A cyborg is a hybrid creature, composed of organism and machine.
This reminds me of the movie Repo Men, when people are sick or injured and need transplants to survive they lose natural body parts and gain mechanical ones. Thus, characters in this movie are hybrid creatures.
taken for granted fact of Horner’s built environment,
Taking the built environment for granted, something many people do without a second thought until a shift in the built environment causes an upset.
approaching welfare reform as a kind of ‘sensory politics’ allows us to interrogatethe emerging conditions of formal political recognition available to transitioningHorner residents at a moment when their long-standing representational bodies(e.g. tenant councils) face obsolescence.
In a time of transition these residents do not have adequate representation.
obsolescence
Out of date, no longer in use
Ethnography.
However, the labor-intensive demands ofputting bread on the table also means thatpeople do not have the time or energy topay a great deal of attention to all of those
People go through life with a focus on making money for survival, which often seems to result in tunnel vision. At the end of the day many people do not have the time or energy to work on building relationships with surrounding individuals. From a human behavior standpoint, this is a shame because connections and relationships are incredibly significant to our health and success.
he decimationof public housing in Chicago became ameans of ‘rounding up’ black life into neigh-borhoods themselves increasingly depletedby scam mortgages.
How infrastructure relates to race. Brings Harvey's, The Right to the City to mind with public housing serving as a way to segregate neighborhoods.
choreographyof performances
Subway rhythm?
the inabilities of infrastructure to be anything‘for sure’
Infrastructure serves different purposes for different people.
alls seeminglywere constituted for inscriptions of allkinds, as they themselves inscribed theirway into marking off a sense of here vs.there, of yours vs. mine.
Walls can mark differences in location- your room versus my room- and can also exist solely to be broken down. Walls can be broken down in various respects- reaching a new height academically, athletically, socially, etc. Looking at the in between by analyzing different elements of the same system of infrastructure.
The meter, Von Schnitzler argues, delivered moral behavior aswell as water
Similar to the Panopticon?
The meter being a type of watch tower resulting in moral behavior as far as water usage.
hydrauliccitizenship, a form of belonging to the city enabled by social and material claims made to the city’swater infrastructure”
Similar to Harvey's, Right to the City?
Reminds me of social work's Systems Theory, which analyzes the various components of an individual's life and how they work together in a system in order to maintain homeostasis. Similarly, systems of infrastructure must work together for society to operate effectively.
ontology
Noun:
studies the nature of existence or being as such.
Our disciplinary bent is to examine the influence of a roadin this part of Peru (Harvey 2012) or that part of Niger (Masquelier 2002) rather than to analyzeroad building as a network.1
Looking at the impact of various elements of infrastructure rather than the actual act of building these systems.
n this article I assess what an analysisof infrastructures offers to anthropological analysis and what anthropology adds to the study ofinfrastructures.
Objective for the article.
building your entiredaily routine and your work around the ferry schedule
Schedules and daily life revolve around the ferry timetable.
speeds, rhythms, and duration patternsplay an important role in performing a sense of place and time that is asunique as the flows themselve
Speed, rhythms, and duration do not determine the way of life instead they play a role in behavior.
Through duration time is ritualized. Bycultivating duration – that is, by doing things over and over – people createsignificant habits and rituals.
Through duration of time and repeatedly doing things and creating habits are people also creating rhythms?
Delays’ durations tell a lot aboutdifferent places’ sense of resilience too
What do delay durations say about our society?
Is this generational? Are your parents/ grandparents more or less patient regarding delays?
Islands and coastal communities see their rhythms disrupted byweather, mechanical failures, special events, small incidents, and schedulechanges that wreak havoc with their spatial mobilities across the water,
These disruptions are forces of arrhythmia within the ferry timetable.
And yet ferries merely fore-ground individual ways of life; they do not determine them
This reminds me of environmental determinism and possibilism. Ferries allow for a certain pace or pattern in life, but do not dictate the manner in which individuals fall into those patterns.
Thetis Island’s famous ‘Oh-my-God-they’re-on-the-ferry pie’ quick recipe.
Example of how deeply embedded ferries are in the island culture.
Island time, like all place temporalities, is a relational entity. In otherwords, one can only make sense of it by understanding it in relation topertinent counterparts. Thus, the region’s pace of life is always slowerorfasterthan other places – and never just ‘slow’ or ‘fast’ in absolute terms
The idea from Lefebvre that rhythms must have comparisons for comprehension.
saving time as a goal in itselfbecomes less important when we attempt to understand the meanings oftime within the context of the region’s place temporality.
