ANTHMETHGRP2-2425-FLORENCE-ANSLOT

[Last modified: December, 5 2024 09:40 PM]

The student aims (1) to explore how the challenges faced by indigenous migrants to the favelas of Sao Paolo, Brazil—including displacement from their homelands, poverty, and exposure to gang and police violence in their new urban communities—are  addressed by the indigenous struggle for territorial rights; (2) to investigate how these migrants perceive their relationship to the state, and specifically the Bolsonaro government’s anti-human rights stance. Methods include collecting life histories, reconstructing processes of migration from indigenous areas to the city, and collecting personal opinions about the political situation of urban indigenous communities and indigenous peoples’ hopes.  The project will also involve interviews with activists, and participation in meetings of indigenous associations.

 

What are the risks of conducting this research to you as a researcher and to the community you study? Is this research high risk or low risk?

• I’m consdering this to be a high risk project. The risks are multiple. First of all, indigenous communities are considered high risk in itself. Secondly, not only are those people often heavily marginalizedt, asking them about their relationship to the state can get them in even more vulnerable positions. Thirdly, because it includes a community that lost its ancenstral home they have no safe place they belong to anymore, making their situation even more precair.

How will you mitigate those risks?

• I guess the risks can’t be mitigated easily. However it is really a question of balancing the benefit and risk. Since the community could hugely benefit from the research it coud be worth it to conduct it.

How the research will benefit the community they plan to study?

• The community could be heard through the scientific evidence gathered so that more rights can be demanded from the governement.

Are there any problems around power / coercion?

• The high leveles of vulnerabillity may constrain their agency.

 

[Last modified: December, 5 2024 09:39 PM]

I went to the EE phone company down the road at oxford street. Those phone/technolgoy stores are very distinct environments. There are big high-tech let screens everywhere, a VR chair in the shop windows, and a very smooth interior. The services that they offer are often presented as if they will change your experience of life completely. ‘Get an Iphone 16+ and all your problems  will be solved’, is what the store’s advertisement televisions are screaming at you. If you were to study these environments in an multimodel way, using film, sound, and 3D mapping would be interesting. These methods are best suited because they would offer the most tacticle experience of the sphere in such stores.

[Last modified: November, 20 2024 05:46 PM]

For this week’s task I was thinking about how to analyse my body, as it was assinged to us last week. To be honest, it was really hard, and I tried to write this text a couple of times before this given moment. A feeling of hesitation, of discomfort kept on creeping up on me when I was thinking about putting into words the observations and feelings of my body.  I don’t know what makes me uncomfortable exactly. I think it might be about making such personal feelings of the body so public – about the vulnerability of showing ones embodiedness. Having a body, although it is an obvious element of our being, can bring with it things you like to keep hidden, invisibile, wordless. The other option, which is inventing whatever to fill up 400 words seems useless as well. So that is why I’m ending this task right here

[Last modified: November, 11 2024 01:23 PM]

I took this week’s assignment as an opportunity to reflect on the political dimensions of my research topic. I’m currently working on PFAS, a man-made chemical used in many products today – ranging from cosmetics to waterproof rain jackets, to firefighter foam, to Teflon, etc. – that has been contaminating our ecosystems, our bodies, and our futures. The component of the future is significant in the story of this group of chemicals because they are also known as “forever chemicals.” This term means that the chemical bond between the carbons and fluorine (C-F bonds) is so extremely strong and stable that it barely degrades in the environment or in our bodies, and instead accumulates over time. Even more concerning is the fact that we are slowly passing these toxic elements on to future generations, as PFAS is found in the breast milk of women. Studies have found that nearly every living thing, and 99 percent of humans, has some level of PFAS, making it, if anything, the new condition of life in the Anthropocene.

In short, I’m planning to listen to the stories of the community in Zwijndrecht, an area close to Antwerp (Belgium), which has been heavily contaminated by the chemical company 3M. Knowing that many of them who have had their blood tested have very high concentrations of PFAS, this is obviously a sensitive topic. My main concern for my project is finding a balance between wanting to theorize (toxic) bodies in the Anthropocene and staying with what the people actually want to discuss. I feel that doing anthropology of the more-than-human always runs the risk of fetishizing the non-human a bit too much, forgetting that you are always inevitably studying certain people’s relationships with the non-human. And when this relationship is a negative one, like PFAS being detrimental to the body, it can quickly become disrespectful in some way. To be honest, I don’t know if all of this makes a lot of sense. I think I’m actually pondering a question essential to anthropology in general: namely, whether it is too extractive to ask people about such sensitive topics in order to play around with concepts and build theory around it. It is obvious to conclude that, as with any topic, there should be a lot of care and reflection about those boundaries of respect.

