Field Trip to Six Nations
I had the opportunity to visit Six Nations reserve in Brantford as a part of my class in First Nation's Studies.
Monday, April 8, 2013
Wednesday, April 3, 2013
Macklemore ft. Monsignor Ivan Illich
Macklemore is a rapper from Seattle who has skyrocketed to fame with his hits Thrift Shop, Same Love and currently Can't Hold Us. Ivan Illich was an outspoken philosopher and author who coined such terms as 'counter productivity', 'specific diseconomy', and supplied the term Medical Nemesis to explain the impact of industrialization and medicalization on the health of populations. What do they have in common?
The following is a song from Macklemore's album. Please follow along with the lyrics which are posted below
The following is a song from Macklemore's album. Please follow along with the lyrics which are posted below
[Interlude]
I need love
You need love
Give me love
And I'll give you my love
[Verse 1]
They say thirty is the new twenty
And twenty is the new thirty shit I guess
Makes sense, cause fifteen year olds seem twenty
And twenty five year olds seem ten
I used to drink away my paycheck
Celebrate the mistakes I hadn't made yet
Our generation isn't the best on safe sex
We forget the latex, becoming Planned Parenthood patients
Synthetic heroin is the new basshead
So much to escape, fuck a straight edge
Walk around looking through a fake lens
Apps this good, whose got time to make friends?
I wish I didn't care
Acynical hispters with long hair
Cocaine problems, like my music
It's not my issue, I can't solve it
[Hook]
My flight has finally landed down
And the ground has stopped moving all around
Eyes open, awake for the very first time
We both forfeit this game of crime
[Verse 2]
They say it's so refreshing to hear somebody on records
No guns, no drugs, no sex, just truth
The guns that's America, the drugs are what they gave to us
And sex sells itself, don't judge her 'til it's you
Ah, I'm not more or less cautious
The rappers rappin' 'bout them strippers up on the pole, copping
These interviews are obnoxious
Saying that it's poetry is so well spoken, stop it
I grew up during Reaganomics
When Ice T was out there on his killing cops shit
Or Rodney King was getting beat on
And they let off every single officer
And Los Angeles went and lost it
Now every month there is a new Rodney on Youtube
It's just something our generation is used to
And neighbourhoods where you never see a news crew
Unless they're gentrifying, white people don't even cruise through
And my subconcious telling me stop it
This is an issue that you shouldn't get involved in
Don't even tweet, R.I.P Trayvon Martin
Don't wanna be that white dude, million man marchin'
Fighting for our freedom that my people stole
Don't wanna make all my white fans uncomfortable
But you don't even have a fuckin' song for radio
Why you out here talkin race, tryin' to save the fuckin' globe
Don't get involved with the causes in mind
White privilege, white guilt, at the same damn time
So we just party like it's nineteen ninty nine
Celebrate the ignorance while these kids keep dying
I need love
You need love
Give me love
And I'll give you my love
[Verse 1]
They say thirty is the new twenty
And twenty is the new thirty shit I guess
Makes sense, cause fifteen year olds seem twenty
And twenty five year olds seem ten
I used to drink away my paycheck
Celebrate the mistakes I hadn't made yet
Our generation isn't the best on safe sex
We forget the latex, becoming Planned Parenthood patients
Synthetic heroin is the new basshead
So much to escape, fuck a straight edge
Walk around looking through a fake lens
Apps this good, whose got time to make friends?
