The Past is the Future

Click through to travel the Road of Development right now!

Call for AnthropologistsAbstractGuidelines

Innovative and Creative Opportunity for Research Dissemination

Engaging the Future through Engaging the Past invites participants to take a walk down the “road of development,” stopping along the way at interactive stations. Each station will display a representation of a facet of community life and how it has been impacted by development processes. The representations will be made up of a looping video piece, artist interpretations and an interactive component. The looping video will be comprised of select anthropologists relating details of how the particular development process has played out among the communities they have worked with. Participants will be self-guided and can choose to view all or some of the video loops. We are opening the call for anthropologists’ videos for seven stations: religion, education, healthcare, infrastructure, changing economies, changing environments and foods.

ENGAGING THE FUTURE THROUGH ENGAGING THE PAST: A MULTI-MEDIA INTERPRETIVE EXPERIENCE ON THE “ROAD OF DEVELOPMENT”

Development is a problematic and often-critiqued concept in anthropology. This installation provides a fresh look at some of the elements associated with the development process through a multi-media, interactive exploration of how these themes are interpreted, embraced and incorporated into people’s daily lives. Moving beyond a simple development critique, the installation invites participants to experience how a diverse group of community members, anthropologists and artists interpret particular development events related to specific development forces: religion, education, healthcare, changing economies and foods, as examples. This focus on the diversity of experience highlights a richer understanding of these ubiquitous forces beyond what is “good” and what is “bad,” giving individual community members a voice in the discussion. The installation allows the participants to experience multiple engagements with multiple futures and pasts, with each stop on the road highlighting an aspect of development as it relates to a particular anthropologist’s work, a particular artist’s interpretation and a specific participatory action. This is an embodied experience and participants will use all their senses as they travel down the “road of development.” This event draws on a wide range of field research- from rural Belize, semi-rural Peru, urban Baltimore to New York City. Invited academics and artists represent this wide range of locations, from Miami to Oxford, UK. The installation is ongoing and the “road” is open for participants to arrive at anytime during the session. A minimum of a half hour is suggested to fully experience the installation.

Pieces may be narrative-driven or a more theoretical discussion or a combination of these. They should be between 1 and 5 minutes in length and follow a very simple “speaking straight to the webcam” format- feel free to record your answers to as many or few of the questions…

Please be specific about the community of study to which you are referring and avoid generalizations unless they are illustrated by your research.

Please draw primarily on your own research and firsthand experience. You can speak about the work of other scholars but in reference to your own observations.

If you choose to answer questions from multiple categories- and we encourage you to answer as many as you deem relevant- please mention your community of study in your response for each category.

The responses will be edited for future events and online publications, and this will help maintain clarity.

If you choose to speak on a particular category, please answer at least the first question, but feel free to include relevant information not covered by these questions.

Religion

Religion is our first stop on the development road, being the impetus for many of the first ideas of “progress.” At the religion station, we will consider how changing religious practices shape everyday lives with the cultural norms they create and reinforce.

When was your community established and how does the community trace their [religious] history?

How many religious groups/churches, etc. are present in the community and/or how do people express their religion in the community?

How does religion influence the community in terms of daily practices, interpersonal relationships, politics, etc.?

Is there conflict between community members of different religions?

How do people in the community talk about religious changes?

Are there “traditional” religious practices practiced in the community?

How are traditional religious practices perceived by different community members?

What do traditional religious practices entail?

Education

Education is our second stop on the development road, with the church setting up formal schools in many places around the world. At the education station, we will consider how teaching in learning in new and different environments has shaped daily lives, future plans and fundamental ideologies.

When was your community established and when did formal education begin there? Is it required? Is it valued?

What types of formal learning exist in the community?

What types of informal learning takes place in the community?

Does the community play a role in defining the curriculum taught in schools?

Are children required to travel and/or wear special clothing to attend school?

What outcomes/ideas is formal education associated with?

How do children feel about formal education/how do elders feel?

Healthcare

Health is our third stop on the development road, with clinics and hospitals often following closely behind the school and churches, providing access to medicines and, oftentimes, places to give birth outside the home. At the health station, we will consider how changing healthcare opportunities have influenced new ways of viewing the body and wellness in general, in addition to what this access to type of care has meant to the health of community members.

Where do community members go for healthcare and what influences those healthcare decisions?

What are common health problems in the community and are these problems considered “old” or “new” health problems?

What healthcare is prefered? Are healthcare preferences available?

What words are used to describe healthcare choices?

What impacts of healthcare changes have you noted?

Are their traditional healers in the community and how are traditional healers perceived?

Food

Food is the fourth stop on the development road, with changing diets happening at many places along the development road. At the food station, we will consider how changing ways of producing and consuming food has affected social life, health, the environment, ecomonics and, even, identity.