Another important point in this research is that positionality becomes a blurry concept when talking about toxic bodies. Knowing that almost everyone has some level of PFAS in their blood, it becomes more about how high those levels are. Knowing that at some point I will be talking with this community, I think it would be good for me to get my own blood levels checked for PFAS. I think the concrete realisation of toxicity being irreversible in your body does something to the mind that could help me relate more deeply with the people in Zwijndrecht. So, positionality becomes blurry in the sense that we are all intoxicated in some way, but not to the same degree. As a researcher, you are simultaneously experiencing the same thing, but also not quite, and as the levels of PFAS that are directly detrimental to our health change constantly, the boundaries of how much you can relate shift as well.

[Last modified: October, 26 2024 12:53 PM]

Different meanings and uses of space

For this week’s exercise, I went to Gordon Square and observed people’s activities in the park. The park is an interesting case of a built environment that takes on different meanings for different people. It serves as a workspace—people are sitting on the grass and benches, working on their computers. Others are scrolling on their phones or eating. Still, others are chatting with friends, and there were also clear instances of people visiting the park with their families. Since there were no interactions with the visitors, the intentions behind their presence in the park were not entirely clear. While I had previously assumed that people came for the silence and peace, I realised this time how noisy it actually was. In fact, many people were wearing headphones—perhaps to block out the noise. I think an interesting story could be told about the politics of noise in the city of London. Is noise sometimes considered in the design of environments? Which areas suffer from excessive noise, and what does it mean to have no silent places to go? What areas have parks large enough to create a peaceful environment?

Another aspect that intrigued me was the statue present in the park. I wonder what the rationale behind its placement is and what this says about the function and meaning of the park in the eyes of the governing authorities. I have included a little sketch of the bust next to a tree.

A third interesting point is the relationship between people and the squirrels in the park. The squirrels are prevalent and very responsive to people reaching out their hands to feed them. This suggests that they recognise the benefits of approaching humans when they see this specific movement. On the other hand, people find it adorable that the squirrels react when they reach out. This multispecies relationship is continuously performed by a large number of squirrels and people. I don’t think we can underestimate the importance of this relationship for the squirrels.

[Last modified: October, 24 2024 08:22 AM]

Reflexions on my position in the academic field and far beyond: operating in a world shaped by coloniality

As I don’t yet have a clear research topic to reflect on, I want to explore the broader question of how to conduct research in environmental anthropology in a world shaped by colonial power relations.

Anthropology, across all its subfields, must always confront the ethical issues it raises. The fact that people are the object of study inherently brings asymmetrical and sometimes problematic power relations. However, anthropologists conducting research in the Global South face a dual burden. They encounter both interpersonal imbalances (between the researcher and the people rendered the object of study) and a historical, colonial imbalance. Since environmental anthropology often focuses on ‘environments’ outside the Global North, I find myself constantly questioning my place and role in this discipline and in the academic world more broadly.

Part of reflecting on positionality is recognizing that, as a white European, I am privileged in many ways. It is crucial to question how that impacts our research—how it is situated, what story it tells, and how it is inherently flawed, never fully objective or neutral. Of course, other factors come into play as well: being a (young) woman, having Belgian nationality, being heterosexual, being ‘healthy,’ having no disabilities, and so on. Yet the aspect that strikes me most is not these identity features but the fact that, as a researcher, I operate within a framework of authority—specifically, an epistemic authority. The knowledge I produce is listened to and is often more highly valued than the knowledge of the people I interact with.

As a researcher, you inhabit two worlds, and it is up to you to account for the differences in meaning between them. In other words, you are the authority who gets to translate a community’s worldview, practices, stories, and values. Reflecting on how we translate these worldviews is what we strive for, and in our reports, we aim to include reflections on this. But I still wonder if this compensates for the wide gap between the lifeworlds of the people we study and the publications that result. More so, because policy is often based on the institutionally recognized discourse that we produce. Sometimes it feels as though science dogmatically insists that ‘knowing is better than not knowing’ in order to improve the world. This ‘knowing,’ however, is highly exclusive, and by perpetuating epistemic power relations, science risks becoming the very materialization of contemporary colonialism.

