Voorwinde lecture

I was surprised that Reinier Voorwinde linked economics so closely with the immigration policy- probably because I don't know much about economics and sometimes fail to see the bigger picture. It makes sense though. Another interesting thing he said about Dutch tolerance was that in the past, the diverse populations of people, including immigrants, didn't really interact with one another. This makes tolerance much easier. So now people are interacting- not in positive ways- and it seems Muslims are the scapegoats when discussing immigration policies. The events of 9-11 and the murder of Van Gogh in Amsterdam perhaps made this more acceptable. Finally, it was refreshing to hear someone who grew up in Amsterdam tell us more about it in a down-to-earth way, practical way.

Domain Analysis

I must admit although the readings on this method make sense, I was a bit confused when applying it myself. I chose to look at a virtual interaction, on the Understanding Islam discussion forum. I looked at a string of discussion posts under "Muslim Women and their Rights" for the analysis. The following were some words used in the discussion: noble, rights, Allah, authority, misused, taken advantage of, true males, work together, equal respect, honor, mercy, faith, courage, degradation, beautiful, taken advantage of. I noticed this discussion centered around the kinds of values or beliefs many Muslims have regarding women, as it contrasts with values and beliefs a "true Muslim" should have based on scripture regarding women. The discussion of Muslim women's rights focuses on abuses women face, but only one person made the distinction that abuse of women should be viewed as a separate issue from religious values and the Islamic belief system. The major domain represented here was "values". My experience with this assignment was frustration, mainly. It was an unfamiliar method and felt really basic on paper but complex during the actual process. I think one advantage of choosing a virtual interaction is it is already written down and I can go back to it repeatedly. A disadvantage is that sometimes it is hard to express things and communicate online, and sometimes meaning is lost. I would like to try this method again, perhaps when I feel more clarity about it, as it could be useful in my research.

(Photos courtesy of Flickr.com)

My observation at Portland's Central Library yesterday resulted in some themes: value of learning, rules and security, and aesthetic space. There were many people around- seniors, students, kids, parents- and as I was standing outside a woman with a guitar walked up to me and asked "Are you interested in being in a play in the role of Maid Marion?" I told her "Probably not". Later inside I observed twp men exchanging vegetables; one of them had a poster board sign saying "The bottom line is Jesus". Both of these experiences emphasize the library as an important community space used by diverse groups of people. The value of learning was clear: the library, which was renovated in 1997, holds 1.5 million books and other materials. The exterior of the building and benches along the sides are carved with names of writers and philosophers, such as Dickens, Tolstoy, Thucydides, Alexandre Dumas. The black granite stairs are carved with single words like explore, hope, and imagine. The children's section has an enclosed story theater with windows, computer stations, shelves of foreign language picture books written in Arabic, Russian, Chinese, Spanish, and more. One feature in that section is a poem called HOME by Franta Bass, written on a set of miniture book spines:

"I look. I look into the wide world. I look to the south, to the north, to the east, to the west toward my home, the city where I was born. City, my city, I will gladly return to you."

There was an unspoken yet very present emphasis on security here. Library rules for patron behavior were posted in each area, and a few security guards were placed at various posts. I also noticed security cameras in each room. I wonder what prompted all this? Finally, the entire library was beautifully designed with rich color, with a good balance of wood and marble. The atmosphere is very spacious and clean, with lots of natural light flowing in the large, arched windows. Big marble columns on every floor separated the space into smaller areas. The majestic, winding, open staircase leads up to the upper two levels. The children's space is friendly and has a life-size bronze tree sculpture reaching up and out toward the ceiling. One has the overall feeling of being a small person in a large and important universe of knowledge.

I learned that spending time observing a place- even a familiar one- is informative and valuable. It prompted me to think about the values the city of Portland has for its public, and what I'll find in Amsterdam. I took a very systematic approach in my observation, purposefully moving from room to room and working my way up to each floor. Another approach would be to randomly choose spaces within the larger environment, or focus on spaces where more people were gathered in order to interact with them.

Having a heightened sense of place or an ability to carefully observe an area will allow me to discern values and identity issues of various communities in Amsterdam. As I am studying the Muslim women's community, the environment will be a good start, but I will likely focus more on dialogue with others. One issue I will keep in mind - do the values reflected in the physical environment align with the values held by the community I am interacting with?

