So, things as I imagine them in my head and how they actually play out are often two completely different scenarios. I think sometimes in my head I'm a person with so much bravado and social capital when a lot of times in reality I can be kind of shy in approaching people. If they approach me first then I am more than happy to talk to them, but I don't know what it is about me and how I tend to get self conscious, or automatically assume people don't want anything to do with me and I serve no actual purpose in their life so I'm better off not speaking to them. Like, when I was Parlana (this language exchange night that takes place in a different bar in Cochabamba every Tuesday) with Ignacio, I wanted to speak German, and Ignacio told me to just go up to whoever had the flag of a German speaking country and talk to them. I mean, that's the point of the event–you can meet new people and practice languages, and you know who speaks what (or at least wants to practice speaking it) based off of what flag stickers are on their clothes. Yet I still somehow just clung to Ignacio and didn't feel like socializing, which was kind of dumb of me. I saw a guy with the Swiss flag who seemed to be Swiss, and Ignacio urged me "Just talk to him!" I somehow worked up the nerve and tapped the Swiss guy on the shoulder and asked, "Sprichst du Deutsch?" Of course he did, and I ended up having a really cool conversation. Honestly I need to get over myself sometimes. Writing this down is going to help my resolve, since if things are only kept in my head I can convince myself they aren't real. I'm including this small anecdote so I can think of Ignacio encouraging me to just talk to people. All that aside, here's a fun picture of us from that evening, since I'm also telling myself I need to commit to taking more pictures. (We tried to commit to only speaking French with one another but I kept on reverting to Spanish. Oops.)
Today I'm going to the field site for the third time and I'm going to commit to talking to people even without any agenda. This is what I need to do. I went there on my own yesterday before Ma. Eugenia got there, and I didn't really talk to anyone, though to be fair, I was tasked with helping to organize the books in the office, since a lot of them hadn't been taken out of the box yet from when the office moved there. There was a community meeting at around noon, one that I got to sit in on. This meeting actually turned out to be super interesting, and I learned a lot. It was mainly led by Ma. Eugenia and a man named Basilio from another barrio. Before the meeting, Ma. Eugenia explained to me that there aren't a lot of people who work with the human right to adequate housing, which I find kind of baffling because it seems like something so central to people's lives. She told me that the people in the barrio aren't the legal owners of the land, they are only considered possessors, and unless they legally own their land then they technically don't have any of the rights that come with it. The priority of this meeting was to introduce Basilio, a man familiar with the process of legalizing one's ownership of land since he has been through it, in order for the people attending to become familiar with the process of what they need to do and to know that they will be working with Basilio in the future. Apparently, the people in the barrio Libertad are in some kind of trial with the person who actually owns the land, and I found out from Ma. Eugenia that this has been going on for around five or six years and people need to get on it. The thing is, they don't know how, since they were never taught, and if they go to court nobody is going to teach them anything and apparently the culture of machismo entails that the people dealing with cases aren't going to take the women who plead them seriously. So yeah, from that one meeting, I found out a lot. I think I should interview Basilio on his opinion too, at some point.
It'd be pretty interesting for this thesis to examine this land conflict through the lens of the people living on the margins of this city who are occupying the land, also looking at their status as migrants and their belief in the rights that are guaranteed to them given that they aren't the legal proprietors of the land. Then I'd also get a glimpse into the corrupt (or so people tell me) justice system and the difficulties people are facing trying to get their voices heard. How I'm actually going to go about that, I'm not entirely sure, but all I'll have to do is keep spending time with the people without actually forcing any topics of discussion on them and see what I find out.
Also, I really need this to be good. Sometimes I feel like I became the darling of my university's anthropology department since they've asked me to be a student advisor but then also to give a talk in the fall about my research, even while just starting the process of writing this thesis, so I need to take this as seriously as I can (without stressing myself out or worrying too much, of course; I think part of anthropology is letting things happen naturally and seeing where they lead, since people are the ones in control of their lives and not the researcher). I can't help but think far far ahead of the moment in like March of next year where I hold the completed thing in my hands on the steps of Widener Library and then daydream of winning the Hoopes Prize and using some of that cash money award to go on a for-fun trip somewhere I've never been before starting real work. But for now it's crunch time.
