing the route of pursuing a Kazakh (as opposed to a Kazakhstani) identity he has institutionalized ancient Kazakh myths and traditions as national symbols of the country. Some of the most visible manifestations of these efforts include the national flag, the newly built capital city of Astana, and the national emblem. The nomadic tradition of “hawking” and traditional ornamentation designs of Kazakhs are examples of traditional symbols enshrined as new national symbols. Nazarbayev has drawn on national archeological treasures, nomadic traditions and ancient Kazakh myths to provoke nationalist sentiment among ethnic Kazakhs. This is of particular interest as ethnic Russians have been emigrating back to Russia over the last decade leaving Kazakhs as the majority ethnic group in Kazakhstan for the first time in their history. I will analyze the importance and role of developing and institutionalizing national symbols in the formation of a new state’s identity using the Republic of Kazakhstan as a case study. This analysis will incorporate theoretical approaches to the role of symbols in statehood with application of this practice in Kazakhstan.
Anna Jaysane-Darr, Rose Beatriz Stimson, Ieva Jusionyte, Olajide Olagunju (Brandeis) "Leave the Bones and Catch the Land': Development and Implications of Interactive Ethnography"
Abstract: How do we reproduce and represent the art of a refugee population online without decontextualizing the work and further exploiting the artists? What are our responsibilities as caretakers of a body of artworks that are also artifacts of a specific cultural heritage? This paper will examine the website Leave the Bones and Catch the Land as an example of interactive ethnography, where the paintings of Southern Sudanese refugees tell the story of the extraordinary collective experience of thousands of boys and girls during the Second Civil War in Sudan. With reference to scholarly literature on exhibition practices and virtual representation, we will analyze the development process, the content and presentation of the website itself, and its success as an interactive site. In partnership with the Sudan Education Fund and in affiliation with the Southern Sudanese Cultural Documentation Center at Brandeis, Mark Auslander’s Museums and Public Memory class curated two exhibitions of paintings by Southern Sudanese refugees in Kakuma in Kenya in a process of community-engaged learning. As we worked with members of the local Southern Sudanese community, we began to develop an activist anthropological approach and endeavored to integrate Southern Sudanese voices into the exhibition space. We were part of the team that developed the website, a space where a virtual exhibition, comprehensive history, forum for comments and dialogue, and suggestions for participation and activism would come together to form an online destination for the Southern Sudanese diaspora and the community at large.
