Christal Padilla
March 23, 2017
ANTHC 213
In his ethnography “Outlawed, Between Security and Rights in a Bolivian city”, Daniel M. Goldstein paints a vivid and important portrait of security, government, and community within the Bolivian town of Cochabamba. Like most other anthropologists, Goldstein takes an in-depth exploration and examination of the marginalized people of Cochabamba who at often times find themselves sacrificing their basic human rights in exchange for the luxury of security . It is in the small urban barriors where the Bolivian government fails to help it’s citizens, barely recognizing them as an active and important part of the nation. Goldstein’s main objective of the book is to captivate new and old anthropologist …show more content…
It is in cases such as these, that Goldstein gives a warning, that reciprocity may not be possible, and anthropologist may fail to meet the standards and expectations set by their subjects. While Goldstein and his team had made it abundantly clear during their time in Loma Pampa was strictly for educational purposes, their subjects still expected a certain level of reciprocity. Goldstein does give the option of bowing out, and not becoming involved, which he neatly wraps in the following statement: “I told them my research was strictly academic, I didn't promise anybody anything.” But in our hearts, we know better” (Goldstein 69). It is not a realistic mindset in which to enter the field in. Goldstein paints a far more realistic picture of what true fieldwork for anthropologists looks like. Often times, anthropologist are asked to enter areas and simply be observers, to study the true nature of places and people without altering the environment in order to have people and situations in their truest form. At the end of the day, Goldstein sheds a light on the human factor of being an anthropologist; spending an extended period of time with those who are marginalized and oppressed will cause you to want to be active and act on their behalf, as it is those very same people that make any of the work possible. It is nearly impossible to not get …show more content…
Goldstein found himself often times surrounded by a people who had taken the matter of security in their own hands, completely ignoring the transnational discourse of human rights . Initially, the barrio of Cochabamba looked to their leadership as well as their own watchfulness. Eventually, they end up taking matters into their own hands and attempted at establishing order through lynchings, while creating chaos in conjunction (Goldstein 150). Fear runs the life of the people in Cochabamba, and as a result, they have turned to violation of human rights of those who inflict that fear. This in turn creates a situation in which chaos, as
March 23, 2017
ANTHC 213
In his ethnography “Outlawed, Between Security and Rights in a Bolivian city”, Daniel M. Goldstein paints a vivid and important portrait of security, government, and community within the Bolivian town of Cochabamba. Like most other anthropologists, Goldstein takes an in-depth exploration and examination of the marginalized people of Cochabamba who at often times find themselves sacrificing their basic human rights in exchange for the luxury of security . It is in the small urban barriors where the Bolivian government fails to help it’s citizens, barely recognizing them as an active and important part of the nation. Goldstein’s main objective of the book is to captivate new and old anthropologist …show more content…
It is in cases such as these, that Goldstein gives a warning, that reciprocity may not be possible, and anthropologist may fail to meet the standards and expectations set by their subjects. While Goldstein and his team had made it abundantly clear during their time in Loma Pampa was strictly for educational purposes, their subjects still expected a certain level of reciprocity. Goldstein does give the option of bowing out, and not becoming involved, which he neatly wraps in the following statement: “I told them my research was strictly academic, I didn't promise anybody anything.” But in our hearts, we know better” (Goldstein 69). It is not a realistic mindset in which to enter the field in. Goldstein paints a far more realistic picture of what true fieldwork for anthropologists looks like. Often times, anthropologist are asked to enter areas and simply be observers, to study the true nature of places and people without altering the environment in order to have people and situations in their truest form. At the end of the day, Goldstein sheds a light on the human factor of being an anthropologist; spending an extended period of time with those who are marginalized and oppressed will cause you to want to be active and act on their behalf, as it is those very same people that make any of the work possible. It is nearly impossible to not get …show more content…
Goldstein found himself often times surrounded by a people who had taken the matter of security in their own hands, completely ignoring the transnational discourse of human rights . Initially, the barrio of Cochabamba looked to their leadership as well as their own watchfulness. Eventually, they end up taking matters into their own hands and attempted at establishing order through lynchings, while creating chaos in conjunction (Goldstein 150). Fear runs the life of the people in Cochabamba, and as a result, they have turned to violation of human rights of those who inflict that fear. This in turn creates a situation in which chaos, as