Describe a typical diet.  What factors (historical, environmental, political) influence this diet?

What impacts of changes in food availability have you noted and what specifically has facilitated these changes?

Would the typical diet be considered a traditional diet?

How are “traditional” foods discussed?  What words are used?

Are “traditional” foods assigned value or a certain status?  On what basis?

How are packaged or processed foods discussed?  What words are used?

Are packaged foods assigned value or a certain status?  On what basis?

Infrastructure

Infrastructure is the fifth stop on the development road and a key element to the development process, facilitating the transportation of the materials and resources necessary for the changes to take place. At the infrastructure station, we will consider the impacts of these fundamental, long-term changes.

Describe the history/trajectory of changes in your community related to infrastructure- roads built or modified, electricity or water services provided, etc.

How are changes in infrastructure discussed in the community and what benefits have these changes brought in terms of community-perceived need?

Who facilitated these infrastructure changes?  Who financed them?

What negative repercussions have resulted from these changes?

Environment

Environment is the sixth stop on the development road, with changing land use as a central focus on the development process. At the environment station, we will consider how cumulative changes related the the forces of infrastructure, food, and others have impacted how people interact with their environments and what changing environments mean for the communities living in them.

Describe how land was used in the community historically and how it is used now.

What natural resources are available and how are they managed?

How is land ownership determined?

Does your community have a say in the management of natural areas and parks?

Economics

Economics is the last stop on the road of development, highlighting the more gradual changes brought about through development processes. At the economics station, we will consider the extent to which all-pervasive economic systems have impacted the social lives of individuals.

Describe the economic system that has been used historically in the community and describe the timeline for changes in that system.

What do community members talk about as the benefits and weaknesses of the economic system and any changes?

Describe similarities/disparities in income in the community and the social results of these similarities/differences.

Apply to Participate
Please state your intentions to participate with a very brief (a sentence or two) description of how one (or all) of these themes- religion, education, health, food, infrastructure, environment, economy- plays out in your work. We will get back to you with further instructions of how to send along your videos. All files must be submitted by the first week of November for inclusion in the debut installation and promotional materials.

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    ARTISTS!! Click here to learn more and/or to send us a message!
    How would you capture these concepts of religion, education, health, food, infrastructure, environment, or the economy in your work? How can you convey the importance and/or detriments of development to a varied audience? How should this sensory experience play out?

    We are asking you to use these broad themes to inspire an original piece that explores and highlights both positive and negative effects of development. We are looking for highly creative and thoughtful pieces.

    Please email a short description of your preliminary ideas so we can discuss how to integrate the piece into future exhibits. Please communicate with us directly about the deadline to get your work in our hands! We can facilitate the printing of your piece on canvas or some other large-format premium stock, and have the capabilities to assist in other areas of production.

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      Creative Commons License
      Reconsider Dissemination: “The Road of Development” by Victoria Costa and Kristina Baines is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.

      3 Comments on “The Past is the Future

      1. Hey you Cool Anthropologists 🙂 this sounds awesome!
        How are the cross-links between individual topics going to take shape? I can see some very cool creative pathways, theoretical cross-links and navigational webs coming on… visitors may potentially get lost in this thing and never get out!

      2. we are all lost in this thing, and will never get out! 🙂

        the installation will be setup along a long, narrow “road”. each topic will get its own station, with a looping video of talking head anthros, artwork, an activity and broad information/al graphics. the intro and outro – the beginning and end of the road, if you will – showcases a broad mosaic of images and thoughts, as well as one short film, shown from two perspectives, each respectively at the entrance and the exit of the installation.

        I should mention that we really do want to highlight the positive contributions and nuances as well as lay down a thoughtful, anthropological critique of “development” as it plays out in sub/urban and rural communities around the world. I am hopeful the mosaics will inspire congratulatory innovation, if that makes any sense at all haha

        the initial audience is for other anthropologists, but- like last year- we hope to bring the exhibition to many different venues throughout the months following its debut in Chicago. as a result, we hope to keep the topics relatively broad, and as standalone pieces that fit into a larger schema, which may not be limited to this exact installation.

        we plan to set up a recording station at the end of the road for folks to join the conversation as well! we’ll add everyone’s dialogue to the video/s, and publish them online before the end of the year.

        Dr. Kristina Baines will, of course, provide the narrative that ties it all together, but I have heard she works best in collaboration 😉

        we are keen to setup Skype calls or Google+ Hangouts to share the more intimate and intricate details as well as discuss your contribution/s.

        thanks, as always, for your support and consideration, Amy! sincerely looking forward to your perspective, as well as that of the Nauruan community!

      3. I think it is helpful to know and understand the past in order to understand the present and the future, I also feel like it can never fully be understood. The mind develops everyday and it is very cool to help people develop.

      What do you think?