Rethinking Globalization

Photos from Mexico

2010-04-07T10:08:00.000-07:00

New Zealand + Mexico = ¿New Mexico? (Uh, no.)

2010-03-13T13:04:00.000-08:00

So much has happened since the last time I wrote; there’s no way I can adequately catch up. What I can say is that this experience continues to challenge me, to enrich and confuse and stretch me.

I’ll start with some tidbits from New Zealand (since I never wrote a blog entry there… egads!). After sponging up some last bits of wisdom from our faculty in Gujarat, we left India on a cool, sad morning. The plane ride was a strange one. I was overwhelmed by the seemingly endless array of movies and music on the plane. I was irritated by the flight attendants, with their shallow politeness and straightened blond hair and heavy black mascara. I was even angry at the in-flight duty-free magazines, with their multitude of useless crap available to purchase while soaring 30,000 feet above the ground. Overall, I felt an unexpectedly strange kind of reverse culture shock. I had forgotten that life existed outside India – beyond green farms, grey smog, black braids, and colorful saris.

Regardless of my culture shock, an air-conditioned box with all its amenities whisked me away, first to Singapore, then Sydney, then finally Wellington (the capital of New Zealand). During my first few days there, I stayed in a cheap hostel, which felt like a palace after the mud huts on the farms in India. But it also felt strangely alien, like I didn't belong there. (Side note: it was bizarre seeing toilet paper again.)

After our week-long introduction to New Zealand (also called “Aotearoa”), I got to see a bit more of the country’s breathtaking landscape. There were endless rolling hills (sometimes peppered with wind turbines or million-dollar houses), lush forests, impressive mountains and pastures full of sheep. (Fun fact: there are only 4 million people in New Zealand, but 40 million sheep!) Of course, it wasn't all grass and sunshine. There was also deforestation (and plenty of it!), a hole in the ozone layer (which leads to 10 minute sunburns), poison in the forests (to kill unwanted pests like possums), neglected voices (unconsequential to those in power), and loads of cow shit polluting the water.

During our stay, we visited farms, homes, universities, parks, towns, and a marae (home of the Maori, the indigenous people of New Zealand). We went hiking, saw glowworms, sang songs, and swam in countless rivers. In Ngati Rangi, we were introduced to a few sacred places of the Maori people. In Golden Bay, we visited a variety of local sustainability projects, from distilleries to eco-schools to organic food shops. And in Wellington, we visited some of the Green Party members of Parliament. (Of all the government and big-organization folks we've visited thus far, the Green Party members seemed to most reflect what we've been learning on IHP. They didn't gloss over issues or talk in circles around our questions. It was such a refreshing [and surprisingly enjoyable] experience.)

Now, indeed, I am in Mexico City (or “DF” as it’s called here). After a couple brief layovers in Tahiti and Los Angeles, we arrived here last week. Since then, the days here have been completely packed. A few days ago, I had class from 9am-7pm! It´s been exhausting, but also incredible. I’ve visited the National Museum of Anthropology, taken a silkscreening class, gone dancing at a techno club, toured UNAM university (home to over 300,000 students!), and enjoyed plenty of tasty food (including guacamole, the ubiquitous taco, fresh juice from a “juguería”, and the most delicious salsa I’ve ever had). I’ve also been exercising my limited knowledge of Spanish. It's become a bit dusty since high school, but fortunately, it’s been enough to get by (although at times, I accidentally throw in a word of French).

I'm in good spirits and good company. I hope you all are too.

Que todos abrigan esperanzas,
Maranda

Photos from New Zealand (hot off the press!)

2010-02-04T01:52:00.001-08:00

Photos from India (long overdue)

2010-02-04T00:42:00.001-08:00

India, or rather, the tiny fragment I've seen of India

2009-12-31T23:02:00.000-08:00

Delhi. Sevegram. Bt cotton farm. Organic farm. Mumbai. Bhuj. Mandvi. The Great Rann of Kachchh. Countless villages…These are merely the locations I’ve been during the past few weeks. What’s much more interesting than this rather bland list of physical places are the daily adventures I’ve had in each place:

In Delhi, I was entranced by the colorful carnations on the street, the film of grey smog on my neck, and the women’s shining black braids swaying gently down their backs. We had introductory lectures about India’s history, government, population, culture, religions, and current economic situation. It is absurd to think that I learned anything substantial about India as a whole during these lectures. This is a nation consisting of more than a billion people. Furthermore, it is a nation with incredible cultural, linguistic, and historical diversity. One of our guest lecturers told us that we must be foolish if we think we can even begin to scratch the surface of India in a short 2 months.

