[Xmca-l] Re: Life off grid - communitas?

[Huw Lloyd]

That looks like a compelling film, Greg.  Is 'off the grid' used
metaphorically, i.e. is it about living away from societal norms, or is it
principally about generating their own power etc?

I have always thought it rather telling that the skills that society at
large tends to value the most (finance, entertainment) are invariably the
most useless when it comes to living within a small community.  Maybe,
maybe, this is because community is not something easily achieved outside
of settings of co-dependence that are not mediated by money, qualifications
etc.

Then again, one has to ask about the nature of a production documenting a
more independent way of living whilst simultaneously reconnecting with
societal values by lugging a wide-lens camera around with homesteaders at
one end of the camera and a series of official film selection committees at
the other end of apparatus.  Is there some kind of hipster quality to that,
about being radically happy in the city centre or radically happy out in
remote places, provided the umbilical chord isn't cut?  Or is it more
simply communities celebrating their existence and survival -- "we're here
and we do things differently".

Either way, what seems to be interesting for me here is the change in
meaning for basic skills and community values that seem to go hand in hand
with 'disconnecting'.

Best,
Huw

On 25 October 2015 at 02:30, Greg Thompson <greg.a.thompson@gmail.com>
wrote:

> Is this a new form of communitas:
> http://lifeoffgrid.ca/
> (link is to a 3 minute trailer for a movie about folks living life off the
> grid)
> Some of the folks seem to suggest so. Others maybe not so much.
> -greg
>
> --
> Gregory A. Thompson, Ph.D.
> Assistant Professor
> Department of Anthropology
> 880 Spencer W. Kimball Tower
> Brigham Young University
> Provo, UT 84602
> http://byu.academia.edu/GregoryThompson
>