Inquiry Conference!

Hey Everyone!

I am presenting my project in Ghana at the BYU Inquiry Conference this Friday at 10 AM.  I am also participating in a panel discussion a bit later.  It would be great if you could come, especially to listen to our great key note speakers this year!

I also have two photographs in the art show.  There is a people's choice award that you should help me get by going and voting!  This is one of the pictures I submitted.  Hope to see many of you there!

Rachel

Kennedy Center Photo Contest

After my experience in Ghana, Africa this summer, knowing what I know now about the nature of photography and the problems it poses for authenticity I have mentioned earlier, sitting at the awards ceremony for the annual Kennedy Center Photo Contest for international study programs was an interesting experience.

These two pictures here earned me two honorable mentions. I was the only one who received two awards, which is fun.  However, looking through my thousands of other pictures, I can't help but wonder why these? I had probably 50 "really good pictures" to submit.  Looking at the other winners, I wonder again at how subjective their submissions were, and I never before questioned what it must be like to be a judge for one of these things. I am not sure I could do it.  There is so much more that goes into a photograph than what we see in our two dimensional image. 

My Group as a Mediator

I think I have come to terms with one thing. This blog, and this making sense of my experience in Ghana process, will NEVER END!!!!!

I forgot a serious part of my experience in my conclusions on the authenticity of travel documentation. My group. My six obruni brothers and sisters. Without them, my experience would have been incredibly different. We all act and behave differently when we around around different people, and so much of my analysis of the day to day events were because I talked them over with Chase, or vented my frustrations with Maggie. Things also tend to be a lot more funny when someone is there to witness it. Pretty much everything you currently see on my blog would all be different if I would have set out for Ghana solo.

It helps that we all love each other. I still see them all on a weekly basis. No doubt they have been a positive influence on my field study, but I can't help but wonder how much more I would have immersed in the culture had I been alone. Maybe picked up more Twi? Made more friends? Won't know now, but it would have made for a different experience altogether.

So What?

And we come back to that question of authenticity....

There is a proverb in Ghana that says, “one should not believe all stories narrated by a solitary traveler.”  Considering biased, inaccurate travel memoirs such as Henry Morton Stanley’s Through The Dark Continent and many others who have contributed to poor representations of the “cultural other,” I could not agree more.  However, I do think that the one traveler in our proverb has the capacity to narrate several different stories, and I think my experience is an example of how that could be possible.


Clifford Geertz is well known for his idea of “thick description,” the concept that having several layered meanings and interpretation is what gives ethnography a dimensional richness.  There is a concept in film that Professor Benjamin Unguren spoke on at the 2010 BYU Inquiry Conference called the “iterative film.”  By showing a film, and then filming the reactions of the subjects watching a film about themselves, you are essentially able to give your representation more dimension.  Can we not do this in writing by integrating other mediums and viewpoints?  Maybe I am harsh on Stanley, given that his one medium and viewpoint was much more limited than what we currently have access to, but is it not time that we take advantage of these new opportunities to enhance our own experiences and refine our limited portrayals of it?

While we must understand how fragile the nature of experience is (which is evident based on how different my experience could be depending on the avatar and medium I chose), recognizing that we can get a more accurate representation when we combine a few different viewpoints and mediums could be beneficial as we continue to undergo the process of writing creative nonfiction, and travel writing in particular.  Of course we can never have a completely authentic telling of an experience, but by adding more dimension to our representations this approach might get us one step closer.

Conclusion on Mediums

Not only was the avatar, or perspective I chose to see my experience in, important to my project on the authenticity of experience in Ghana, but the mediums I chose to record it in.  The avatar and the medium were equally responsible for the representation I came up with.  After my experience, I think that there are certain avatars that work better with certain mediums.  If you are someone who relates to one more than another, then considering those recommended mediums could be beneficial.

First, for all students or travelers interested in going out into the field I recommend a jotting notebook and a diary.  A jotting notebook because our memories are just too fragile, and you can lose important information as well as a viable medium, and a diary because there will always be something you want to express that isn't field note appropriate.  

Ava- The Romantic Anthropologist- This avatar was the student avatar.  Having an academic approach with course contracts, books, etc for this experience was great for me, but I realize that might not be for everyone.  I felt like I got more out of it having had that mindset.  To me, it did not feel forced, and it helped me stay positive when dealing with culture shock and some of the other things that come with integrating into a new community.  If you are someone who relates to her, I found that typed field notes were better than handwritten field notes.  I had a lot more notes when I was using a computer. 

My Physical Body as a Medium

Another important medium that I did not consider as it relates to my experience in Ghana was physically.  What is the difference between going to Ghana and getting Malaria or just traveling to Ghana through books or Google?  Edward Casey in his book Getting Back Into Place makes a really good argument for the importance of the body and it's relationship to place, and where the mind fits into that whole deal.  Others such as Michel Foucault have also made comments on the subject, and for this reason I think it is a viable medium to comment on. 

Hygiene- Bucket showers were frequent, and sometimes if the well was broken or the power was off, having enough water to wash the dishes seemed more important than that shower or laundry.  We could not drink the water unless we were cooking and boiled it first.  All of our water for brushing our teeth and drinking came from little 2 cup sachets.  It was a real pain when we ran out of them.  We would have to walk clear up the hill and carry the bag back on our heads, which I never quite mastered.  The locals who could not afford sachets so readily went to the well frequently.

Hair-  And just for fun, getting your hair done in Ghana is a huge deal.  Sometimes I would really confuse me because women could change their hair so drastically and I would have trouble recognizing people.  Of course I had to see what this was all about.  I got my hair braided twice while I was there.  It took about three hours with four ladies helping me.  It hurt like crazy getting it in, and the picture I included in this post shows them melting the nylon hair together to seal it all up.

Sickness- Getting sick in Ghana tends to be an experience to remember.  Luckily for me I escaped anything serious, but of course there are the occasional days where you could swear you have a parasite.  Changing your diet so drastically and getting used to a new environment takes a tole on your body.  I also had to take antimalarial medicine called Larium that gave me the most crazy, lucid dreams imaginable, not to mention a serious hormone imbalance. 

Emails Home

One medium that I did not consider in how I mediated my experience was through my weekly emails home to friends and family.  Just as blog posts or biweekly reflections required for my coursework, knowing that I had to write these emails forced me to keep a certain audience in mind.  I would try and find experiences to share that they could enjoy or relate to.  Here are some general descriptions of subjects that could be found in my emails home.  These were more than just emails.  This was my social network, the link to my world.

Group Email- This was the mass email, ones that I have included on this blog and posted the day that they were sent.  Here I tried to keep it interesting.  I included things that people could possibly relate to, which can be more difficult than not.  Sharing crazy stories, strange sights, and funny billboards and marriage proposals made up the bulk of it.  Even if I was having an off week or a bad day I could not let it show too much.  I was talking to a support group, and I could not let them know I was struggling, especially when some of them were already convinced that I was going to die of typhoid or in some kind of machete fight.

Parents- I could be honest in this one.  If I was struggling, I could let them know.  If I wanted to talk about this experience in the big picture of my life, then it could be found here.  How I was starting to feel less repulsive to marriage, where I was at in my head, where I want to go to grad school, how this will impact me when I get home, etc.  The kinds of things that only parents want to hear about.  I also emailed them when I needed help with London reservations or about getting extra bug spray.  Thank you parentals!