The Optimistic Anthropologist Vol. 18

What's the Opposite of a Gatekeeper?

April 30, 2019

 April 2019, Volume 18View this email in your browser

Dear ,

On Friday morning, 

 shared during his

talk that as a child he loved flipping through 

magazines in his parents’ home. He also mentioned that occasionally he'd notice stories about Palestine, where his family was from. However, these articles were always framed through bible stories, not focused on the reality of the people and the speck of land they lived on.

Today, Yazan is a writer, oral historian, and

 who leads

 through which he connects thousands of images of historic Palestine from the National Geographic Society archive with Palestinian community elders, cultural heritage experts, and field researchers to add new layers of indigenous narrative and knowledge to the images. In his talk, he pointed out again and again that in individual photos and institutional archives,

“what’s missing…is the voice of the subjects.”

I have been thinking about this idea since his talk, because interpreting and sharing others’ beliefs, behaviors, cultures, and experiences is so prevalent in the world today. I believe it can be done ethically and thoughtfully, but I also acknowledge that for millennia it has been used to divide, mislead, and inflict extraordinary violence and harm.

In my work supporting positive and equitable social change, I develop qualitative research and learning experiences to help teams build their knowledge of the “ground truth” as well as learning processes and cultures.  

I recognize that I am a gatekeeper who controls access to shapes information. 

And, I use a host of strategies to counterbalance gatekeeping's potential negative impacts as I do this work.  From centering racial and gender equity in

's work including how we conduct and who we engage in research to sharing back with subjects how we plan to represent their work and seeking their approval, edits, or even veto before its finalized to opting to facilitate groups to generate multiple and diverse interpretations of data instead of conducting traditional analyses which privileges a small group of researchers' pointsof view.

Yet, I still find that I am asked to interpret others’ reflections and “reframe” subjects’ messy and incomplete stories so they are "neater."

Today, I am able to push back and use these situations as teaching moments about gatekeeping.

But, I know that I haven’t always done that or been aware of these dynamics myself.

As I was writing this month's letter, I learned that there is no word in English that means the opposite of gatekeeper. 

But, given the work that Yazan and others are doing, it seems like we may need one.

Be well and do good,Alison

P.S. 

If you have a suggestion of a word or phrase that describes the opposite of a gatekeeper, I’d love to hear it!  Share your idea

or tweet it to

using hashtag

. 

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