Now if only I had a funding source!
This is the second time I try to talk about this common metaphor back home. Here in this sunny coastal community, there is a lot of talk of crabs when talking about our problems as a group. The short version of this metaphor, is also the most widely used, tells of how when crabs or put in a pot the second one crab starts to move upward another crab in the pack will reach out and pull the first crab down. The lesson here is simple: no crabs make it out because there is a lack of collaboration in the group. The groups pitfalls summarized in this anecdote are listed below:
Because the status quo is so comfortable for so many, and blue skies and gentle breezes abound, the Pot of Crabs metaphor is sometimes wrapped in a dampening layer. Rather than focus on the destructive dynamic of the crabs, the story teller prefaces the story by speaking of the virtues of the crabs and how they usually don’t meddle in each other’s affairs. It is the pot and the external interest in cooking them that creates an aberrated landscape where the crabs behavior changes releasing a primal reaction. This alternate telling is offensive to anybody who is interested in bringing about change because the impact of the problem is softened by talk of the otherwise noble crab and the conspiracy that has brought about this change in their behavior.
As a crab in the pot, I am thankful that this time around, this decade the pot is slightly different, the pot is a pyrex glass 20 qt pot and I am not the only one that can see the ceramic stove top. Many now see the red glow and know the inevitable end of us all if this corner of the world does not get up and change. Let’s not talk about the glorious past, lets live in the present and focus on:
I went to school to learn the rules of the game called anthropology, only to find myself challenging most of them. I left grad school pretty clear that the career of an anthropologist was dictated by finding an institutional home - sounds funny if you put it like that -, write proposals for funding research, do the work, write it up, and if the institutional setting requires it, teach. The steps and path were simple, I just chose differently and now am left to wonder can my work be considered a work of anthropology if I do not have the institutional blessing of a foundation or a university? For now, I have settled for doing the work and working towards my goal and then letting a jury of my peers decide the value of what I have discovered along the way.
If you ask around, however, some people might say I am a business woman, a technology consultant, a business consultant, innovation industry advocate or economic development junkie. Though not untrue, these quick alternate descriptions miss out on the fact that I am really a participant observer. I am an anthropologist currently working on how to re-engineneer the landscape in order to facilitate a transformation of the local economy into one where innovation and technology development are a thriving sector of business.
I am continuously collecting data as if on a grand magnanimous institutional grant. Collecting data and then sitting down on a regular basis I sit down and analyze it, reach conclusions and design projects to test my hypothesese working to add to the understanding of the human animal, the dynamics of society and the institutions we construct. Call it a debt to be repaid or a personal sense of social responsibility, instead of an institutional mandate, this research obeys a personal social commitment to get involved and assist the best I can the economy and society I call home.
My methodology has focused on being a participant observer and gathering life and business stories. This sounds very traditional except that when an anthropologist decided to go native it is more common to imagine a fellow anthroplogist living and learning how to act in a small tribal community than mortgaging his or her house, seeking investment capital and indebting their future to launch a technology company. But, how else does one go native when the project is studying the transformation of a regional economy to one of innovation? I propose that if you want to gain insight into the problems faced by technology entrepreneurs in a depressed regional economy the participant observer path would require that you participate and insert yourself in the chain of social interactions you will be studying. The position of insertion in this scenario could have been at any point as a government economic development employee or as an entrepreneur.
One of the university courses to impact me the most was discussed "studying up." Breaking away with the tradition of studying the disempowered, marginalized communities some anthropologists were taking the challenge of documenting the culture of power. Instead of going native among communities where researches as foreigners are afforded a superior authoritative edge, the anthropologist wrote about places where access was more restrictive such as wealthy circles, the scientific community, government, and boardrooms were among the unlikely contexts. The key is how to gain access to the experience and relations that are often hidden from public view.
By virtue or sacrifice, being an entrepreneur that works avidly with fellow business leaders and government officials to engineer the re-inivention of our economy, I have earned access to processes that are not your average ethnography of this area. Many doors still remain locked to me, but hopefully the knowledge gained will assist others interested in entrepreneurial cultures, economic development policies, and working towards socio-economic change in their own regional contexts.