I wish I didn't care
Acynical hispters with long hair
Cocaine problems, like my music
It's not my issue, I can't solve it
[Hook]
My flight has finally landed down
And the ground has stopped moving all around
Eyes open, awake for the very first time
We both forfeit this game of crime
[Verse 2]
They say it's so refreshing to hear somebody on records
No guns, no drugs, no sex, just truth
The guns that's America, the drugs are what they gave to us
And sex sells itself, don't judge her 'til it's you
Ah, I'm not more or less cautious
The rappers rappin' 'bout them strippers up on the pole, copping
These interviews are obnoxious
Saying that it's poetry is so well spoken, stop it
I grew up during Reaganomics
When Ice T was out there on his killing cops shit
Or Rodney King was getting beat on
And they let off every single officer
And Los Angeles went and lost it
Now every month there is a new Rodney on Youtube
It's just something our generation is used to
And neighbourhoods where you never see a news crew
Unless they're gentrifying, white people don't even cruise through
And my subconcious telling me stop it
This is an issue that you shouldn't get involved in
Don't even tweet, R.I.P Trayvon Martin
Don't wanna be that white dude, million man marchin'
Fighting for our freedom that my people stole
Don't wanna make all my white fans uncomfortable
But you don't even have a fuckin' song for radio
Why you out here talkin race, tryin' to save the fuckin' globe
Don't get involved with the causes in mind
White privilege, white guilt, at the same damn time
So we just party like it's nineteen ninty nine
Celebrate the ignorance while these kids keep dying
The last part of the song (the lyrics in bold) is what really resonates with me; it is also the aspect that speaks to Ivan Illich's speech and his perspective. The fear to act on behalf of another group of people is very real, especially when I know how difficult it is to work in the field of Aboriginal health and social justice with marginalized populations. It is exactly the perspective that Illich has, and the fierce opinion that many like him hold, that makes me hesitate from speaking up, and acting on my passion for Indigenous rights.
From these lyrics, we can see that Macklemore also feels the stigma and hesitation of acting upon another's behalf. And although I hate to acknowledge it, I can understand where Illich is coming from. Marginalized societies have been dealing with imposition and paternalistic 'do-gooders' since the idea of dominion itself was introduced to the human race. Although intentions are pure, I believe that there can be harm caused from 'pretentiously imposing' oneself on another culture.
And so, as Macklemore so eloquently and summatively said, we are stuck with "White priviledge, White guilt at the same damn time"; Frozen from the words of Ivan Illich and those like him, but provoked by our own consciousness and awareness of the privilege we are born into.
Sunday, March 31, 2013
Poverty by Postal Code
Here is a map of obesity rates of adults in Canada from researchers at UBC:
Technically, this is a map of rates of obesity. The darker the shade, the higher the percentage of people with obesity within that province. The highest obesity rates, as a trend, increase towards the north and east coasts of the country.
When I first came across this map, my health studies student brain thought why? Part of me looked at the trend and noticed that some of the provinces that experience obesity at higher levels are also the provinces I know to have a greater population of Aboriginal peoples. Northwest Territories, Nunavut, Yukon, Manitoba and Saskatchewan are provinces that have higher than 15% (Nunavut being the highest at 85%) percentage Indian, Metis and/or Inuit identifying residents.
Obesity is a health status indicator that I know has many links within the social determinants of health web. It is a complex manifestation of poverty and decreased health. In another sleuth move I searched for poverty rates by province in an effort to prove causality or at least correlation. What I found was this Global News article mapping income with Canada's postal code system. Though it cannot explain every province and its respective obesity rates, helps to illuminate the issue of income disparity. Newfoundland, Manitoba and major urban centres such as Montreal, Vancouver and Toronto illustrate this fantastically. This article also gives support to my hypothesis about the poverty and obesity rates among Aboriginal peoples in Canada; the poorest postal code in all of Canada, as determined by this study, is in Cape Breton, Nova Scotia. This postal code belongs to the Eskasoni Mi'Kmaw Nation, a reserve that is the largest in area and population in Nova Scotia.
Without going in a whole new direction and making this post a thesis topic, I wanted to highlight the interaction between poverty, geography, cultural heritage and health status. As we have learned in this program since first year, and has been emphasized through particularly Week 9 of Global Health Promotion, health issues do not exist in a vacuum. Obesity is a complex health condition that effects many Canadians now at rates higher than ever seen before. Although it is unlikely to happen due to public discourse (see previous posts) and government responsibility, I believe obesity needs to be looked at as a health condition of poverty similar to malnutrition.
