Healthy Skepticism

One of the most important things I've learned over the years is how to be a skeptic. Of everything. Personally, I think it comes from spending the majority of my high school years watching Daria, but regardless of origin, it's definitely something that comes in handy from time to time. There are a lot of things people don't think to question. And I don't mean that in a weird, condescending, "people are sheep!!" kind of way, but there are just some things that we are often taught to rely on as objective fact. This includes science and textbooks.

Which, the problem is that science-- as far as I know, anyway-- is done by people. Textbooks are most likely written by people. And all people have biases that they can unconsciously imbue into their work, which many of us then accept as fact without question. For example, you may have heard of doctors diagnosing women who demonstrated certain traits-- usually those regarded as "unfeminine"-- with a variety of mental illnesses (the most infamous of these being hysteria). The "rest cure" (domestic work, among other things) was often prescribed as treatment, with disastrous results. Or, there's also an extensive history of scientific racism. Or the fact that the DSM, the bible of psychiatry, listed homosexuality as a mental illness for decades.

The majority of these examples happened in the past, but unfortunately there's still many traces of those beliefs because they were thought of as fact for literal centuries.

I bring this up mainly because my archaeology textbook is a fantastic example of this. Archaeology is technically an anthropology class-- and in my cultural anthro class, one of the most significant things we learned is the sociocultural implications of being an anthropologist. The idea is, when studying other cultures, to rid yourself of ethnocentric views. Otherwise you end up with incredibly biased observations and that can lead to the misrepresentation of an entire culture. For example: as a result of bias, the roles of women in different cultures have rarely been studied in anthropology. We know NOTHING about them!

So, on to my archaeology textbook. The author talks about the history of archaeology-- which for a while involves a lot of treasure hunting, tomb raiding (and not the video game kind), outright stealing, etc.-- with a tone of glowing nostalgia, and uses a lot of euphemisms and weird justifications for violent European imperialism. Which, alright then. And then he goes on to talk about the subdivisions of archaeological theory and expresses a lot of distaste for the archaeologists who focus their research on, well, those who historically haven't been researched (such as women, ethnic minorities, those who live in what we define as developing countries, etc.).

And I mean, when you think about it, how often do you hear about people who belong to those groups in lessons? They all existed at probably any given point in human history, but in retrospect, it's pretty rare that we ever learned about them.

The author discredits that subdivision as some sort of radical sect of archaeology, something that shouldn't be taken seriously, and my problem with it isn't necessarily that he thinks that, but that this is assigned reading for a large class of students-- many of whom are women and/or ethnic minorities, and who may have families that came from developing countries-- who have been taught to regard this as solid fact. The implication of the author's statements is that there are people who aren't worth studying, who don't deserve a place in history, and I worry that some students may internalize that message as an objective truth.

In case that sounds like an extreme statement, I'll try to put it in perspective: were I an archaeologist, I actually would love to investigate women's roles in history and in different cultures-- partially because I am a woman, and I've never been taught much about them outside of typical domestic (or, like I mentioned, clinically insane) roles. But to be told that my interest in those things is radical/not worth researching/etc. can be more than a little discouraging. And that's as someone who has become very aware that not every word in a textbook is an undeniable fact.

tl;dr I get kind of passionate about bias, and textbooks can be pretty weird about things sometimes.

Stay skeptical,
Caitlin.

Oops

Today I felt so stupid. This semester I'm taking physical anthropology. I walked into class today and everything seemed normal. The professor had not arrived, but it did not seem odd because that happens sometimes.

After about 10 minutes a man with a beard walked in the room and started teaching. At this point I was very confused because i had never heard of a middle aged woman (my anthropology professors previous appearance) turning into a 60 something year old bearded man. 

I knew I had made a mistake when every student pulled out their CULTURAL anthropology book. I realized I was in the wrong class. I packed up my things and left without saying a word to anyone. I went to the library and found out that my class was earlier that day and I had missed it.

Anyways the point is, you have to be sure  that you know when your classes are. I'm not too disappointed or worried because I emailed my professor and told her about my ordeal. Hopefully it works out ok.

Gently tender falls the rain washing clean the slate again

Liam

Decide on a path

I feel I am at a crossroads. I want to decide on a path, but I'm unsure where to start.