Does it matter where my reasearch takes place? This question goes to one of the problems of studying up. To the disempowered masses the anthropologists affords the veil of anonymity. To those with "power," human subjects being studied up anonimity has not been an ethical guarantee. "People of influence and power should answer to the people" is a righteous claim against affording anonimity. But being part of the struggle for change, I see many people whose lives could be adversely affected by a slanted or partisan reading of my observations turning the reading of this book into a salacious tell all book and this is not my intent. In this research to the extent possible I will endeavor to provide anonimity - either by changing of names, slight changing of context and dates. Of course, focusing on where I am from geographically speaking, like in any small circle, all it takes is light sleuthing and identities could be figured out.
By publishing my work in progress in a blog format I hope I will
discover just how localized the experience I have studied is. Blogging
is not a substitution to publishing, it is a new pre-publication
dimension of research. During the time I present my work in blog format I will provide greater
anonimity to my human subjects and find out through comments and
discussion with visitors how relevant location is to the research. So many places are on the same journey. I travel regularly to the midwest and I see a similar economies trying to do the same, usher in a new economy based on innovation and technology. It seems that almost everywhere the large manufacturing plants that were the underpinnings of a local economy have closed, moved away or merged away. A new economic foundation based on knowledge and innovation is being sought in more places than where I call "back home."
In 1996 I envisioned this project to be an ethnography of bilingual education in the Spanish Basque Country. The questions driving my exploration of the schooling experience were many but all regarding the construction of a national identity. It is often said that the academics study that with which they struggle. As a Puerto Rican, I know first hand what a language and culture contact zone is, I live it everyday. In studying an "other" I am consciously addressing concerns of my own, seeking to gain some distance on the topic before engaging in the debate and policies that affects my life in the first person.
In the United States the debate on bilingual education has a nationalist undertone. In order to work, does the "melting pot effect" need to boil down diversity to one language? Will we weaken our national cohesion if we foster two languages? What impact on a person's identity does schooling have when a student "leaves behind" the mother tongue? Can we have two mother tongues and one national identity? I define myself as both Puerto Rican and American, no less so than one from the mainland. Where does that fit in the debate? Day in and day out I see in Puerto Rico an education system that is in the shambles, that seeks to teach both Spanish and English, but for most students performs miserably at both.
The Spanish Basque Country becomes an ideal place for study because it has some superficial similarities with Puerto Rico that assist me in relating to their experience at the same time that the numerous differences will provoke a re-examination of my own preconceptions in the area of language, education, culture and identity. Like Puerto Rico, the Spanish Basque Country, or what is now known as the Basque Autonomous Community (CAV, by its Spanish acronym) is a semi-autonomous region with two languages and a strong national identity that is separate from that of the larger State. Unlike Puerto Rico, the history of the Spanish Basque Country has been shaped by large migrations other regions of the larger State. The persecution and rapid change experienced during the Franco dictatorship gave rise to equally drastic reaction from segments of Basque society.
The design of my research followed the example set by many works of political ecology. The bilingual education landscape in the Spanish Basque Country, in my opinion, begged a multi tier look and the mapping of influence. The educational ecosystem in this region not only has a diversity of scholastic offerings but the offer has been in flux over the past 12 years. The pool of change seemed ideal to study the variables and forces at work. Could the changes in schooling options reveal evidence of attempts at constructing greater national cohesion through language and identity?
The landscape of bilingual education begins with publicly funded schools. In the public school arena, after decades of Spanish only education, in the 1980's the CAV government introduced three distinct bilingual education models available throughout public schools. However, before government funded bilingual education was on the map, communities had already defiantly joined hands to create underground schools that used Basque the sole language for teaching. These schools, known as ikastolas, would later have to choose to define themselves as public or private, the aftermath of these decisions was restlessness and ongoing heated debates as to why events turned out as they did. While I was there a new options was being considered: municipalization of schools.
The forces behind the change are suggested in the varied local opinion. Change is most commonly attributed to political designs, the economy, or the demands of families. The political aims are as varied as the local parties. Whether the conspiracy theory is that Basque nationalism is under attack or that it is seeking to indoctrinate the youth and create a new national identity are opposite theories that co-exist in the same region. The difficult economy puts demands on all aspects of life and government. In this light, change can easily be explained with arguments of reducing redundancy. Finally, the shrinking population users of the system now have ample choice of where to go and, hence, a hand in the fate of schools.
