Examining Social Justice Part 2: Methods for Engagement

“Unless we engage in these and other conscious acts of reflection and re-education, we easily repeat the process with our children. We teach what we were taught. The unexamined prejudices of the parents are passed on to the children. It is not our fault, but it is our responsibility to interrupt this cycle” -Tatum Social Justice methods are a tool for reflection, to learn about how we are engaging each other, and to consider how our preconceived notions can lead to uninformed or accidental mistreatment of people.  Contrary to this purpose, many have begun to see it as an infringement…

Research and Story Telling in Brittany, France

This past May, my undergraduate professor and mentor invited me to join her for an ethnographic research project in Brittany, France.  Before we left, I didn’t know what to expect.  My professor told me we would be doing research on small dairy farmers in France and that I would help her as a translator.  As we got closer to our departure, she gave me a little more information, her goals and some interview questions.  I began to read some literature on dairy farming and food systems, and learned a bit about French cheese varieties. Yet, I still had no clue…

My story: Growing up in a Fundamental Baptist Church

Recently I had the opportunity to  go on to a good friends podcast and talk about my background growing up in a fundamentalist baptist church.  The discussion got intense.  Often we take for granted how differently we each grow up and how subcultures that we are a part of can have their own norms and values, giving the person within that culture an experience of culture shock when they move into new cultural dynamics and experiences as they grow up.  Before joining this church I was raised as a “normal” kid, although by anti-establishment hippy parents who taught us to…