In Sevegram, I pondered Gandhi’s life and philosophy (he lived in Sevegram once upon a time and established a self-sustaining ashram there). I expected to be very touched by visiting his home, to have some sort of “ah ha!” moment and feel a deep spiritual and emotional connection. Instead, his home felt like a stale museum. While there, I wrestled with concepts of ethics and justice and cultural relativity. I thought of my time with the Maasai of Tanzania, and realized how much their lifestyle would have clashed with Gandhi’s philosophy of truth and non-violence. But does that make it wrong? Perhaps there can there be a different kind of truth for different cultures?

Other details of note: I drank fresh camel milk (still warm from the animal) in the desert. I picked up fresh cow poop with my hands and squished it around in a biogas generator. (Cow poop is actually very sanitary. Many villagers mix it with mud and use it to wall their houses.) On New Years Eve, I went skinny-dipping in the sea under a blue moon and a partial lunar eclipse.

Overall, I’ve immensely enjoyed my time in India. The weather has been a bit cooler than Tanzania. The food has been a bit spicier. My thoughts have been a bit more interesting. I can’t wait for more…

Happy New Year!
Love, Maranda

Final Weeks of Tanzania

2009-11-28T08:20:00.001-08:00

Last Days in Tanzania

2009-11-19T00:39:00.000-08:00

My stay in Tanzania has brought many “c” words to mind: complexity, contradiction, confusion, and (surprisingly) clarity. Basically, the more I see and learn, the more I realize how interwoven everything is, and how, even within a single community, the situation is far too intricate for my mind to fully comprehend. But I’ve given myself over to my confusion. I’ve yielded to the immensity of the globe, and found some sort of serenity in my inability to grasp it all. I am humbled.

Although we like to discuss and criticize mystical systems like “the economy” or “capitalism,” I’ve realized that these systems merely consist of people. Beneath the categories and the labels, there are simply people who are scratching out a living on this Earth, people deciding on rules and regulations and policies, people evolving and languishing and loving beneath the same sun and sky.

A certain quote from the poem “Desiderata” by Max Ehrmann often comes to mind: “With all its sham, drudgery, and broken dreams, it is still a beautiful world.”

Tanzania Thus Far

2009-10-28T06:04:00.000-07:00

Hello again! I apologize for my delay in posting. Free time and internet cafes have been hard to find these past few weeks. I can’t even begin to describe everything that I’ve seen and learned about, but here are a few snapshots: feeding giant tortoises on Changu Island, chatting with a faculty member and admiring the stars while walking on the beach in Jambiani, visiting a small coffee farm in Moshi, laughing with my homestay family while watching the Miss Tanzania pageant on TV, snorkeling at a coral reef, learning to use a squat toilet (without toilet paper), viewing the mangrove forests of Jozani National Park, sipping tea with friends while watching the sunset in Zanzibar...

Needless to say, we’ve done a lot of moving around, whether it’s been on foot, in buses, in dalla dallas, or piled in the back of a truck. Tomorrow we’re on the move again when we depart for a 3 day safari to study conservation and camp out and take classes under the trees.

The food has been consistently delicious (and generally inexpensive – I had a full lunch today for about 2 dollars!). Since arriving in Tanzania, I’ve enjoyed chapatti (a pan-fried flatbread available at most meals), lots of fruit (bananas, oranges, and watermelon), plenty of rice, and the most delicious chai tea. A couple weeks ago, I even tried white shark (blatantly non-vegan, but incredibly tasty).

As for the weather, it’s been paralyzingly hot up until this past week. Sometimes it takes effort just to exist (let alone concentrate in class or trek around 50+ pounds of luggage!). We're all pretty grungy at this point. Even when we wash our laundry, due to the moisture, heat, and lack of washers and dryers, our clothes usually end up smelling weirder than before we cleaned them. (Ah, the joys of traveling.)

The landscape here is truly breathtaking, from the turquoise waters of the beaches, to the lush green vegetation and red clay soil of the mountains. But as one of our guest lecturers said last week, “everything is not as rosy as it sounds.” There’s also plenty of trash littering the streets, water shortages, green sludge leaving processing plants, power outages, and wastewater being pumped into the ocean.

My experiences here have produced lots of internal wrestling… questioning my values, my beliefs, my knowledge. Sometimes I feel paralyzed by the weight and scope of the problems we experience, and I fully recognize that I am to blame (at least in part) for many of them. For example, I wear mascara containing seaweed that was harvested by Tanzanian farmers for only 6 cents per kilogram, then resold by a larger company for at least 4-5 dollars per kilogram. I drink coffee that had to be processed in a dusty and dangerous factory by Tanzanian workers who work long hours for very little money. The news on TV at my homestay described increased drought causing deaths in Africa that’s thought to be attributed to global climate change, and here I am flying all around the world, pumping out greenhouse gases in abundance. I can’t stop thinking about the origins and implications of everything I touch and see and consume. I don’t want to be part of a system that exploits and degrades both people and resources, but while on this trip, it seems inevitable.