As the research unravels the forces behind the changes in the bilingual education
landscape I pit theory and opinion with the actual experience of
bilingual education in the hopes of adding new insights into the role of bilingual education in the construction of a national identity.
I believe I have spoken on many a forum on the benefits of a diversity in the technology sector, especially in the innovation and product development process. Diversity of perspectives affording companies new ideas and challenges to the conventional standard, a short-cut to thinking outside the box. Similarly, I have argued that women in IT Management have enjoyed success because they are able to establish a less threatening environment in which techies are able to thrive and collaborate. I have examples and quotes back both assesments.
My best friend has always warned me of the pitfall of working with men and falling into being the secretary, housekeeper, organizer or the busy bee that gets things done but does not get the recognition. "Women have been permitted to be managers and assistants but still are not invited to make and close deals" he warns. I have heard his admonitions and tried to be quick on identifying loosing propositions before I eagerly take the bait and write myself outside of the game. Or so I thought.
Tomorrow I am invited to speak on Women, Technology and
Business. As I reflect on the time since we entered the market, I
realize I may have been preaching of what should be. Have I been blind and
stubborn for the past
5 years working according to the ideals and values I believe in -
helped along with a healthy source of optimism and a can-do
attitude?
Much to my behest I probe into recent experiences and note that when it comes to sales, financing and banking, the technology industry proves to be no different than the larger society within which it operates. With this assesment, I begrudgingly accept that to be succesful with a technology startup still requires playing ball with the boys club and it still is a gender exclusive club in this corner of the world. So when analizing the factors that were a threat to our venture from the onset I have to include sexist attitudes
In the market among peers, I
have gotten accolades and recognition, I am both liked and resented but
when it comes down to doing business an easy sale still eludes me. Are sales ever easy? Or has the fanfarre been an easy distraction.to the bottom line of
what drives success in a venture. A pat on the back is easier given
than an invitation to a big project. So, if asked, is gender a factor in
the success or failure of a technology venture? I would now say that
gender is part of the story, a factor must be considered when
evaluating the merit of starting or continuing with an existing
company. In my context, I still think the main obstacle to growth
should be summed up as location and perhaps sexism is an element of why
the business soil is not fertile in this tropical volcanic corner of the world.
Now
as I prepare for yet another talk about women and technology, I wonder
what my message tomorrow night will be. How can I be true to my
experience and yet work for change and a brighter future? The activist
in me knows that a defeatist tone will build nothing and yet hiding the
truth because it is unpopular will block the path to real change, give
way to hardship for women entrepreneurs.
Since the time of my fieldwork, the debate seems to continue unchanged. In California fearing that the melting pot effect would be undermined, Bilingual education has all but disappeared. Nowadays, charter schools with dual immersion programs are under attack. The underlying assumption motivating these changes is that somehow by educating students in two languages, by communicating knowledge in more than one language a common national framework is fractured. The research at hand addresses these concerns by looking at the experience of bilingual education and the construction of a national identity in the Basque Country.
This chapter looks into the schools experience and asks: Are schools politicized? The previous chapter looked at public opinion and revealed that this topic was anything but trivial. Even when answering in the negative, the answer came with the additional political commentary that schooling has either improved dramatically compared to the time of Franco or that ikastolas are now “schools like any other in Europe” fit to be the Basque public school open to all. Over the period of a year I visited six schools in Oarsoaldea. In this chapter I will address the school going experience . The observations are based on fieldwork notes from the entire year.
Where are the schools situated? What do the diverse school settings communicate? As a prospective parent or student or visitor off the street what are the first impressions about the school? I will temper first impressions with comments from the entire year of fieldwork. This general look at each school is complemented in subsequent chapters dedicated to in depth views into classroom dynamics, teacher’s and school administration perspectives. How does activism, politics, political dialogue or endorsements, the discussion of national agendas or national constructs enter into the overarching school experience.
(Missing here is a review of literature relevant to this particular chapter.)