The socio-ecological model can explain this to an extent and through research I found the following graphic to illustrate:
With all of these factors combined, and the added stress of colonialism embedded in Canadian social norms and the dismissal of traditional Aboriginal cultural values, one can see how amplified the effects are in Aboriginal communities. I recognize that this is a hugely complex issue, however I wanted to bring it to the table and open it up for discussion as a linkage of several Global Health Promotion concepts in one discussion.
Additionally, given the technology, I think it would be very beneficial to transpose these maps on each other and observe obesity rates by postal code to compare as well.
Works Cited:
Adult obesity rates at historic high, UBC study says. (2013, February 28). CTV News. Retrieved from http://www.ctvnews.ca/health/adult-obesity-rates-at-historic-high-ubc-study-says1.1174630#ixzz2Q2yPOBXp
Cain, P. (2013, March 19). Income by postal code: Mapping Canada's richest and poorest neighbourhoods. Global News. Retrieved from http://globalnews.ca/news/370804/income-by-postal-code/
Jeanne H. Freeland-Graves, Susan Nitzke, Position of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics: Total Diet Approach to Healthy Eating, Journal of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, Volume 113, Issue 2, February 2013, Pages 307-317, ISSN 2212-2672, 10.1016/j.jand.2012.12.013.
(http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2212267212019934)
 | |
|
Obesity is a health status indicator that I know has many links within the social determinants of health web. It is a complex manifestation of poverty and decreased health. In another sleuth move I searched for poverty rates by province in an effort to prove causality or at least correlation. What I found was this Global News article mapping income with Canada's postal code system. Though it cannot explain every province and its respective obesity rates, helps to illuminate the issue of income disparity. Newfoundland, Manitoba and major urban centres such as Montreal, Vancouver and Toronto illustrate this fantastically. This article also gives support to my hypothesis about the poverty and obesity rates among Aboriginal peoples in Canada; the poorest postal code in all of Canada, as determined by this study, is in Cape Breton, Nova Scotia. This postal code belongs to the Eskasoni Mi'Kmaw Nation, a reserve that is the largest in area and population in Nova Scotia.
Without going in a whole new direction and making this post a thesis topic, I wanted to highlight the interaction between poverty, geography, cultural heritage and health status. As we have learned in this program since first year, and has been emphasized through particularly Week 9 of Global Health Promotion, health issues do not exist in a vacuum. Obesity is a complex health condition that effects many Canadians now at rates higher than ever seen before. Although it is unlikely to happen due to public discourse (see previous posts) and government responsibility, I believe obesity needs to be looked at as a health condition of poverty similar to malnutrition.
The socio-ecological model can explain this to an extent and through research I found the following graphic to illustrate:
 |
| Socioecological view of Obesity |
With all of these factors combined, and the added stress of colonialism embedded in Canadian social norms and the dismissal of traditional Aboriginal cultural values, one can see how amplified the effects are in Aboriginal communities. I recognize that this is a hugely complex issue, however I wanted to bring it to the table and open it up for discussion as a linkage of several Global Health Promotion concepts in one discussion.
Additionally, given the technology, I think it would be very beneficial to transpose these maps on each other and observe obesity rates by postal code to compare as well.
Works Cited:
Adult obesity rates at historic high, UBC study says. (2013, February 28). CTV News. Retrieved from http://www.ctvnews.ca/health/adult-obesity-rates-at-historic-high-ubc-study-says1.1174630#ixzz2Q2yPOBXp
Cain, P. (2013, March 19). Income by postal code: Mapping Canada's richest and poorest neighbourhoods. Global News. Retrieved from http://globalnews.ca/news/370804/income-by-postal-code/
Jeanne H. Freeland-Graves, Susan Nitzke, Position of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics: Total Diet Approach to Healthy Eating, Journal of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, Volume 113, Issue 2, February 2013, Pages 307-317, ISSN 2212-2672, 10.1016/j.jand.2012.12.013.
(http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2212267212019934)
Monday, March 18, 2013
Monday, March 4, 2013
"Well, if you just work harder, you can get out"
After re-watching the TED Talk by Jacqueline Novogratz on poverty featured in Week 9, I decided to explore the realms of Youtube and see what really I could find on peoples' ideas of poverty, and even perhaps, some extreme examples of poverty.