In conclusion, I suggest that reflections on positionality are, if anything, the necessary condition for conducting ethical research, but they are not sufficient. I believe that, on a broader scale, we should reflect on science as a matrix of power practices in order to critically understand our position in the world and in academia.

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[Last modified: October, 16 2024 01:14 PM]

Vingette on Research topic: Urban ‘Nature’ in the Noisy City of London. A Phenomenological Account of London Parks.

This one time I went to the park Gordon square, in the hearth of London, as the wheater was not bad – it was definitely not good either. But Londoners won’t shy away from the gloomy greyness that continously threatens them. As they are very used to the uncertainty of getting soaked at every moment possible they were in large numbers present in the park.

As most people were standing in line for a coffee, chatting about this and that, others were occupying the benches neatly orderded at the side lines of the little square. I approach one woman who just got a hot beverage and sat down on one of the benches. Before I arrived she tried to shuffle her coat well between her bottom and the bench. But at one point she sighted, sat comftably while still looking a bit annoyed. I asked her if she visits the park often and what she liked most about it. And she looks at me, as if I had just asked her an obvious question, responding at last; ‘it’s not about the park, nor about the greenery, it’s about the quitness, you know, London is afwully loud, you see. Although it is not comftable, look, the bench is all wet… I still come here because it is the only place close, that I don’t have to endure the noise of the city as much as usual.’

I think it is interesting how for many people nature is about quitness, more than anything. Which explains why people spend lots of time in the park not engaging with it at all. We spend our time in the park on our phones, reading the newspaper, talking to friends. In short, all types of different activities, which have in common the fact that we very rarely mindfull engaging with nature.

[Last modified: October, 16 2024 01:11 PM]

Eaten by the Sea: How the People in Palomino, La Guajira, Colombia, Live in Times of Existential Uncertainty

Palomino is a place often referred to as ‘paradise.’ It is a relatively small village in the department of La Guajira, located in northwestern Colombia. The place, which finds itself ‘between the sierra (mountains) and the jungle, between the river and the sea,’ experienced an unprecedented boost in popularity around the year 2014. Since then, the cultural and economic landscape has transformed. Its economy is now almost fully focused on tourism, creating new opportunities for the local people. One of the major consequences of this tourism-based economy is the construction of many hostels, hotels, eco-resorts, and so on. Due to minimal regulation of construction sites, many local mangrove trees were removed without adequate consideration. This has compromised the stability of the sand, resulting in significant beach erosion and loss of shoreline. While tourists initially brought economic prosperity to the area, they have inadvertently posed an existential threat to the village (Ávila & Baez, 2022; Parra, 2021).

Research has been conducted, although mostly at the bachelor’s and master’s levels, about the impact of tourism, its whiteness, and its effects on the cultural and economic landscape (Cortés, 2016; Rey, 2023; Rodríguez, 2019). However, the element of the beach rapidly disappearing doesn’t seem to be foregrounded in those analyses. It is, after all, a very slow process that extends into the past, present, and future, and therefore it doesn’t manifest in an urgent way. This research aims to include this notion of temporality in describing the rapidly changing landscape of Palomino. More specifically, I’m interested in the way the people of Palomino understand their environment and their future possibilities, while at the same time understanding the tourists’ conceptions of nature in Palomino—as they are free from the burden of having to imagine a future Palomino.

The methods I will use consist of participant observation and semi-structured interviews. Depending on the conditions in the field, I will work with drawings, pictures, and other ways to convey possibilities for the future.

 

Bibliography

Ávila, X. & Baez, R. (2022, March 23). Erosión costera en las playas de Palomino, La Guajira. ArcGIS StoryMaps. https://storymaps.arcgis.com/stories/f1f9a3b8a94b4a95aca1c74bf0a1f431.

Cortés Leal, J. (2016). Gestión activa para el turismo rural en el corregimiento Palomino, municipio de Dibulla-Guajira. Universidad Nacional de Colombia.

Rey, D. (2023). El mar que se quedó sin playa. Blanquitud, paisaje y turismo en Palomino, Guajira. Recuperado de: http://hdl.handle.net/10554/63928.

Rodríguez, A. (2019). El turismo como fuerza impulsora de cambio sobre el paisaje cultural : visibilizando perspectivas en Palomino, La Guajira. Recuperado de: http://hdl.handle.net/10554/40254.

Parra, M. (2021, November). Cómo ir (y volver) a un paraíso – Revista Late. Revista Late. https://www.revistalate.net/2021/11/11/como-ir-y-volver-a-un-paraiso/.