–in development.– Stay tuned.
In casual conversations I have often heard that the CAV government has changed its language education policy in reaction to the overwhelming demands of parents. On the same issue, I have also been told that the CAV government is implementing changes in language education in order to shape the identity of students, to make them more Basque or Basques first. Though both explanations of the same events ascribe the agency, or motor of action, differently, they both explain it in political terms: "the government did it to ensure its standing by pleasing the majority" or "the government did it to promote its agenda among generations of school children". This chapter explores publicly held opinion regarding bilingual education.
The bare facts undisputed by all sides are as follow: (1) bilingual education was introduced in 3 different models, (2) access to those models was not and is not distributed equally across the CAV, and (3) over the past 12 years many public schools have closed. Why some schools have closed , while other schools have grown or why some schools are still kept around even though their student population is dwindling are all a matter of opinion. I divide public opinion into external, those expressed in a public forum which is witnessed by a general audience, and the individual opinion which is expressed in private or public contexts but only intended for the witnessing of an individual, a limited audience or non intended happen stance audience.
External public opinion includes debates and news in mass media and less traditional media such as writing on the walls or pintadas. These external manifestations of public opinion are the first source of information for any foreign observer, but they are often times contradictory and rarely surmise the opinion held by the majority. These external manifestations of opinion force the local population to partake in a daily exercise in the construction or reaffirmation of their own individual opinions. Aside from the obvious spaces for opinions in mass media such as editorials, interviews and debates, a close analysis of local news in the media reveals the presentation of news to be itself editorialized. A more in depth analysis of a single medium, newspapers, shows that the definition of what is newsworthy and presentation of facts is often different across newspapers. In fact, for every organized political perspective there is a newspaper and no single newspaper seems to encompass or represent the heterogeneity of voice or opinions in the area.
Individual public opinion is usually gathered and assessed by asking individuals in various settings using polls, formal or casual interviews and unscripted conversation. For the purpose of this investigation, individual opinion is not only analyzed to establish the majority but to roughly define the tendencies in worldview and the percentages held by these perspectives. The exercise of looking for solely for the majority opinion is problematic and of limited benefit in the Spanish Basque Country since the majority of public opinion will vary from province to province, city to city and living quarter to living quarter. Looking at the majority will not always explain the conflict and tension that does characterize the Spanish Basque Country because "majority opinions" do not reveal the reasons behind the plurality of perspectives and their geographical ethnic or social boundaries. Social variables analyzed include age, ethnic identity, education, residence, linguistic background, family history and political.
The local impressions of language education policy and different schooling options discussed in this entry will serve as the backdrop for subsequent entries as I discuss what factors are actually considered when families choose one schooling option over the other and visit the daily ritual at various schools. After the series on Public and Private opinion I will confront public opinion of schools with a description of the actual everyday school experience. The much theorized about product of education: high school students and their perspectives, are presented there after. This immediate series of entries on public opinion is designed to be in fact the background that will arm us with the questions posed all throughout as we elicit the specific accounts of how change came about and to what end from teachers, school directors, Ikastola Movement officials, the Education Department, and regional politicians.
On January 11, 1998, towards the end of my research, one of the main news stories was the political pressure and propaganda like material that government workers witnessed while attending an AEK euskaltegi. Secondary articles were quick to focus on the ikastolas, similar stories at the ikastolas and the response of the Ikastola Movement. Two years later, on January 20, 2000, the Secretary of Education, who many considered responsible for privatizing ikastolas, Fernando Buesa (PSOE), was assasinated by ETA.
News events such as these make it impossible to ignore the role of political association with changes in education and schooling options. But is there other news coverage regarding education that defies this popular link between politics and education? What image is promoted in the mass media? How do pintadas compare to the mass media? I use the daily ritual of three characters representative of broader tendencies I observed in my fieldwork and an analysis of the effect and content of the various mass media to justify my decision to concentrate on the newspaper, above all mass media.
It is 7:30 on a Tuesday, the morning sun has not quite made it over the horizon. María Teresa has already been up for an hour making coffee, having breakfast, separating and ironing her daughter's school clothes, and discussing the days events with her husband. All the while, as her husband walks in and out of their small kitchen and dining area, the radio has kept her company. She is listening to the deep lulling voice of .... from Radio Nacional Española.