I hope everyone is well and in good spirits. I’d love to hear from you!
-Maranda

PHOTOS:

An incredible sunset in Zanzibar (When I saw it in person, I said, "It looks like the sun is wrapped in a nebula of happiness!"

Taking notes at a sisal farm

A bathroom in one of my homestays (there's a big hole under the wooden plank - luxurious!)

Getting my hair braided by one of my host families

A seaweed farm in Jambiani

Visiting the seaweed farmers

Anoter incredible sunset in Zanzibar

Feeding giant tortoises (some of them were over 100 years old!)

Receiving henna at my homestay family's shop

A freshwater tourist pool on Changu Island

Some of the architecture in Zanzibar

Jambo!

2009-10-04T07:01:00.000-07:00

Just arrived in Dar Es Salaam this morning. Nothing could have prepared me for this city. I don't have much time to write, but I just wanted to say I'm safe and in good spirits (though exhausted from jet lag and frustrated by my inability to speak the language here).

I'll write again soon,
Maranda

Photos from the Zoo!

2009-09-28T20:05:00.000-07:00

Harassing Congress (aka: our time on Capitol Hill)

2009-09-27T06:26:00.000-07:00

The days here continue to be insane and insightful and delightful. This week, our focus has been on the U.S. government, the World Bank, and NGOs (non-government organizations). On Tuesday, I went to Representative Chellie Pingree's office with a few other Mainers and chatted with a staff member about environmental issues. After our chat, we visited the Senate gallery to watch the machine of electoral democracy at work... John McCain was rambling about some issue; we (the spectators) weren't even allowed to take notes; it was hard to hear because of the faulty microphones; and no one seemed to be listening to each other. It was disappointing to say the least. Between Wednesday and Thursday, we visited the World Bank, the FAO (Food and Agriculture Organization), and Population Connection (an NGO). What struck me about all of these institutions was the distance between the decisions "up top" and the actual implementation of those decisions "down below." These organizations all seem to have good intentions, but their huge (sometimes global) scope means that something gets lost in translation. The voice of the communities they impact is often unheard or overlooked. But who knows? I'm no expert. My impressions and knowledge are limited. (And then again, so are theirs...)

Of course, we've had classes too. And homework. Wednesday night, I got precisely one hour of sleep. My first paper was due, and I was having some sort of quarter-life crisis. This program is already making me question everything I know (or think I know). During one of our group reflections, we all joked that "Rethinking Globalization" should be renamed "Rethinking Everything." At times, it's great to feel so vulnerable and confused, but at other times, it's fairly overwhelming. My moral and logical foundations are crumbling away. Fortunately, all of the students here are in the same boat. And they are wonderful company to feel confused with. Whether we're playing harmonica on the metro or singing in the stairwell or studying at 2am, we manage to have fun. We have an inside joke that we all suffer from "FOMA" (Fear Of Missing Anything), and it's true. It can be hard to go to bed when the conversations are so lively and there are so many wonderful opportunities. (And we haven't even left the States!)

Ah! There is so much more to say about IHP, so many wonderful moments, and I feel like what I've already written is somewhat vague and inadequate to capture the energy of this program. I'll write again soon.

With love and well wishes,
Maranda

A few photos from the past week...

2009-09-21T20:29:00.000-07:00

Thriving in D.C.

2009-09-20T11:11:00.000-07:00

These past seven days have been enthralling, exhausting, and generally incredible. Last Sunday, I met my lovely IHP companions for the first time, and we set off for a campground in West Virginia. It was absolutely beautiful there. During our stay, I played drums around a campfire, laughed until my stomach hurt, bathed in a creek, shared countless stories, received and gave a full body massage, prepared meals, and, of course, learned a great deal. (And it's only been seven days!) There's a fair amount of homework (aka: 3 papers due this week), but the emphasis has been on transformative learning that teaches us not only about our academic subjects, but about each other and about ourselves. Both in class and out, I'm engaging with real world problems, wrestling with slippery concepts, and savoring every moment of it.

Now I'm back in D.C. and trying to find a balance between experiencing, relaxing, and recording. I've quickly realized that although I can write academically, I have a hard time articulating my own experiences. With so many thoughts surging inside, it can be a daunting task to untangle them into coherent sentences. I'll do my best to keep you updated!

With love,
Maranda