Through the option of taking the highway or the ferry we can see that saving time during travel is not as important on island time since people appreciate the comparatively slow pace of life.
ferries play the role oftime-keepers and time-makers
Does this seem too restrictive? Ferries dictating when and where you can travel based on a timetable.
you can never slow down too much. It’s impossible todisconnect. Right now I’ve got a ferry to catch from Swartz Bay to the GulfIslands, and Tony has a plane to catch at the airport. The idea of islandtime is all about trying, this is the keyword,trying, to slow down.
Again the idea of being "in time" as a scale. People living with the island state of mind must still take outside influences into account, such as flight departures.
‘ok, you’ve been talking with thiscustomer for five minutes now, can you bag her shit and get us allgoing?’’ but I had to tell myself it was ok, there was no good reason tobe in a hurry.’
Great example of how difficult it can be to slow down in life.
Has anyone else experienced something like this? Did you recognize your thoughts as being impatient as this woman did?
But those who are on island time tryto take the time to think, to connect with friends and neighbors, to smell theroses, to go out for a walk, or to take up time-consuming hobbies, likegardening.
Hard for me to imagine this style of living as more than a weekend vacation since the need to be productive is greatly internalized. Always being on a fast track towards something whether it be academic, athletic, or personal I usually feel that I do not have time to "smell the roses."
‘But, no, really, island time is not just about being15 minutes late because the ferry is 15 minutes late’, Tony picks up again,‘it’s state of mind, it’s a way of living your life at a slower pace’.
Is the idea of island time dialectic?
In the sense that the ferry's pace shapes the place (people have excuses based on island time), and the place (way of living) shapes their slower pace of living.
Despite her small size and old age theMill Baydoeswhat no other ferry in the BC Ferries system does: compete with a highway
The selection of this ferry route allows for an analysis and understanding of island rhythms because people have a choice in taking the ferry or highway. Without an alternative route people on the islands would use the ferries out of necessity. As an alternative route, the Mill Bay makes it possible to examine transportation preferences.
Moving‘in time’ and ‘out of time’ are opposite sides of the same coin, and theirmutual distinction is not meant to be a binary opposition
An individual cannot be entirely "in time" or "out of time," it is more of a scale than binary opposites.
Depending on schedules, dis-tance, lifestyle, and other variables, some people may travel as frequently asalmost every day or as infrequently as once, twice, or half a dozen times ayear, or even never.
The rhythms of people's lives combined with the rhythm of boat arrivals and departures influences the ability to travel.
solipsisti
The theory that only the self exists, or can be proved to exist.
Extreme preoccupation with and indulgence of one's feelings, desires, etc.; egoistic self-absorption.
Children tend to learn sociality and sharing, at least in part, through intimidation, victimization, domination and sanctio
Is this saying that children are intimidated and dominated into learning sociality and sharing? Or that children intimidate and dominate others into sharing with them?
Because fear sells. There is a market in anxiety
Examples of advertisements based on fear, intimidating people into taking care of their bodies.
'dromo- cracy
The French philosopher and urbanist, Paul Virilio, coined a term “dromocracy”
The relationship between power and speed. ‘Dromos’ come from the Greek word for race. ‘Dromocracy’ therefore is the power to rule by speed.
4 Again, the sight and sound of these services is a quintessential everyday urban experience.
Is this dependent on geographic location? How might the sights and sounds of repair and maintenance services be different in other areas?
Cassandra tendenc
Cassandra tendency: occurs when valid warnings or concerns are dismissed or disbelieved.
The term originates in Greek mythology. Cassandra was a daughter of Priam, the King of Troy. Struck by her beauty, Apollo provided her with the gift of prophecy, but when Cassandra refused Apollo's romantic advances, he placed a curse ensuring that nobody would believe her warnings. Cassandra was left with the knowledge of future events, but could neither alter these events nor convince others of the validity of her predictions.
And when civic engagement was not enough, when government failed, when private banks could no longer hold the line, Chicago turned to an old tool in the American repertoire—racial violence. “The pattern of terrorism is easily discernible,” concluded a Chicago civic group in the 1940s. “It is at the seams of the black ghetto in all directions.” On July 1 and 2 of 1946, a mob of thousands assembled in Chicago’s Park Manor neighborhood, hoping to eject a black doctor who’d recently moved in. The mob pelted the house with rocks and set the garage on fire. The doctor moved away
This reminds me of a scene from the movie Remember the Titans when someone threw a brick through Coach Boone's window as an act of racial violence. After looking through an interview with the real coach, I found that this event did actually occur but instead of a brick thrown through the window of his home it was a toilet.
lave sales were taxed and notarized
Slave sales were more official than the North Lawndale real estate.
