Gender--multimedia

I thought that this was one of the most interesting stories that has come up recently. In light of the Miss Universe pageant it has been discovered that there is a transgender contestant. Jenna Talachova was disqualified as a Miss Universe contestant because she was born as a male. She was scheduled to represent Canada in the competition, but after her disqualification she was asked to do several interviews. Her story reminded me of the documentary Middle Sex that was on youtube.

The Price of Sex: Video

I actually did not attend the showing of the documentary on campus, but I did have a chance to see it while I was visiting a friend at another university. I was deeply impacted by the film, as I thought that that could have been anyone I knew, or even myself. Although the film focused on sex trafficking in Europe, I am aware that it goes on here. I attached a video of sex trafficking survivors as they share their stories with a panel at the United Nations.

Why Tourism Matters

I found this article (and the lecture) very interesting. Initially, I really wouldn't have given much thought to tourism being an explored field in anthropology. Mainly because when one thinks of a tourist they think of someone is naturally "naive" to the host country's customs, traditions, and people. For example, when we watched the documentary Life and Debt, the tourist seemed so oblivious to the plight of the Jamaican people in a way that almost seemed ignorant. But I Gmelch's article she discussed (overall) some of the positive and negative effects of tourism and how tourism anthropology works. One thing that I found pretty alarming about the whole tourism market is that a lot of developing nations are now havens for tourists. However, in many of those countries as little as .10 is actually given to their economy. In addition,  a huge supply of natural resources with tourism and bring a lot of pollution to the country. So while we see tourism as a positive thing for these less developed countries, we should take a closer look at how we are really affecting their country.

Cell Phones, Sharing, and Social Status in African Society

This article kind of illuminates the differences between American and African society and how different cultures view cell phones, sharing, and their social status. For example, in the Smith claims that cell phones represent a level of economic achievement that is out of reach to most Nigerians. Which I found to be profound since just about everyone here has a cell phone, even children. In fact, I got my first cell phone before I was in high school, and frankly I thought nothing of it. However, when I sit and reflect on, I do see  how having a cell phone could be a status symbol. Back then, everyone thought it was cool to have one, and now as technologies advance cell phones that were popular when I first got mine such as the Motorola Razor are now obsolete when talking about the iPhone. So I do see a correlation but in contemporary society no one really associates a cell phone with social status, or if they do it is pretty rare. Even someone with a lot of money that has an older phone or phone that isn't as popular like an Android or IPhone isn't deemed poor or stingy with their money; they could have just lost their old phone, waiting for an upgrade, or content with the phone they are using. However, I guess with such a high emphasis placed on the phones' that the Nigerian people have they are a lot more likely to not loose it. Another interesting thing that I read was about text messaging being the cheaper means of communication, and how people would deem people who texted, and called far less, as cheap/stingy and/or did not care about the relationship as much. In America, that notion is totally different; most people prefer to text message rather than call, not because it saves money, but because it is more convenient in most cases and you don't have to deal with speaking to another person on the phone- its direct and gets straight to the point.

Life and Debt

I thought that Life and Debt was a very interesting film. I really enjoyed how the film maker chose to narrate the progression of the film. Throughout the course of the film I loved how the narrator conveyed how the tourist felt about what they saw in Jamaica versus what was actually going on in the minds of the native Jamaicans.or example, when they tourists were on the beach tasting Jamaican grown fruit the narrator stated " You wonder why you have not tasted bananas this sweet before..." and the scene then cuts to a dying banana farm that once flourished with employees, but is now down to 15. However, one of the most disturbing scenes that I saw in the film was when the dairy workers had to literally dump all of their milk on the ground because powdered milk was in larger demand than fresh milk. Honestly, I think its very sad what the people of Jamaica are going through. It seems as though all of their industries are dying as year goes by.Which I learned is somewhat not the case. There are three industries that are flourishing in Jamaica: tourism, private security, and coffins. Now that is ridiculous. I find that completely awful, and frankly there isn't anyone to blame except (in my opinion) America. I feel as though the stagnant decline of Jamaica's economy is solely the fault of America. I believe that if you do not give these people a chance to control their own economy (trade and production of goods) than they will continue to struggle is substandard conditions.