Springtime. Miles into the woods, my gas light switched on. I winced. Before returning to the city, we risked having to hike to the nearest gas station and dodge wild boar.

In the meantime, at least, we’d arrived at the sprawling fields behind New Raman Reti, Alachua’s ISKCON temple. They’d already begun celebrating the “Festival of Colors,” Holi, by chanting, dancing, and hurling colorful powder between themselves.

I’d never attended Holi before this year, and its riot-like beauty struck me. I even found a nifty little research opportunity!

You see, before I set out for the festival, Wikipedia told me that Holi’s significance comes from Prahlada’s (a devotee of Vishnu) triumph over Hiranyakashiphu (a demon king.) Something about that didn’t sound right, however, and I guessed ISKCON must interpret Holi differently.

I decided to check Wikipedia’s interpretation against a key informant of mine, Chaitanya, the VP of Gainesville’s Krishna House.

Chaitanya explained to me:

“There was a festival, held in the spiritual sky, with Krishna [ISKCON’s god] and all of his cowherd boys and girlfriends. They would take syringes filled with colored water, and they would throw it on each other. This Holi festival has been going on since time immemorial. We in the material world, we’re a perverted reflection, and so we throw cornstarch on each other that’s all colored.”

A far cry from Wikipedia’s interpretation!

Given this insight, the next step would’ve included a representative survey, to see how much of ISKCON agrees with Chaitanya. I had to put that on hold, however, once a Krishna Conscious rock band took the stage, worked up the crowd, and didn’t slow down for the whole afternoon!

What other holidays have different meanings to different people? Also, have you ever been to a Holi festival? If so, where? Of course, any other comments are welcome, too! Even short, stupid, and repeated ones. Seriously, I put a lot of thought into these posts, and I love it when people discuss them. So be awesome, click here, and leave a comment! No email or registration required. Yay, free speech!

P.S. We didn’t have enough gas to make it out of the woods, but we lucked into finding a nearby gas station.

A few years ago, I did a convenience survey of UF students eating “Krishna Lunch.” I found that students wanted to learn more about Krishna Conscious recipes. It didn’t take long for me to produce an ethnographic documentary, packaged as a cooking show.

But how to screen it?

1st Step: I found a free venue. In my case, I went through UF’s Office of Multicultural & Diversity Affairs (MCDA.) Since MCDA’s mission includes raising awareness of diversity on campus, I pitched the screening as a cultural showcase. Try doing the same through other community organizations, like churches, schools, or maybe rec centers.

2nd Step: I found some Krishna Conscious guest speakers. They belonged to the temple I documented in the film, so they were happy to come, answer questions, play kirtan, and even serve food samples! That helped lengthen out the event into a “showcase.”

3rd Step: I printed some fliers and handed them out at Krishna Lunch itself. Like some kinda struggling 80’s rock band.

4th Step: I asked a professor of a related field – religious anthropology – to offer extra credit for attending my showcase. And she did! Toward the end of the semester, most educators come under lots of pressure to offer extra credit, but they don’t want to hand it out like candy. An educational showcase gives them an opportunity to be generous, without making it too easy for slackers.

(ABOVE: Our lovely audience.)

(ABOVE: Yours truly, greeting the audience.)

(ABOVE: Our guest speakers, playing kirtan.)

(ABOVE: Handin’ out samples, after all that talk about food!)

5th (Bonus!) Step: Invite media reps. I got lucky, and one of the audience members happened to major in journalism. She wrote an interesting piece about the showcase, and published it in the local news!

Remember, ethnographic filmmakers, your screening options aren’t limited to YouTube and film festivals. Consider taking your own documentary, and organizing an educational showcase around it!

Autoethno. 101: Church & State

Autoethno. 101: Violent Crime
*Note that I’ve heard more reasons beyond “that’s what the police are for.” Examples include perceived “low odds” of violence, and staying “on the good side” of town. As usual, more research is required.

Autoethno. 101: Health Insurance
*I wish I’d used the pronoun “I” instead of “you” in this illustration, because I’m speaking as a bachelor approaching his late-twenties. For my demographic, however, the point still stands.

Let’s start with "what the Hell is visual anthropology?" Pretty much, the Society for Visual Anthropology describes it as "the use of images for the description, analysis, communication and interpretation of human behavior."

So, "what’s visual anthro useful for?" It has several uses, ranging from filmmaking and museum exhibition, to mapmaking and kinship diagraming, to a bunch of other stuff that’s over my head. One of my favorite uses, however, involves using short video clips to document simple processes. After all, clips can offer lots more data than still photos, while still only taking seconds to capture.

For example, with just a few short seconds of video, anthropologists could document how Hadzabe huntsmen string their bows. We could document a Morrocan greeting ritual. Or, if you’re a business anthropologist, you could document how employees perform tasks.

A case in point, consider this clip I captured during my little adventure in Chinatown. After stumbling across Golden Gate Fortune Cookie Factory, I decided to video its workers stuffing the fortunes into the cookies, and loop that video into an SWF. (Note: SWFs are FLASH objects, which may not appear on some mobile browsers. Sorry.)

"Why should anybody care about this clip?" Well, for starters, it documents the process by which fortunes get stuffed into fortune cookies. That’s just neat to know! [Laughs Out Loud] More practically, however, this clip offers something useful to all businesses. Workplace efficiency data.

For example, after watching this clip loop a few times, two things jumped out at me:

• At a rate of 5 cookies every 20 seconds, the frontmost worker could stuff +7000 fortune cookies a day. Damn! I wouldn’t get that many fortune cookies even if I ordered Chinese food EVERY NIGHT FOR 19 YEARS.