As a fairly competent Youtube navigator, I found myself watching a video produced by Poverty Resolutions which is a non-profit organization dedicated to the eradication of dollar-a-day poverty. It was founded by two American brothers Matt and Andrew, when they and two friends made the commitment to live on a dollar a day each for food and water in Port-au-Prince following the events of the 2010 earthquake shaking Haiti and crushing the capital.
The film itself, twenty-eight minutes in length, is a well put together documentary about the culture shock, living conditions and realizations fuelled in these four twenty-something men while living amongst the hardworking Haitians rocked by the natural disaster. While watching, the major 'GHP' (Global-Health-Promotion) moment, as I like the call it, came at 15:05. The men are commenting on how difficult it is to live in the rainy, humid, hot and under-developed conditions of Port-au-Prince after another night of downpour. At 15:55, Matt makes the comment that in the past, his thinking was always that people in developing countries can make a better life for themselves and get out of the situations they are in just by working hard. After his experience in Port-au-Prince, watching how hard the Haitians work and in the conditions that are all too common in developing countries, he begins to doubt that philosophy.
To me this is a prime example of a paradigm shift from a Behavioural-dominant perspective of health promotion to a Socio-political view. Matt clearly sees the validity in health promotion from a Socio-political level after recognizing that the behaviour or work ethic of the individuals in Haiti was not enough to pull them out of the situations they found themselves in post-earthquake.
From this experience, the brothers have worked to spread awareness of the causes and consequences of poverty. They do mention in their mission statement that they aim to "empower individuals to meet the needs of their communities", however I believe that this is likely a statement directed toward those who are disproportionately favoured by socio-political factors at play.
What I was left thinking after watching this video was if experiences and first hand interaction in impoverished contexts are what single-handedly changed the perspectives of these young men, what differences do internships, volunteer and mission trips have on the individual as well as the community visited? Maybe this could be a tip off to organizations or money-holders/change-directors that providing an methods of reflection and resources for impact and engagement beyond the experience itself can be a way for everyday people to make a difference and to act on their own volition in providing remedies to poverty.
As a fairly competent Youtube navigator, I found myself watching a video produced by Poverty Resolutions which is a non-profit organization dedicated to the eradication of dollar-a-day poverty. It was founded by two American brothers Matt and Andrew, when they and two friends made the commitment to live on a dollar a day each for food and water in Port-au-Prince following the events of the 2010 earthquake shaking Haiti and crushing the capital.
The film itself, twenty-eight minutes in length, is a well put together documentary about the culture shock, living conditions and realizations fuelled in these four twenty-something men while living amongst the hardworking Haitians rocked by the natural disaster. While watching, the major 'GHP' (Global-Health-Promotion) moment, as I like the call it, came at 15:05. The men are commenting on how difficult it is to live in the rainy, humid, hot and under-developed conditions of Port-au-Prince after another night of downpour. At 15:55, Matt makes the comment that in the past, his thinking was always that people in developing countries can make a better life for themselves and get out of the situations they are in just by working hard. After his experience in Port-au-Prince, watching how hard the Haitians work and in the conditions that are all too common in developing countries, he begins to doubt that philosophy.
To me this is a prime example of a paradigm shift from a Behavioural-dominant perspective of health promotion to a Socio-political view. Matt clearly sees the validity in health promotion from a Socio-political level after recognizing that the behaviour or work ethic of the individuals in Haiti was not enough to pull them out of the situations they found themselves in post-earthquake.
From this experience, the brothers have worked to spread awareness of the causes and consequences of poverty. They do mention in their mission statement that they aim to "empower individuals to meet the needs of their communities", however I believe that this is likely a statement directed toward those who are disproportionately favoured by socio-political factors at play.