Kids in North Lawndale need not be confused about their prospects: Cook County’s Juvenile Temporary Detention Center sits directly adjacent to the neighborhood
If you were in the position of those growing up in North Lawndale would the neighboring Juvenile Center motivate you to improve your life, or would you accept that your fate is already sealed based on where you are from?
They have been taughtChristian civilization, and to speak the noble English language instead of some African gibberish. The account is square with the ex-slaves.”
Teaching English repays for slavery?
Instead, the concentration of poverty has been paired with a concentration of melanin.
Poverty is concentrated among those with dark skin.
conflagration
Noun: A destructive fire, usually an extensive one
n 1968, Clyde Ross and the Contract Buyers League were no longer simply seeking the protection of the law. They were seeking reparations
Reparations:
the making of amends for wrong or injury done: reparation for an injustice.
compensation in money, material, labor, etc., payable by a defeated country to another country or to an individual for loss suffered during or as a result of war.
restoration to good condition.
Contract sellers became rich. North Lawndale became a ghetto
Development of a ghetto.
Local white children had a school bus. Clyde Ross did not, and thus lost the chance to better his education
Opportunity often influences the paths we are able to follow. The novel, Outliers, by Malcom Gladwell is a study of cultural anthropology that goes into depth regarding how opportunity impacts success.
http://www.amazon.com/Outliers-Story-Success-Malcolm-Gladwell/dp/0316017930
“Some of the land taken from black families has become a country club in Virginia,” the AP reported.
Resembles the dispossession of the poor presented by Harvey in The Right to the City.
Thus, the gentrification of city centers toaccommodate global enterprises tends to push scores of low income andmiddle class families (state employees, teachers, professionals, or theworkers) to live the life of the poor in the expanding “planet of slums”and squatter areas where out-doors life constitutes an underlying feature.
Do areas with higher rates of homelessness come about due to increased occurrences of dispossession by the states, or are those areas sought after by homeless individuals for a particular type of out-door public space?
heyhave spread among educated young people with higher status, aspirationsand social skills—government employees, teachers, and professionals
Changes in the environment are reflected by the characteristics of society.
Neoliberalism is broadly understood as an ideology that advocatesthe economy and society be freed from the state regulations, and becontrolled, instead, by individuals and corporate bodies in accordancewith their self interests, mediated through the invisible hands of themarket
Neoliberalism Definition: an economic ideology centered around the values of a global economy, or globalization: free market, free trade, and the unrestricted flow of capital.
Neoliberals advocate minimal government spending, minimal taxation, minimal regulations, and minimal direct involvement in the economy.
Wealthy neighbourhoods provided with all kinds of services, such as exclusive schools, golf courses, tennis courts and private police patrolling the area around the clock intertwine with illegal settle-ments where water is available only at public fountains, no sanitation system exists, electricity is pirated by a privileged few, the roads become mud streams whenever it rains, and where house-sharing is the norm.
Example of how the built environment reflects society. Upper class society is represented by exclusive services, while lower class society is represented by the lack of public services.
o create a movement to build another kind of world—including a dif-ferent kind of urban experience
Changing the built environment changes the way society interacts and experiences life.
The system worked very well for some fifteen years, and it involved not only a transformation of urban infrastructures but also the construc-tion of a new way of life and urban persona.
By redesigning neighborhoods, Haussmann redesigned the way of life. Another example of the dialectical relationship between man and the built environment.
power of mind over mind
This panoptic institution never intervenes because the constant pressure of being watched hangs over head; therefore, there is a power of mind over mind. Force is not necessary when people are submissive from the idea of power and discipline.
Is this panoptic institution of ideal power realistic in its form? Does something like this actually exist?
penitentiary
Penitentiary: a place for imprisonment, discipline, or punishment
It is polyvalent in its applications;
Polyvalent: serving more than one purpose; capable of different reactions
Panoptic institutions are versatile as far as the potential population being served.
In view of this, Bentham laid down the principle that power should be visible and unveri-fiable.
When people are able to see the source of power but cannot tell if they are being watched it results in the best behavior at all times.
