I don't know why I'm leaving my last post up online. I just hate it. I don't have a right to say anything. Yes, nasty exploitation exists. Nobody has to dig very far to find it. And the world doesn't need another privileged Tintin-figure to go and find things out. I wanted to write the carriers' story in order to expose the mechanisms of it: their need for a livelihood, the mafioso profiteers, the dangers of going against the profiteers' interests, the benign shopfront of most of Cuzco's tour offices. As benign as most things we consume. My presence changed nothing and I feel I've exploited them further by telling their story. What a life-enriching "experience" it was!!! It sure as hell didn't enrich their lives. And so this one will be the last of my first-hand accounts.Friday, 26 September 2008
Tintin, the return.
I don't know why I'm leaving my last post up online. I just hate it. I don't have a right to say anything. Yes, nasty exploitation exists. Nobody has to dig very far to find it. And the world doesn't need another privileged Tintin-figure to go and find things out. I wanted to write the carriers' story in order to expose the mechanisms of it: their need for a livelihood, the mafioso profiteers, the dangers of going against the profiteers' interests, the benign shopfront of most of Cuzco's tour offices. As benign as most things we consume. My presence changed nothing and I feel I've exploited them further by telling their story. What a life-enriching "experience" it was!!! It sure as hell didn't enrich their lives. And so this one will be the last of my first-hand accounts.
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You should read "In Search of Respect" by Philippe Bourgois. He's an ethnographer who has done a lot of work with homeless and street-involved people in America. This dude, I think, can teach us a thing or two about story-telling (and the toll it must take upon the story-teller -- researching "In Search of Respect" cost Bourgois his marriage, and researching his forthcoming book almost cost him his life). I'd be curious to hear your thoughts on his approach.
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