ANTHMETHGRP2-2425-ARIANA-HERVAS-JONES

[Last modified: December, 3 2024 11:05 PM]

Looking at the case study on indigenous identities and disempowerment I would say there are quite a few ethical issues to consider. To start, working with indigenous migrants and discussing challenges such as displacement, poverty, exposure to gang and police violence can lead to conversations which could harm both the mental health of the indigenous migrants and also the researcher as they are very difficult and intense subjects to broach without training on how to respond/react/and deal with conversations which may arise.

It is also very sensitive data – migrant stories, life histories and political opinions. Recording peoples personal opinions about the political situation could put their lives at risk as well as the researchers or at least compromise their positions or place if overheard or identified within the research/published piece of work.

It’s also important to recognize the power imbalance here, the researcher is an outsider with academic support and may without intending to, pressure participants into interviews and sharing of information. This is especially true as indigenous migrants may be in really tough situations as described and feel obligated or hopeful for aid, benefits or advocacy if they participate.

I would definitely classify this as high risk, not only is it working with vulnerable individuals but it is also handing very sensitive information.

[Last modified: November, 19 2024 06:20 PM]

For the last two weeks I have had some sort of illness… it began with food poisoning and morphed into a cold which I have quickly attempted to nip in the bud with an excessive consumption of ginger, garlic, elderberry, echinacea, miso, lemon juice and mint tea.

I have felt immensely connected to my body – but not necessarily in a good way. Feeling every ache, sneeze, and jab in the gut. A Skye – a self, which I don’t often meet until, at least, winter arrives.

I was tempted to dive deeper into these sensations but realized I am not fully out of the woods and would prefer not to mentally re-enter that sickly state. So instead, on this freezing, rainy day where I finally feel well enough to move my body, I have decided to join a yoga class at the Bloomsbury Theatre on campus. It starts at 5, it’s currently 4:13. I am sitting in the cafe, feeling stiff, slightly cold, and theres a slight ache in my stomach. I cant smell too well. The sweetness of banana lingers on my tastebuds. My face feels tired, as if I can imagine the dark bags under my eyes slowly growing heavier.

30 minutes later

I bailed. I stood outside the door of the class and a sensation and feeling crept up on me which I interpreted as my body telling me to go home. I listened. My legs carried me down the stairs, doubt flooded my brain – was I bailing? Was this a lack of self control? Was I letting myself down?  Heal – I told myself, give yourself a chance and listen to what your body is telling you.

What my body is telling me? I pondered the question on my tube ride home. What was I telling myself? Was there some other sense, a sixth sense of intuition? A soul sense of gut feeling? I have had those feelings before and mostly I listen but sometimes I don’t. For instance when theres a person looking around, eyes darting everywhere in the Tube and instantly I think he’s going to shoot us or set off a bomb – run – my mind tells me, but I don’t. I convince myself its TV shows and media, it’s growing up in Miami with monthly bomb and shooting drills at school that makes me feel this way, not a real instinctual gut feeling.

So how do I make sense of this sense? How do I know what I mean? What my body means?

10 minutes into the journey I suddenly have a coughing attack and I feel very warm. Relief floods through me that my home is near and my bed and a cup of tea are waiting. Maybe the yoga would have helped, maybe I would have felt great after. But maybe just maybe my instincts were right and home was exactly where I needed to be. If there is a truth, a right choice and a wrong,  I suppose I am just grateful for this body, that it exists at all. That I can question it, move with it, feel and sense with it, both my shell and my soul and everything in between.

[Last modified: October, 30 2024 04:37 PM]

As much as I love seaweed and herbs, this assignment called for something different. When we were finally freed from the confines of the IOE building, I admit my first thought was that I needed coffee. I took a stroll to find a café and stumbled across a Japanese art exhibition on the SOAS campus. Suddenly, coffee could wait. I was curious about how people interacted with and moved through a museum space—especially students, who are often on the move or in a rush.

