>diane celia hodges wrote:
>>
>> My own concerns, as I indicated earlier, concern questions of "ownership",
>> the idea of "electronically colonizing" other countries, and so on.
>>
>> Is it freedom, opening discussion, or is it socialization, inculcating
>> participatings? Mebbe a little of both?
>>
>
>My guess would be a bit of both. But you are probably in a better
>position (better read, more thought)
(Naaaah - it's an illusion... ;-)
than I to speculate on the issues.
>I can only start with the notion of "colonizing" associated with force.
>Then I get lost. Here are some stories.
>
>I read (and have lost the memory of where) of the process of
>electrification in villages in a remote rural area. People in the
>villages had a complex system of use-rights to land for agriculture. The
>electric company (European owned, operated by professionals from urban
>parts of the country) required that their equipment (the meters) be
>associated with the owners of the property where it went. This
>requirement had ramifications throughout the villages, altering property
>ownership, relationships between men and women, social structures within
>villages, etc. People agreed to electrification because they wanted the
>benefits of education and health care that they were told would be
>possible with electricity.
>
>Is this colonization? Or is this more like the involuntary "free choice"
>one has in giving up personal information, social security number, past
>credit etc. to get a mortgage?
This is pretty great example, actually, because what changes is the social
organization of the community; the basis of economic structure - as you say.
It's more of a monopolizing, where there is only (apparently) "ONE" way
to receive the benefits of electricity; rather than adapting the technologies
to the needs and organizations of the community, the community is
re-organized to meet the standards of the technology.
It is, I think, a version of colonization. I have a smiliar story:
In an Inuit village in Northern Canada, the daily schedule of the children and
their families is to start the day at around noon, and finish later in the
evenings. When the schools came in, they insisted, of course, that classes
start at 8:00 AM. For the first 6 months, no one showed up at school
until noon or so. Finally the elders & school staff met, and it was suggested
by the Inuit reps that school start at noon, and stay open until 8:00PM.
No surprise, the response was an aghast "NO!!" and so, schools continue to
operate at 8:00 AM, and only a portion of the students ever actually make a
full day of school...
the difference, obviously, is whose rules and whose organization matter?
In issues such as the one you described, where the technology is being
brought in on the condition that the communities re-organziation their
social / economic structures, is, I think, a version of colonizing, where the
folks with the power to provide the services are determining the conditions
under which these services can be made available. Power never negotiates.I
wonder, too, what kinds of health & education benefits accompany this,
like, whose health
standards, whose education, and so on...
>
>I'm going to end here and copy the next story. There is no aggressive
>violence occuring here, but it does seem very much like
>colonization...and much more dangerous than electronic colonization.
>However, electronic colonization might enable the following sort to
>occur far more rapidly. However, electronic colonization might enable
>the colonized to recognize their colonization much more rapidly.....
>Linnda
>
>PLEASE respond to original poster:
>>From: Kellen Gilbert <kgilbert who-is-at selu.edu>
>>Dr. Kellen Gilbert
>>Department of Sociology, Social Work & Criminal Justice
>>Southeastern Louisiana University
>>Hammond LA 70402
>>504-549-2107 telephone
>>504-549-5014 fax
>>
>>
>>The Division of Worldwide Ministries of the Presbyterian Church (USA)
>>displays a web site that announces the denomination's intention to support
>>efforts to evangelize 152 "unreached peoples" by the year 2000. The Web
>>site, which you may view at http://www.pcusa.org/pcusa/wmd/ie/list.htm,
>>bears the official logo of the denomination as well as two independent
>>mission agencies that have put pressure on the denomination to increase its
>>global evangelism efforts. It is alarming that these efforts seem to focus
>>on indigenous peoples throughout the world, such as the Pygmies of
>>Cameroon, who have a complex belief system strongly reflecting their
>>interconnectedness with the ecosytem.
Well how interesting. About 25 yrs ago I was in Cameroon ( no shit I was 12
yrs old and my family was (naive white stupid) "camping"for 6 months
across Central Africa - a whole other story; nevertheless...) Just before
the border between Cameroon & Zaire,
we side-trekked to a place called Mt. Hoyo - it was late and we were looking for
a place to pitch our tent... anyway we ended up in a Pygmy Village, and
they directed us to the
peak of the mountain, which, surprisingly (not?) was where an odd but
friendly German
couple had set up a set of cabins, and a diningroom for "visitors". We
were, apparently,
the first, in about four years.
Anyway, to make a long story short, we were showed around the villages by
the Pygmies, did some trading, and found out from the German couple that
(a) they rent the space where their (motel?) is, from the Pygmy elders, who
would, apparently, never
live on top of a mountain. The Germans described them as "rather savvy" about
foreigners, which they found both surprising and pleasant at the same time.
Hard to tell if it was a patronizing acknowledgement or not (it was also
hard to tell just why the Germans were living there, altho' many German
"gangsters" move to Africa - we met several of them through our
travels...);
but, well, you jogged the memory. I doubt there's a space for relevance to the
movements of the Global Presbyterian Police into remote villages in Cameroon.
I think both examples are different ways that dominant cultures colonize -
one is through structural, organizational change (holding technologies &
servies hostage, so to speak, until specific conditions are met); and
religious re-educations are examples,
although I wonder how much effect the Presbyterians will have...
A colleague of mine, from Kenya, relates similar stories of visiting evangelists
and the ways the local communities enjoy their antics, but find it all more
amusing, like scratchy Keystone Cops films, than they do threatening.
thanks for the prompts -
diane
"Every tool is a weapon if you hold it right."
Ani Difranco
*********************************
diane celia hodges
faculty of education
university of british columbia
vancouver, bc canada
tel: (604)-253-4807
email: dchodges who-is-at interchange.ubc.ca