Anyway here is a pic that I took of that meeting, since Ma. Eugenia is urging me to take pictures of everything I do for the office to have record. That's good. I need that outside encouragement.
This is in the office, where all the community meetings are held. Ma. Eugenia is the woman wearing glasses. Basilio isn't pictured, but...
At some point during the meeting I zoned out and to get back to concentration I started doodling what I saw. So I doodled Basilio. Emiliana, the woman in the white cap who was sitting next to me, was very amused by it. This gave me an idea: I think it'd be really great to include illustrations as part of my field notes. If I draw people then it's a way for me to bond with them as well and will help me be more comfortable. Plus I haven't been exercising my drawing skills lately, and now is a good time to do that. After this summer I'll have really good pieces of art to look back on that will be meaningful as well.
Also, this is how far my field site is from the center of the city, where the blue dot is. Technically, it's still a part of Cochabamba, which makes me believe this city is quite huge geographically speaking. The commute takes around an hour with the microbus. But I'm glad there are buses at all that go there!
Besides research and my own personal faults, I'm having a great time in the city. I had the most interesting encounter on Monday when I went to the migration office to get my visa extended. I got in the line for foreigners who wanted visa extensions and met a lady who was also in the same line. I asked her where she was from, and she said Boston. I WANTED TO CRY HAHAHAHAHA I MISS BOSTON SO MUCH but there was more. She was originally from Brazil and had moved around to a lot of places, and was actually in Cochabamba doing some kind of international experience as part of her medical studies, doing rotations at a children's hospital. I asked her where she was studying medicine, and she said Poland. I WANTED TO CRY AGAIN HAHAHAHA and then I asked her what city, and she said KATOWICE. WHAT. Literally I didn't think anyone else in this world had particular attachments to both Katowice and Cochabamba, but that's the beautiful thing about travel–it's impossible to never be surprised. After we were both done with migration, we went to get breakfast together and I finally ate a salteña again. Her name is Leila and she's leaving Cochabamba in a bit over a week, and here's a picture of us.
In other news, I spent Father's Day with my Bolivian dad and Rafa, one of Ignacio's siblings. I love everyone in this family so much and how well they've treated me ever since my first trip to Bolivia. It's been such a pleasure getting to spend more time with each of them. Rafa and I had a really nice sisterly chat too (in Spanish, about life and boys and other things), and I don't know how I could possibly express how grateful I am for everything they've done for me and continue to do.
This is a picture from that afternoon, when we perused booths at a yoga festival and then went to a park with lovely fountains.
Yeah, there's other things I should be doing right now, but I'm glad I made some commitments to myself in this latest blog entry to make the most of my experience. I'll write again soon! (So far so good with the at least once a week thing.)
Today I'm going to the field site for the third time and I'm going to commit to talking to people even without any agenda. This is what I need to do. I went there on my own yesterday before Ma. Eugenia got there, and I didn't really talk to anyone, though to be fair, I was tasked with helping to organize the books in the office, since a lot of them hadn't been taken out of the box yet from when the office moved there. There was a community meeting at around noon, one that I got to sit in on. This meeting actually turned out to be super interesting, and I learned a lot. It was mainly led by Ma. Eugenia and a man named Basilio from another barrio. Before the meeting, Ma. Eugenia explained to me that there aren't a lot of people who work with the human right to adequate housing, which I find kind of baffling because it seems like something so central to people's lives. She told me that the people in the barrio aren't the legal owners of the land, they are only considered possessors, and unless they legally own their land then they technically don't have any of the rights that come with it. The priority of this meeting was to introduce Basilio, a man familiar with the process of legalizing one's ownership of land since he has been through it, in order for the people attending to become familiar with the process of what they need to do and to know that they will be working with Basilio in the future. Apparently, the people in the barrio Libertad are in some kind of trial with the person who actually owns the land, and I found out from Ma. Eugenia that this has been going on for around five or six years and people need to get on it. The thing is, they don't know how, since they were never taught, and if they go to court nobody is going to teach them anything and apparently the culture of machismo entails that the people dealing with cases aren't going to take the women who plead them seriously. So yeah, from that one meeting, I found out a lot. I think I should interview Basilio on his opinion too, at some point.
