re·cal·ci·trant – having an obstinately uncooperative attitude toward authority
March 7, 2011
by Anna Lemberger
Without even reading the description, I was immediately drawn to the title of the Center’s March 4 lecture: 21st Century Wish Dreams: Seattle, Detroit, and the Recalcitrant Anthropologist. Themes of recalcitrance are even more attractive than normal considering our current political situation. The presenter, anthropologist Jacalyn Harden from Wayne State in Detroit, did not disappoint, bringing up both insightful and controversial images of the two cities and their residents. Harden had a lot to say and show last Friday, but I will try to keep my blog brief this time since there will be links (videos, blogs) I encourage you to explore.
Before beginning her lecture, Harden played Chrysler’s “Born of Fire” Superbowl commercial. The viewer gets a tour of Detroit and statement from Eminem who says, “This is motor city, and this is what we do.” The final tagline is “Imported from Detroit.” To see the video follow this link. As a resident of Detroit for six years now, Harden is very interested in how Detroit compares with her previous home city, Seattle. Although very different, she sees both becoming capitals of the 21st century and representative of the wish dreams and fears the world holds about cities and their residents.
Harden discussed each city’s historical mode in the 20th century and the changes they experienced that make them even more significant in this century. The biggest surprises for me came out of her descriptions of Seattle. For a city that cares about diversity and where race does not matter as much as in other large cities, Seattle has seen some brutal, racially charged riots. In 1999 protests at the WTO Conference were, as Harden said, where “dreams of world class racial harmony fell apart.” The same could be said for the Mardi Gras Riot in 2001 where the violence was mostly done by black men against white crowd-goers. To emphasize the confusing image that is Seattle, Harden showed a clip from the film McQ (1974) which has John Wayne as a Seattle cop with a black partner, kicking hippies in the shins. Definitely odd and deserving of further analysis.
Finally, Harden (and this blog) comes full circle as we look at what makes Harden a “recalcitrant anthropologist.” Unlike many in her discipline who believe in a steady diet of fieldwork and notes, Harden pushes the idea of fieldwork by actually living in these communities and being “on the clock” all of the time. Instead of being a drive-by observer, Harden actually feels what it is like to live in a “nature preserve,” to experience the frustration of the “spectacle factor” in Detroit. Instead of writing up field notes, Harden has entered the blogosphere to report on her everyday life and findings. So at this point let me direct you to Harden’s blog (click here), or what appears to be her blog. If it’s not she should probably be worried about an evil twin.