The tall apartment buildings of Beraun cast their shadows making the streets seem darker and the air crisp and damp. María Teresa has left her 9th story piso and is on her way to walk her daughter to school. Once outside the building she greets her neighbor who according to the rotation is busy mopping the lobby and cleaning the steps. The building across the street has an large overhang that serves as a sheltered promenade and plaza. In the corner is a kiosk that sells newspapers, comics, magazines and sweet treats for children. María Teresa crosses the street with her daughter and gives her 125 pesetas.
The young girl, named Pilar, after the patron saint of Spain, runs excitedly to the corner kiosk drops the coins on a newspaper and grabs a copy of El Mundo. Not an ounce of hesitation was apparent, even when the young girl faced 4 different newspapers of different prices. Before she runs off the woman minding the kiosk reminds the girl to take a plastic bag for the newspaper. Pilar returns with a look of satisfaction. It is apparent that she enjoys the responsibility. For as long as she can remember, Pilar had witnessed her mother buy the newspaper at corner kiosk from the same woman. She was first allowed to partake in the purchasing of the newspaper when she she was four, she is now 8 years old.
As Mother and daughter leave the kiosk, go down some steps and turn to head down for school side wall next to them reads "Gora ETA". The message is scribbled free hand with a can of black spray paint. The message can be roughly translated into English as a supportive "Go! ETA". Amidst the rows of tall buildings that date back to Franco the message serves as a startling reminder of black and white portrayals of Spain vs. the Basques that is today overlooked, ignored as Mother and daughter engage in light conversation on the way to school.
Farther down the hill, closer to the Rentería town center, Miguel leaves his parents apartment at 8, to catch el Topo to San Sebastián where he is continuing his studies. Though he still lives with his parents he barely sees them during the day. By the time he wakes and rushes out the door they have left for work. Miguel hurries to the station but before entering, he stops at a small Liburutegia to get his newspaper. The attendant recognizes the familiar face and folds him a copy of Egin to carry under his arm. Miguel reads the newspaper while on the train, during his morning coffee break and then in the afternoon when he returns to his neighborhood and sits at the corner bar where he is a regular. When he is not reading it, the newspaper is folded neatly in half and held under his arm.
At 6pm the newspaper is still in hand as he enters his evening adult Basque language class at the AEK down by the center of town. While he waits for the teacher to arrive he does not engage in small talk with other students and teachers, but sits comfortably with his leg crossed and the newspaper open before him to finish reading the days news. As class begins, he sets the newspaper down on the desk next to him, where it will stay as he leaves to meet his friends for a finger or two of beer. At 8pm, the Egin saves another student who would rather not rehearse his Basque before class. As the next teacher walks in the newspaper gives her the perfect segway to start the night's class: "So, let's begin by restating some of the day's news. Pako we'll start with you."
In one of Oiartzun's newer communities there are no corner kiosks or stores. Joxe Mari picks up his dialy newspaper at his doorstep. He glances over the headlines and leaves El Diario Vasco behind for his wife and mother in law to read. Joxe Mari will read bits of news when he grabs a copy of El Diario Vasco at the bar near the office which he frequents during his morning break. There with a tumbler with a finger or two of wine from the Alava Rioja and a pincho or two he takes a few minutes to read the paper. His reading is interrupted by the casual meeting of a co-worker. Following the unwritten rule, they talk about the weather, food, wine, anything but work and the politics of the day only if you know what to expect.
At noon, Joxe Mari makes it home for his leisurely two hour home cooked lunch. His wife, Elisabete is back from school with time enough to fix a salad to compliment her mother's macaroni and meat sauce. The Grandmother informs the parents that the kids have already eaten and are getting ready for the bus to pick them up at any minute now. After the children are gone, the Grandmother turns the television on to the midday news hour on ETB. There in the privacy of their home Joxe Mari and his wife Elisabete will watch the news out of the corner of their eyes and talk about things of interest. By the time the news is done the Grandmother has dozed off and Joxe Mari and Elisabete are ready to leave once again.