I entered the exhibition, giddy and ready to take notes in my little pale blue notebook. However, my excitement quickly waned when, after five minutes, no one else entered the exhibition. Disheartened that my idea had been dashed, I began to think on my feet. How could I get a sense of how people interacted with a museum without physically observing anyone or talking to them? The visitor book! Luckily, there was one filled to the brim with anecdotes and expressions of gratitude from visitors.

I’ve found that in anthropology, it is essential to be flexible, open-minded, and adaptable. Although not my original plan, the visitor book became my insight into people’s relationships with this specific exhibition. Visitors left notes in pen, mostly scribbled erratically—diagonally, straight, in waves, and even upside down—on what were once yellow-tinted blank pages. Different handwriting styles made each page seem like a work of art. Many people wrote about nostalgia, expressing how the exhibition reminded them of their homes in Japan. Others left complimentary notes featuring keywords such as “beautiful,” “meaningful,” “well presented,” and “emotional.” I didn’t come across any negative reviews, although there were a few that seemed disconnected from the exhibition, such as one person writing, “Don’t drink milk on your wedding day—it’s bad luck.” (I researched this claim but found no trace of it, unless, of course, you’re lactose intolerant.)

I found it interesting that for each review, I imagined the person mentally as I read their quotes; their words came alive as if they were speaking to me. It made me wonder how thoughts and feelings about a museum can gain permanence through visitor books. These books act like time capsules, allowing visitors’ perceptions, emotions, and thoughts to be documented and read by others.

I noted their words, sketched the layout of the exhibition, and doodled the paintings that the quotes referenced. I also sketched what I imagined people might look like alongside their quotes. This helped me bring life and visual context to the scene and introduced me to a new form of ethnography and a way of researching that I could use in the future.

[Last modified: October, 21 2024 01:56 PM]

Studying Herbalism and medicinal plants may seem like a walk in the park – a fun study where nothing could go wrong. However, I have come to see this is far from the truth. Studies of plants both anthropologically and for other disciplines often have a history of extraction and exploitation. Historically researchers found plants that could be exploited for economic gain and provided this information to colonial powers. One of the most known cases is that of the rubber tree which was smuggled out of Brazil to be planted in British colonies resulting in loss of biodiversity, deforestation and displacement of indigenous communities.

This trend continues today, for example medicinal plants such as echinacea, witch hazel, ginseng and sage have become increasingly popular and globally in demand. Many individuals do not realize how this negatively effects many Indigenous Peoples in North America who have relied on these plants for generations and continue to do so as a part of their daily lives. Due to these plants being so popular, their land is destroyed as crops are being ripped out, all in order to fill the consumer demand for these plants – most of the time because they are globally ‘trending’.

This history has led to me being very reflexive in how I approach this topic and research. I hope to interview people who practice herbal medicine and have knowledge of medicinal plants, however I do not want to repeat history and make their knowledge available for exploitation. If necessary I will pseudonymize any plant names they feel uncomfortable sharing. I will also make the intention of my research proposal very clear – that it is not for starting a new ‘super food’ trend but is instead to understand how ancestral knowledge of medicinal plants is passed down and how it is transformed once it enters a urban environment such as London. I also hope to find a way to document this knowledge without endangering any life form.

I am also aware of my gender as a female, however I think in many circumstances this may work in my favor. A big theme which I hope to look at is women’s connection to herbal medicine and medicinal plants. Identifying as female I believe will help me enter some of these spaces easier.

In addition, since I am interviewing people in London, where I also live, it feels less like I am trying to extract information and instead add to a growing collective body of knowledge and learning.

I believe that my world views will also help me as I am very enthusiastic and respectful of herbal medicine. I think it would be very difficult if I had doubts about forms of medicine that didn’t align with western modern day medicine. I am also very open and curious about the spiritual aspect of medicinal plants. I also have a little knowledge of herbs and medicinal plants and if given the space and if I feel it respectful, I would love to share my knowledge which I hope will lead to a beautiful knowledge sharing space of excitement and curiosity.