This is the same idea that many parents tell their children as they are growing up, "always be on your best behavior because you never know who could be watching you."
Panoptic institutions would be a strong factor in influencing groups of people to behave in a desirable manner without using force.
regulation into even the smallest details of everyday life
The quarantine of the town resulted in regulation of the smallest details of life with the syndics and intendants acting as prison guards, which relates to the title of the article "The Birth of the Prison."
Generally speaking, all the authorities exercising individual control function according to a double mode; that of binary division and branding (mad/sane; dangerous/harmless; normal/abnormal); and that of coercive assignment, of differential distribution (who he is; where he must be; how he is to be characterized; how he is to be recognized; how a constant surveillance is to be exercised over him in an individual way, etc.).
What forms of binary branding do we see today?
3. Panopticism
Panoptic: permiting the viewing of all parts/elements; all inclusive
Three policemen are in the kitchen drinking.
Why do the policemen drink outside of the bar?
"Hey, watch it. There's a lady present."
Marriage raises women to a higher ground as long as they are accompanied by their husband.
it is easier and more comfortable for women to simply avoid the bar altogether.
Avoid an element of the built environment in order to escape the behavior associated with that area.
sentient
Sentient (adj) Able to perceive or feel things.
Men treat women as though they do not experience emotions.
A man would never order a frozen daiquiri, and women seldom order scotch or bourbon."
Gender stereotypes based on drink preference. Even if a man enjoys drinking daiquiris he most likely would not in public due to embarrassment or feeling less masculine.This is not extreme as some of the other elements are in this article regarding male territory. It seems less extreme because it is true of most bars. In an average bar you will see men with beer before you will see them with a fruity drink.
Why do we as a society place such an emphasis on gendered drinks?
Male Territory," but such a claim is written into the customs and mores that guide male and female behavior alike.
Unspoken understanding of the culture in this bar.
Territoriality reflected the basic definitions of sexual gender as expressed in the division of labor and social structure of Brady's Bar.
Women are allowed to be waitresses, but cannot be behind the bar where the men work.
"literally thousands of experiences teach us unconsciously that space communicates. Yet this fact would probably never have been brought to the level of consciousness ifit had not been realized that space is organized differently in each culture.'"
How does space in our culture compare to space in other cultures? Does any one have an example of an uncomfortable moment due to differences in cultural perceptions of space?
Wherever people work, live, or play they stake claims on space and attach meanings to them.
Similarly, on the first day of class most students sit in the desk that they will continue to sit in for the entire semester even though seats are not assigned. We claim our seats and on the occasion that someone sits in the seat you are accustomed to it is a moment of confusion, feeling lost in the classroom.
such perceptions are always filtered through the culture we have learned.
We look at the world through a cultural lens, everyone's perspective is different.
panopticon
Panopticon- a building, as a prison, hospital, library, or the like, so arranged that all parts of the interior are visible from a single point.
Society produces build- ings that maintain and/or reinforce its social forms.
The built environment is impacted by society's ideas, activities, beliefs, and values.
Perhaps of more interest to anthropologists is the current exploration of the meaning of privacy as a cultural construct of Western society
The meaning of privacy is culturally constructed. How does our idea of privacy differ from other cultures?
Gregor suggests that in a society where people expect not to have privacy, the construction of solid housing or the separation of residences would increase suspicions and hostil- ity (144)
When privacy is not the cultural norm it can create suspicion of hostility.
Ul- timately, the spatial dimension of behavior has communicative features: "Space speaks
We build walls rather than temporary partitions, and there does seem to be a sense of discomfort when our privacy is removed, an example of that being dorm rooms.
What does our manipulation of space say about us?
Conceptualized as a bubble surrounding each individual, personal space varies in size according to the type of social relationships and situation
Idea that the personal space between a significant other versus a professor or colleague varies. Personal space also varies depending on the social situation, private versus public.
Psychocultural approaches, developed primarily by environmental psychologists, have inte- grated the concept of culture into explorations of the spatial dimensions of human behavior and human interactions with the built environmen
Integration of human behavior and interactions with the built environment.
imbue
To imbue- to impregnate or inspire, as with feelings, opinions, etc.
"The rightness of the form depends . .. on the degree to which it fits the rest of the ensemble"
What does it say about the culture of Whittier College that our campus has artistic sculptures, such as the red archway, which appear to be primarily for aesthetic purposes? Do these sculptures fit in our Whittier College society?