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The Optimistic Anthropologist Volume 30
A Culture of Trust and Love
JUNE 2020 | VOLUME 30
Dear ,
Dear
For nearly three years I’ve been writing this newsletter, but last month was the first time I just didn’t have the energy to do it. May and June 2020 have been tough, tough months.
Recently, I was reminded (yet again) that it doesn’t need to be this way, even if it was built this way. The reminder came when I was listening to
Criminal Episode 139: Learning How to Forgive
[
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] in the form of an exchange between guest – a Nigerian-raised, Clinical Law Professor at Harvard Law School and the host:
Professor Dehlia Ummuna: In the U.S., we exist in silos in a very much individual, pull-yourself-up-by-your-bootstraps mentality. In Nigeria [our] mentality [is] that if one person is going astray we all collectively are going astray…People will rally around you to make sure that you don't go astray and that if you do that there are resources - particularly human resources - to help you…recalibrate your life's trajectory and that's really critically important.
Phoebe Judge: I guess it's kind of a flip the whole idea on the head which is in other communities when someone does something bad it looks bad upon the community as opposed to here where if someone does something bad when this person must be intrinsically bad or evil and let's remove them from the society.
Imagine if we collectively looked at the unnecessary loss of life from COVID-19, the violence and murder committed against Black people by police, tens of millions of unemployed – not as a failing of those directly affected, but as our collective failing as a culture that we allowed things to reach this point.
How would you want our culture to look?
How can each of us – in big ways and small – model what we want to see in the world?
, and since then my involvement has only deepened. Mutual aid centers the belief that everyone can give and get – no strings attached, no questions asked. For me, engaging in this work has been both communal and political. It has been an impetus for meeting many neighbors, and by virtue of needing to exist it is a critique of how our government and economy are inhumane. It is also a form of resistance against how White supremacist culture has sowed our distrust in one another, and encouraged the oppression and stigmatization of people who are poor, Black and Brown, immigrants.
It is a form of trust and love in action. And the kind of culture I want to live in is built on a foundation of trust and love.
Be well, do good, and keep each other safe,
P.S. Want to chat about this month's letter or a project you have in the works? Sign up for a socially-distanced catch up on the front porch of Optimism House on Thursday afternoons throughout the summer. (Not in DC, let's find some time to catch up - I may still be on the porch!)
LATEST
FROM THE ARCHIVES: KEY QUESTIONS FOR PRACTICING CROSS-SECTOR COLLABORATION & COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT
In urgent times, organizations often come together to form collaborations to address big problems. Right now is no different, so it seemed like an apt time to connect folks to an oldie buy a goodie -
I've been thinking a lot about community and how different our systems - local and global - would be if our focus was on benefitting people and communities, and not institutions and individuals who have accumulated the most wealth and power. Seemed like a good time to highlight this blog on community engagement.
THE RIGHT PEOPLE ON THE BUS: JOBS, RFPS, AND FELLOWSHIPS FOR MAY / JUNE 2020
The world and economy are tumultuous right now, but folks we know are still recruiting. So like every month, we're sharing
. It is our monthly round-up of job, consulting, and fully- funded fellowship and accelerator opportunities that people and organizations connected to Optimistic Anthropology are recruiting for.
(our list reaches ~1200 great people!)
ABOUT OPTIMISTIC ANTHROPOLOGY
helps organizations and cross-sector collaborations trying to solve some of the world's toughest problems - racism, genocide, health inequity, poverty - answer two critical questions:
how did our current reality come to be?
what will it take to shape a positive and equitable future?
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GOOD LISTENS FROM MAY/JUNE 2020
We love music! We love podcasts! We're getting into audiobooks Here's what we have been listening to this past month!
99% Invisible Episode 403: Return of the Yokai (June 23, 2020) and Episode 401: The Natural Experiment (May 5, 2020). The former explores folklore and culture, Shintoism and anthropomorphism in Japan. The latter focuses on researchers who are taking full advantage of the unique conditions created by COVID-19 to better explore topics of interest.
Everything is Alive Episode 27: Colin, Ten Dollar Bill (June 24, 2020). Speaking of anthropomorphism, host Ian Chillag continues to interview inanimate objects and this recent item is a particular delight.
It's Been a Minute with Sam SandersTrump V Nixon on Race: Why 2020 Isn't Quite 1968 (June 9, 2020). My dad had been drawing some parallels between 1968 and today that we're landing for me, and this episode helped me understand why.
Killers of the Flower Moon: The Osage Murders and the Birth of the FBI by David Grann (Audiobook). This 2017 National Book Award finalist intertwines the history of the Osage Nation in Oklahoma and history of law enforcement in the U.S. in a super compelling way.
Reply All Episode 162: The Least You Could Do (June 18, 2020). Black people across the U.S. report receiving random Venmo payments from White friends. Reply All investigates the intention and impact of it all.
Rosemary Clooney singing "Mambo Italiano." I can't explain why, but this silly song has been delighting me all week!
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