It'd be pretty interesting for this thesis to examine this land conflict through the lens of the people living on the margins of this city who are occupying the land, also looking at their status as migrants and their belief in the rights that are guaranteed to them given that they aren't the legal proprietors of the land. Then I'd also get a glimpse into the corrupt (or so people tell me) justice system and the difficulties people are facing trying to get their voices heard. How I'm actually going to go about that, I'm not entirely sure, but all I'll have to do is keep spending time with the people without actually forcing any topics of discussion on them and see what I find out.
Also, I really need this to be good. Sometimes I feel like I became the darling of my university's anthropology department since they've asked me to be a student advisor but then also to give a talk in the fall about my research, even while just starting the process of writing this thesis, so I need to take this as seriously as I can (without stressing myself out or worrying too much, of course; I think part of anthropology is letting things happen naturally and seeing where they lead, since people are the ones in control of their lives and not the researcher). I can't help but think far far ahead of the moment in like March of next year where I hold the completed thing in my hands on the steps of Widener Library and then daydream of winning the Hoopes Prize and using some of that cash money award to go on a for-fun trip somewhere I've never been before starting real work. But for now it's crunch time.
Anyway here is a pic that I took of that meeting, since Ma. Eugenia is urging me to take pictures of everything I do for the office to have record. That's good. I need that outside encouragement.
At some point during the meeting I zoned out and to get back to concentration I started doodling what I saw. So I doodled Basilio. Emiliana, the woman in the white cap who was sitting next to me, was very amused by it. This gave me an idea: I think it'd be really great to include illustrations as part of my field notes. If I draw people then it's a way for me to bond with them as well and will help me be more comfortable. Plus I haven't been exercising my drawing skills lately, and now is a good time to do that. After this summer I'll have really good pieces of art to look back on that will be meaningful as well.
Also, this is how far my field site is from the center of the city, where the blue dot is. Technically, it's still a part of Cochabamba, which makes me believe this city is quite huge geographically speaking. The commute takes around an hour with the microbus. But I'm glad there are buses at all that go there!
Besides research and my own personal faults, I'm having a great time in the city. I had the most interesting encounter on Monday when I went to the migration office to get my visa extended. I got in the line for foreigners who wanted visa extensions and met a lady who was also in the same line. I asked her where she was from, and she said Boston. I WANTED TO CRY HAHAHAHAHA I MISS BOSTON SO MUCH but there was more. She was originally from Brazil and had moved around to a lot of places, and was actually in Cochabamba doing some kind of international experience as part of her medical studies, doing rotations at a children's hospital. I asked her where she was studying medicine, and she said Poland. I WANTED TO CRY AGAIN HAHAHAHA and then I asked her what city, and she said KATOWICE. WHAT. Literally I didn't think anyone else in this world had particular attachments to both Katowice and Cochabamba, but that's the beautiful thing about travel–it's impossible to never be surprised. After we were both done with migration, we went to get breakfast together and I finally ate a salteña again. Her name is Leila and she's leaving Cochabamba in a bit over a week, and here's a picture of us.
In other news, I spent Father's Day with my Bolivian dad and Rafa, one of Ignacio's siblings. I love everyone in this family so much and how well they've treated me ever since my first trip to Bolivia. It's been such a pleasure getting to spend more time with each of them. Rafa and I had a really nice sisterly chat too (in Spanish, about life and boys and other things), and I don't know how I could possibly express how grateful I am for everything they've done for me and continue to do.
This is a picture from that afternoon, when we perused booths at a yoga festival and then went to a park with lovely fountains.
Yeah, there's other things I should be doing right now, but I'm glad I made some commitments to myself in this latest blog entry to make the most of my experience. I'll write again soon! (So far so good with the at least once a week thing.)
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