Urbanity, tolerance and public space

I read Lyn Lofland's chapter called "Urbanity, tolerance and public space: The creation of cosmopolitans". It begins with a worthy question- how are diverse groups of people from various races, religions, origins and beliefs to successfully live together in a city? When thinking about Amsterdam, my initial answer: pragmatic tolerance. Lofland doesn't really give us an firm answer here, but discusses the concepts of positive versus negative tolerance. Positive tolerance recognizes differences, appreciating and enjoying them. Negative tolerance is based on the reality that "the different other" is not perceived or interacted with. Lofland states this happens due to self-segregation, among other things. Positive tolerance happens when diverse populations are forced to settle conflict, have a high degree of "psychic safety"; when community is non-threatening, and people have control over contact with others...he notes positively tolerant people tend to be single, of high status and highly educated (148-49). Hmmmm. Is this because poor families are just trying to survive and have to stick together to help each other cope with a harsher reality? (This opens up a whole dialogue I don't have time to begin) Basically, this article goes on to say that urban spaces, despite our best intentions, cannot be designed to transform a whole city of people to practice positive tolerance (that is, behave with positive tolerance, not just verbally express it!). There are other implications, but I suggest reading the complete article. One last point, though is that to become a tolerant city, one must live with things like fear of urban crime and other "unDisneylike" features. I'm wondering, would Lofland find any city in the U.S. where positive tolerance is truly occuring? How do we measure whether a city truly exhibits positive or negative tolerance? One thing that comes to mind is an absence of hate crimes. When I return from Amsterdam, will I have a different perspective on what tolerance means, as well as a deeper understanding of my own personal level of tolerance?

Looking at Cities: Allan Jacobs

Jacobs suggests specific elements to notice while wandering around a city, from architectural style to local residents; from sidewalks to scale and size of city blocks. His piece, although a bit lengthy for my taste, illustrated his skill at using clues during long walks around Testaccio, Rome and Bologna, Italy to determine key characteristics of each place. In Observing the Unknown, he reminds us to keep the context of a place in mind- for example, clues in India are different from clues in America.

Working directly with residents in low-income housing for almost ten years, many of the concepts were familiar, especially the discussion of substandard housing conditions. In Portland, there are many downtown SRO (single room occupancy) buildings that are falling apart, and especially unsafe for vulnerable populations. Many buildings are going through condo conversions this spring, so the character of the neighborhoods will change along with the residents who live there. One example of gentrification in Portland is the North Mississippi Avenue area in North Portland- once a predominately poor African American community, in the past five to ten years it has gradually transformed into a hip, artsy, "up and coming" place. I didn't live in PDX until four years ago, but it would have been interesting to witness the change. Apparently, my neighborhood, the Hawthorne District, had previously gone through the same process years before I came here.

After reading the Jacobs text, I find myself looking at my surroundings differently, and paying attention to details I may have overlooked pre-Jacobs. I see that the building across from my bus stop downtown looks like the whole top half reaching into the sky was an addition; the pale pink and grey (they might call in salmon) City Hall I pass every day on my route to work is dwarfed by much taller, flashy, modern looking buildings in the heart of downtown. Some of the older fountains, which were probably pretty snazzy and sophisticated when built, look a bit sad and worn as traffic swirls around them each rush hour.

Will I be able to notice these same issues in Amsterdam, a city I am unfamiliar with? Are Dutch people going to be willing to discuss the transformations that have taken place around them? Will the low income housing units be substandard on a similar level as the ones here in America?
What historic clues are waiting for my eyes? Will I get more of a sense of history there while walking around than I do in my own country, or is it just different?

Humanities Methods

In thinking about verifiable and nonverifiable stories, I came up with questions regarding crimes affecting the Muslim community within Amsterdam (perhaps it was Professor Reddy's example of U.S. asylum seekers that prompted this train of thought). The murder of Theo Van Gogh is a well known/well publicized crime related to the tension between the non-Muslim and the Muslim community in Amsterdam. I began wondering how to combine the issue of crime and media with a population whom I haven't read much about with regard to hate crimes- Muslim women. It seems most of the literature I've found so far regarding Muslim women focuses on 1) their relationship to Muslim men or 2) the wearing of the headscarf. I'm wondering about hate crimes against Muslims and Muslim womens' perceptions of personal safety here:


Verifiable: How often has the Dutch media in Amsterdam reported on hate crimes against Muslim women in the past ten years? This question can be answered if one were to research it and count the number of reports in the past ten years; it is quantifiable.

Nonverifiable: Do Muslim women believe they are more, or less safe in Amsterdam today? Do they feel the media plays a role in this belief? This question is subjective, based on individual or group beliefs and opinions.

I liked Professor Reddy's explaination of Humanist versus Social Scientist- if I understand it correctly, Humanists ask question after question, while Social Scientists ask a question, then try to answer it/solve it. It seems that Humanists can then focus their energy on generating questions for the Social Scientist to solve? Or perhaps these questions just generate more questions, which aren't really meant to be solved.