• The workspace may need rearranging. Instead of drawing fortunes one-at-a-time from the bin on her left, the frontmost worker grabs a bunch of fortunes at once, piles the fortunes on a cooling rack meant to hold cookies, and draws from that pile.

What else can you see in this clip? For example, what are the workers in the background doing? How safe do those machines look? How sanitary is their food handling? Does that apron go with her shirt? [Joke.] Of course, any other comments are welcome, too! Even short, stupid, and repeated ones. Seriously, I put a lot of thought into these posts, and I love it when people discuss them. So be awesome, click here, and leave a comment! No email or registration required. Yay, free speech!

Well, I had a blast in San Francisco. I flew up to participate in American Anthropological Association’s 111th annual conference. My trip went a little something like: flying, volunteering, beer w/the Savage Minds crew, party with USCMVA, dancing in Grand Ballroom #4, getting recognized from m’blog, and Chinatown!

O, Chinatown. Two sides of the same city can be entirely different worlds, and Chinatown’s a great example. Although it’s a part of the greater San Francisco area, Chinatown boasts a demographic, culture, and freakin’ police force all its own.

Like countless other tourists, I entered Chinatown through its famed "Dragon Gate." (above)

On my way in, I felt compelled to introduce myself to the mythical Foo Dogs that protect the gate (above.) I named this one "Frisco Mouse." Ha! Get it? Probably not. That’s okay.

I only had a few hours to see Chinatown, and wanted to glimpse something beyond its tourism industry. However, touristy gift shops pretty much littered the main drag, Grant Avenue (right.) It didn’t take long before I strayed off Grant, and took a few aimless turns along the way. Eventually, I found myself strolling through alleys, observing fewer gift shops, and more mundane stuff: laundromats, print shops, hair stylists, etc.

Then I met the greatest stereotype in all of Chinatown: a fortune cookie factory (below.)

On one hand, hooray distinctly Chinese-American junk food! My inner toddler rampaged with joy. On the other hand, I remembered the factory from a tourism guide I’d read, and despaired at remaining trapped in the tourism district. I stepped inside, and halted. Factory workers and equipment occupied the overwhelming majority of the building, leaving barely enough standing room for two tourists at once. A far cry from Grant Ave.’s pandering.

I hypothesized. Perhaps this factory is like the citrus juicers back home in Florida? Granted, they offer tours of the facility, but tourism isn’t their business. If you’re touring a Floridian citrus juicer, you’re probably not in a tourist trap; you’re probably in a serious food processing facility.

I burned for an excuse to use some tallying methods I’d just learned in Mike Youngblood‘s AAA workshop, "Rapid Research in Public Settings." So, I broke out a pen and pad, found a spot on the ground covered with slightly less pigeon poo than elsewhere, and sat down to collect mad bunches of data.

I reasoned that, if this place was less tourism industry, and more food industry, I’d expect to see significantly more passersby than tourists. I’d also expect to overhear significantly more Chinese conversations than not-Chinese. So I tallied that data: passersby vs. tourists, and Chinese vs. not-Chinese conversations. Obviously, this paradigm has its flaws, but all rapid research does. Think of it as taking a data "snapshot." Informative, even if incomplete.

So there I sat.
Watching, listening, and tallying.
Looking awkward.

After fifteen minutes, the data became overwhelming.
I overheard lots of Chinese, and almost no other languages.
I observed lots of passersby, but almost nobody stopped to tour the factory.

Does this suggest that the factory and I sat beyond Chinatown’s tourism industry? If not, what does it suggest to you? Have you ever visited San Francisco’s Chinatown, or maybe a Chinatown elsewhere? Heck, just for giggles, what’s your favorite fortune you ever pulled from a fortune cookie? Of course, any other thoughts are welcome, too. I put a lot of thought into these posts, and I sure do love it when people leave comments. Even short, stupid ones. So be awesome, and click here to say something. No registration nor email required. Yay, free speech!

Back in 2011, I conducted some research among Gainesville’s Krishna Conscious, for a cultural showcase called "Krishna Cooking Show. "In the process, I noted that Krishna Consciousness sometimes calls itself the "kitchen religion," and it regards farming as a very noble occupation. They ached to operate their own farm, so they could produce fresher, eco-friendlier, locally-grown veggies for their popular "Krishna Lunch." I couldn’t ignore an opportunity this cool, so I started drafting a business proposal.

During the summer of 2012, Krishna House’s spiritual leaders agreed to finance research and development for a new project: "KrishnaPonics." Over the following months, KrishnaPonics R&D used NFT hydroponics to grow cratefulls of cold weather vegetables, during Florida’s sweltering summertime, all the while conserving 90% more fresh water (a quickly disappearing natural resource) than traditional farms!

Most recently, Krishna House generously agreed to finance the commercial-scale development of KrishnaPonics. We’ve also made friends with two other communities: Vibrant Community Development, and Citizen’s Co-Op. Together, we’re turning otherwise lifeless rooftops into productive and eco-friendly farmlands — right in downtown Gainesville!

What do you think about rooftop farming and hydroponics? Good ideas, or bad? How important do you think it is to conserve fresh water and other natural resources? Are you an aspiring anthropologist, gardener, or business person? Have any questions? Of course, any other comments are welcome, too. We put a lot of thought into this project, and we sure do love it when people leave comments. Even short, stupid ones. So be awesome, and click here to say something. No registration nor email required. Yay, free speech!