What I was left thinking after watching this video was if experiences and first hand interaction in impoverished contexts are what single-handedly changed the perspectives of these young men, what differences do internships, volunteer and mission trips have on the individual as well as the community visited? Maybe this could be a tip off to organizations or money-holders/change-directors that providing an methods of reflection and resources for impact and engagement beyond the experience itself can be a way for everyday people to make a difference and to act on their own volition in providing remedies to poverty.
Monday, February 18, 2013
My motivation
I found this photo on the Facebook page of Survival International (http://www.survivalinternational.org/), one of my favourite websites and organizations. When writing my 60 page independent study unit in grade 11 entitled The Mistreatment of Indigenous Peoples Worldwide (I had no idea how large of a topic it was going to be when I got started), I looked to this website for case study information, accurate information about corporate involvement in the health of Indigenous peoples' lives, and for an illuminating look into what it means to be an indigenous person in the world today.
This photo can currently be found on The Boston Globe's website as one of the fifty news photographs of the century (http://www.boston.com/bigpicture/2009/12/the_decade_in_news_photographs.html)
Here is the photo from another angle where you can see the state policeman who intends to hit this woman out of the way:
These photos are uncomfortable and painful to look at for me. However, these photos and others alike are my motivation to keep pursuing a very emotionally-taxing area of work: social justice and indigenous rights.
This photo can currently be found on The Boston Globe's website as one of the fifty news photographs of the century (http://www.boston.com/bigpicture/2009/12/the_decade_in_news_photographs.html)
Here is the photo from another angle where you can see the state policeman who intends to hit this woman out of the way:
These photos are uncomfortable and painful to look at for me. However, these photos and others alike are my motivation to keep pursuing a very emotionally-taxing area of work: social justice and indigenous rights.
Paralysis by guilt or by ignorance?
This is a reflective opinion piece. It is meant as a reflection and is meant as both an academic and artistic piece in regards to global health.
Social Equity: 50% of the world's population earns $2.50 a day..... A Reflection
I work three jobs.
I get minimum wage at two of the three.
My jobs? They are providing services and knowledge, smiling graciously, and referring them when I know I don't know enough.
Yesterday I made thirty dollars by making people tea.
I know I don't know enough.
But I do know that my knowledge and services are no more valuable than fifty percent of the world's people's services.
I know that.
And I think reflecting on this really does bring to light social inequity and poverty. Not only that,
But the perpetuation of inequity.
Because around here, around Western and Ontario, we ask:
"What am I entitled to?"
and this is an easy question for us to ask because
we
get
answers.
We get answers and sometimes we get solutions.
What am I entitled to? Well if I pay one hundred fourteen dollars (eleven hours of work at a job I dare say I love) I am entitled to white, clean, shiny teeth and a visit to someone who can treat my symptoms if not my ailment. Cared for in the comfort of a campus.
I bet that someone who works eleven hours at a job they do not love will not be entitled to benefits.
They wont be afforded "health" like I am.
They wont get answers to questions. They wont get answers nor will they get solutions.
"What am I entitled to?"
"What am I entitled to?"
"What am I entitled to?"
Many people tire asking questions to deaf ears.
Chalk it down to religion, brain chemistry, hormones, or upbringing, but most humans have shown they are unwilling to part with entitlement/power/material or nonmaterial wealth/status for the benefit of those less
fortunate.
A total forfeit of wealth is unheard of.
Maybe that's why I find these millenium goals made by well-suited politicians to be particularly odd.
Or the fill-the-cup advertisements of wealthy celebs suggesting twenty five cents will make a difference.
Will it?
That's what education does to you. Or, that's what it's done to me.
It's made me
question and doubt,
doubt and question,
whether we can really change this.
Can I really pull off this invisible cloth that is smothering the people all over the globe that surround me? People I love that I haven't met yet? They are choking. And I am breathing.
But for every self reflective, guilty-by-birth-into-a-middle-class-Canadian-family "me", there are outnumbering "thems" who cannot read more into their power
or social status
or health and wellbeing
because they don't have the knowledge of global health. Either that or they cannot bear to realize that maybe it wasn't or isn't their strong work ethic that afforded them their daily luxuries and hot showers.
...
I took a hot shower this morning..