[Last modified: October, 16 2024 10:41 AM]

Although not directly tied to my research proposal, I decided I would attempt to gain insight into peoples connection to their living surroundings (for lack of a better word – nature). I was specifically interested in the idea of ‘looking up’ both in the sense of technology but also the physical act of looking up or around oneself when walking through a park.

Luckily it was a sunny day, I sat contentedly on a patch of grass allowing the sun to embrace me. I had a perfect view of the path that leads through Tavistock park. I watched people enter, often with their headphones on – this was my first point of observation. I wondered whether people would take off their headphones to enjoy the sounds of the park – the rustling of the trees, the songs of the birds, the quiet serenity of a moment away from the bustling streets of London which often call for audio distraction. I found that in my time sitting there, and out of the roughly 10 people with headphones on, I noticed only 2 people visibly remove their headphones. Along with this action they seemed to look around as they took them off as if recognizing the entering of a new space.

The action of looking down at ones phone was also very prominent within my time of observation. Roughly 15 people had their phone in their hand while walking through the park, 3 people visibly put it away as they entered (often stopping at the entrance to do so), others continued to look down at it through the entirety of the park. Some people half way through the park looked up from it, looked around and then back down at their phone.

I noticed one person visibly stop where they stood and look up at the sun with their eyes closed. They made me smile. They seemed so content, so happy – it was infectious. I wondered how that simple action would change other peoples moods and potentially alter their day for the better. It reminded me of the idea of forest bathing – but in the London sense – park bathing or forgive the pun – sun bathing.

It dawned on me that my project idea of studying herbalism within London could encompass more than just the use of herbs for medicinal purposes. I could also include alternative forms of medicine such as outdoor meditation, forest bathing, walking meditation, saunas etc.

 

 

[Last modified: October, 8 2024 04:36 PM]

I hope to explore herbalism within London. I plan to use a multi-species anthropological and ethnobotanical lens. I will examine the role of medicinal non-humans (plants, herbs, fungi, and algae) in an urban setting. Specifically, I aim to focus on themes of gender—particularly women’s connections to herbalism and healing—as well as cultural herbalism, looking at different London communities and areas.

I am interested in how this knowledge is passed down through generations, whether living in an urban city like London jeopardizes these traditions, how this knowledge is documented and disseminated, and the varying attitudes toward the plants and other non-humans that possess medicinal properties. I will also explore where the herbs and plants are sourced, how different communities utilize them, and the commodification of medicinal plants.

I am still deciding whether to trace a specific number of plants as they move through the city—examining how different cultures use them and their associated knowledge, as well as where they grow and how they are imported—or to study herbalism as a whole by looking at various herbal shops, herb gardens, apothecaries, and herbal medicine courses. Additionally, I would like to explore the connotations surrounding herbalism, such as how it is perceived as a medicinal practice and how people discuss it.

Methods:

• Interview individuals who practice herbalism or hold particular beliefs about it.
• Visit herbal medicine shops and places that offer herbal medicine courses.
• Interview herbal medicine practitioners.
• Explore herbal medicine gardens within larger parks, small individual plots, or community gardens.

I will categorize my findings by plant or location, such as Elephant and Castle with its more Latin/South American population or Spitalfields with its Bangladeshi community.

Potential Findings:
I expect to find a natural reluctance toward herbalism and its terminology in certain areas. I believe that medicinal or healing plants will be more widely recognized and respected within particular communities. I hope to observe an increase in herbalism and herbal courses in urban areas, alongside a focus on foraging and fostering relationships with green spaces. However, I am curious to see if there is a tendency for herbalism to be co-opted into media and aesthetics, rather than tracing the medicinal plants back to their importance in various cultures and their histories.

This research would provide a new way of understanding the city and the relationships between humans and non-humans.

[Last modified: October, 1 2024 05:58 PM]

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