This chapter addresses issues surrounding the media's portrayal of blacks in movies, television shows, books, newspapers, etc. One thing that became clear as I read was that, as far as general life experiences go, people tend to assume that those of the same color have had similar experiences. That members of the same race really "understand" one another, and those of other races who try to offer perspectives on their situations automatically lack credibility, because they don't know what it's like to be a member of that particular race. Director Charles Dutton was particularly wary of having too many whites working on the set of The Corner. Since most of them had not grown up in situations like the ones surrounding the characters of David Simon's book, he distrusted most of them and questioned their motives. He even questioned Simon's motive for writing such a book in the first place, stating he was using someone else's misery and profiting from it.
However, there were others within the Baltimore community who praised Simon's work. He won the support of many people in the area and even had the pastor at the largest African-American church in the area preaching sermons based on his writings. Over time, Dutton would also being to give Simon some credibility. But what made Simon different than any of the other whites working on the set, or anyone who chooses to write about races other than their own? It was the fact that he spent a year on the streets of Baltimore, getting to know the people and actively participating in their community. Even when he was unwelcome in the early stages of his visits, he went back every day until he was a regular part of their lives. Because he had lived in and experienced their situation, he was able to offer an emic account of the events in Baltimore, which is what truly gave him his credibility in the end. People were more likely to listen to him and respect his opinions because they knew he shared their experiences.
So although Simon was white, he was questioned very little about why he should be the one to tell this story. Generally, I think people are much more keen to the idea of their story being told from the point-of-view of someone else, as long as that person shares their experiences, regardless of race.
As I was reading through the chapter I pretty much shared the same sentiments that Dutton had about Simon writing on the black experience in Baltimore. I had never heard of the show before, so I wasn't aware until the end of the chapter what a success it had become. Either way I'm still on the side of "if you haven't experienced it, you probably don't really know what you're talking about" because a 2nd degree experience by watching and living around something is nothing like the 1st degree of experience of actually living it. Simon may have grown up in that area, but he never experienced what life was like a black person in said area. And just like the quote on page 60 said about if a popular black star decided he wanted to play Hannibal, the lead of the film would probably go to a white star anyways. I actually saw this picture like a week ago and just remembered it for this post, so I had to go in search for it again - https://www.dropbox.com/s/v6s4u2fbj38ljm4/egypt.jpg?dl=0. It came with the caption "they give us the roles that make THEM comfortable" and so far, unfortunately, from what I've seen, it has been that way.
ReplyDeleteThis actually made me think of a video Dr. Andreatta showed in Methods the other day. It was about the backlash people on her ethnographic work of the people of
ReplyDeletePapua New Guinea. They believed that she got some of their stories wrong. Some of them have gone to school to be Anthropologists. They critiqued the fact that they were learning about their own culture from works written by "westerners." They expressed frustration that there was a lack of emic perspective. Students were hopeful that they would successfully write the stories of their own people, giving their own culture a voice that has not been heard.
Shannon...can you edit your comment to make it clearer just what you are talking about? For example, who is the female anthropologist whose work in PNG was criticized (I imagine you are speaking of Margaret Mead, but you left out the name). Do you support this critique? Is it fair or significant? If so, do you think that Anthropology is an exploitative field that should be stopped? Don;t anthropologists tell the stories of the people they study? Let's be a bit more critical in our comments and a bit more clear-headed in our thinking about these issues.
DeleteThe video I was referring to is, "Anthropology on Trial", by Barbara Gullahorn-Holecek. The Anthropologist, Margaret Mead, wrote a book from her assessment of two villages. Pere and Mbunai. One was located in the mountains and one by the water. Mead did not share spend equal amounts of time with both villages. Years after her book was released, the mountain villagers read Mead's portrayal of them. They felt that their characterization in Mead's book was framed through a biased lens. Mead based much of her writing of the mountain villagers on the judgmental information from the water villagers, whom she knew more intimately. There were members of both villages who expressed a feeling of exploitation by Mead, and other "western" Anthropologists. I think that anthropologists should always be conscious of the impact we have on those we study. Since Mead's work anthropology has refined these concerns in research methods. There are certainly both advantages and disadvantages of wearing an outsider's lens in culture study. Sometimes an etic perspective will catch something that an insider might take for granted. However, native knowledge may afford an understanding of subtle innuendos an outsider may be blind to.
DeleteCarol has raised an interesting point from this reading concerning the question of who has the right to tell someone else's story. This is another classic anthropological dillema. The anthropologist is usually an outsider, someone who has no prior claim or experience in the culture under study. I understand Dutton's and India's position that David Simon is an outsider to the black experience in inner-city Baltimore, and therefore his right to tell their story is suspect. But let's probe this position in some detail today in class today. What about Simon's experience finally won over Charles Dutton...and how do anthropologists who are explicitly trying to study a foreign (alien) culture deal with this when they do field research?
ReplyDeleteReading the comment by India and after reading chapter 4, I understand the distrust and disinterest Dutton felt towards Simon. As an African American who has lived through the experience of being black in America; I have to question the motives of any non-person of color who writes or depicts the black experience in any form. Although the show was very successful, the success of the show was due to the fact that the director was black and had previously lived the life of those depicted in the show. I do admire and give credit to Simon for spending a year and getting close to his subjects, however this brief encounter does not give him an in depth sentiment as to what it truly means to live and be black in these communities.This goes for any person who believes they have insight about a culture and lifestyle they aren't apart of. Ultimately, his work and this show was an exploitation of the black inner-city Baltimore community. There was no mention of Simon helping these people who clearly needed help. He studied them, took thier stories and gained a profit. To summarize, Simon is a white male who grew up very fortunate than those he claims to understand; because of his upbringing, he will never fully understand what it means to be black in these communities.
ReplyDeleteAmy Rose...it is very interesting to read your comments right after leaving class when we discussed this and I was playing the "devil's advocate" on this issue and analogizing the journalist with the anthropologist. I look forward to hearing if your opinion has shifted after thinking about this some more and in light of our discussion today in class.
Delete