I don't know which is better.
I've been racking my brain for the past five years and I don't know which is better.
Better to be paralyzed by guilt and by shame that "me's" live such comfortable and convenient lives while people we haven't met,
yet,
love unconditionally are the
have-not's?
Or...
Better to live like them.
Better to live blind to the fact that some hundreds of people, all with beautiful names and beautiful faces, die waiting in line to get at resources we were born in front of?
Which ones, the them's or the me's will have better mental health?
Which ones, the them's or the me's will go to sleep first?
Which ones, the them's or the me's will feel satisfied?
will feel proud?
will feel accomplished and worthy and loved and listened to?
Which ones, the them's or the me's will really improve someone's life?
I get ten dollars and twenty five cents an hour for serving tea while fifty percent of the world gets two dollars and fifty cents for their day.
Will reflection change the outcome?
I wish it would.
Wish it would.
Social Equity: 50% of the world's population earns $2.50 a day..... A Reflection
I work three jobs.
I get minimum wage at two of the three.
My jobs? They are providing services and knowledge, smiling graciously, and referring them when I know I don't know enough.
Yesterday I made thirty dollars by making people tea.
I know I don't know enough.
But I do know that my knowledge and services are no more valuable than fifty percent of the world's people's services.
I know that.
And I think reflecting on this really does bring to light social inequity and poverty. Not only that,
But the perpetuation of inequity.
Because around here, around Western and Ontario, we ask:
"What am I entitled to?"
and this is an easy question for us to ask because
we
get
answers.
We get answers and sometimes we get solutions.
What am I entitled to? Well if I pay one hundred fourteen dollars (eleven hours of work at a job I dare say I love) I am entitled to white, clean, shiny teeth and a visit to someone who can treat my symptoms if not my ailment. Cared for in the comfort of a campus.
I bet that someone who works eleven hours at a job they do not love will not be entitled to benefits.
They wont be afforded "health" like I am.
They wont get answers to questions. They wont get answers nor will they get solutions.
"What am I entitled to?"
"What am I entitled to?"
"What am I entitled to?"
Many people tire asking questions to deaf ears.
Chalk it down to religion, brain chemistry, hormones, or upbringing, but most humans have shown they are unwilling to part with entitlement/power/material or nonmaterial wealth/status for the benefit of those less
fortunate.
A total forfeit of wealth is unheard of.
Maybe that's why I find these millenium goals made by well-suited politicians to be particularly odd.
Or the fill-the-cup advertisements of wealthy celebs suggesting twenty five cents will make a difference.
Will it?
That's what education does to you. Or, that's what it's done to me.
It's made me
question and doubt,
doubt and question,
whether we can really change this.
Can I really pull off this invisible cloth that is smothering the people all over the globe that surround me? People I love that I haven't met yet? They are choking. And I am breathing.
But for every self reflective, guilty-by-birth-into-a-middle-class-Canadian-family "me", there are outnumbering "thems" who cannot read more into their power
or social status
or health and wellbeing
because they don't have the knowledge of global health. Either that or they cannot bear to realize that maybe it wasn't or isn't their strong work ethic that afforded them their daily luxuries and hot showers.
...
I took a hot shower this morning..
I don't know which is better.
I've been racking my brain for the past five years and I don't know which is better.
Better to be paralyzed by guilt and by shame that "me's" live such comfortable and convenient lives while people we haven't met,
yet,
love unconditionally are the
have-not's?
Or...
Better to live like them.
Better to live blind to the fact that some hundreds of people, all with beautiful names and beautiful faces, die waiting in line to get at resources we were born in front of?
Which ones, the them's or the me's will have better mental health?
Which ones, the them's or the me's will go to sleep first?
Which ones, the them's or the me's will feel satisfied?
will feel proud?
will feel accomplished and worthy and loved and listened to?
Which ones, the them's or the me's will really improve someone's life?
I get ten dollars and twenty five cents an hour for serving tea while fifty percent of the world gets two dollars and fifty cents for their day.
Will reflection change the outcome?
I wish it would.
Wish it would.
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