Your first step is to find out who you are. You're not going to get anywhere until you know who you are. Self-knowledge is the start. What makes you passionate, and feel alive? What are the things that you love and that fulfill you? Once you have figured that out, you'll be able to begin to outline what your path might look like, ideally.

There are many ways to learn about who you are, but it takes a fair amount of self-exploring. You need to go deep into yourself, if you've never done that before. Go past all the labels and expectations people and society puts on us -- go deeper than that. Journaling is one way people have used that can be very effective as a means to learn about oneself. It’s often very surprising what comes out when we journal, honestly and uninhibitedly. Meditation is an excellent means of exploring one’s inner realms. If needed, professional counseling might be called for. But that’s the fundamental, essential step -- discover what you are, at your core. What are the fires that burn in you? Get clear on that, and shaping your energies to a specific path will be the next step. But nothing can go forward until you first learn who you are.

Here’s a good exercise to start you off: What did you most love doing when you were a kid?

☺

Peace,

Dave Roel.

Only to the extent that we expose ourselves over and over to annihilation can that which is indestructible in us be found.

- Pema Chodron

Conscious Traveling

I learned quite a lot from my vacations over winter break. In the case of the Dominican Republic, I saw a lot of things that I've read about or learned in previous history and urban planning classes put into practice.

I think it's incredibly important to travel if you can afford to, for a multitude of reasons. It's somewhat more important, though, to consider what your money is going to when you do travel. I think I mentioned this in my post on Ender's Game (and if I didn't-- just pretend, shh), but when you put your money towards something-- a company, a book, a hotel, a film studio, or really anything else-- you are choosing to support it and whatever goes into it, whether or not you're conscious of or even okay with that. For this reason, where you stay during your travels can matter quite a bit.

Hotels in general seem to have a reputation for underpaying and overworking their staff. This is something to keep in mind and investigate regardless of where you go. Sometimes it can't be helped-- but it's just something to be aware of. However, it's especially important to be mindful of where you choose to stay in developing countries. Many countries have an economy based primarily on tourism-- this isn't necessarily a bad thing as it definitely does create jobs, except that:

a) many hotels are foreign-owned and therefore primarily benefit the foreign owners,
b) native residents of the country trying to find a job often have no choice but to work in tourism, which brings me back to the whole hotels have a reputation for underpaying/overworking their staff thing,
c) hotels drive property values up, and if native residents are working in the tourism industry for little pay, they often can't those higher property values,
d) tourism has a tendency to promote an appropriation/distortion of that country's culture for profit, and
e) large tourist industries tend to beget mass negative environmental consequences.

A perfect example of this-- despite that it's a part of the United States-- is Hawaii. The article I've linked just sort of scratches the surface, but googling "impact of tourism on Hawaii" (or probably any other country google suggests) will likely fill you in.

So if you're uncomfortable with unwittingly supporting such an economic chain of events, I offer some suggestions:

·         Research hotels! They're not always honest about their treatment of their staff and their impacts on the environment, but it's still good to look into.

·         Hostels. As far as I know, they tend to be locally-owned and have a lower environmental impact, researching individuals hostels' policies is also necessary.

·         Learn about where you're going. I mean, I just think that's fun to do in general, but I'm also a history nerd. But knowing the history of the place you're staying it helps to provide context for what impacts you might unwittingly have.

·         Eco-hotels actually aren't as okay as they sound. Research is necessary here as well, but ecotourism, though it sounds like an environmentally-friendly alternative to regular tourism, often involves facilities that the natural environment can't support.

·         Steer clear of culture-related tourist traps. That's part of the profiting-from-distorted-foreign-cultures thing. And, though I would hope it would go without saying,

·         NO SLUM TOURS. The wikipedia page sums up the problem with this, if it wasn't evident.

It is, of course, your prerogative to visit wherever and do whatever you want, but I think the problem is that a lot of people just don't know what kind of impact their choices (and, namely, money) make on other countries. I certainly didn't know until I took a class that addressed the subject. But now that I am aware, I feel like it's my responsibility to at least be mindful of what exactly I choose to give my money/support to.

Stay classy,

Caitlin.