turn around

This is my submission to my schools Go Global photo competition. I had such a great experience while away and cannot even contain my learning experience to two paragraphs. I tried my best here, though. There might be a possibility that they wont't even publish it on the account
of the caption not conforming to the fluffy cliche bullshit such as 'I saw so much culture' or 'it makes you appreciate the simpler things in life' or the best, 'it was so humbling.' So just a disclaimer, I am a student, and I am still learning. Maybe I'm naive and don't understand things fully, nor did I use any academic references to back up my claims. But if this is completely denied, then I know I'm doing something right. 

Prior to the trip, I had written a paper about photography and Africa and how oftentimes the images of Africa are reduced to lions, face paint, and colourful jewellery. And their tourism industry revolves around these images, where it has gotten to the point that, this is what we expect. I took this photo when we visited Maasailand which was a cool moment because I had written about the Maasai and it was amazing seeing the land in person. I had always dreamed of taking that National Geographic worthy photo of a Maasai man or woman showcasing their beautiful costumes and jewelry. But I realized that there are so many implications with photography, and one cannot simply single in one person walking on the street and take a photo of them. I found that this is oftentimes common on these trips. If we ever wanted to take a photo of an individual, we had to compensate them with cash. This made me uncomfortable, and even one individual said 'feel free to take photos so they know what you are here for.'

As an anthropology student, I had found myself undergoing so many tensions between what was taught to me as 'culturally insensitive,' what not to take photos of, versus being detached from being an anthropology student altogether and approaching it as, 'I think what you are wearing is beautiful, I would like to document it and I will also compensate you for it.' My memory card ended up being filled with photos of foliage, animals, and above all, scenery, as displayed here. This is a photo of a family's home with 6 cooking pots in the foreground. In this very moment, behind me there was the Maasai family talking to us and some people taking photos of them. I turned around and took a photo of this scene. It was at this moment, I had to turn around because I felt uncomfortable with people taking photos of them and I realized that this was a feeling that was taught to me. I sometimes get uneasy when people go to developing countries and say it was humbling and will appreciate their lives more because of that experience. I think this comparison of one's own life to others, simply just emphasizes on power hierarchies. I think people just get caught up with comparisons that we oftentimes forget about context and seeing things for how they are, within themselves. I admit it. I did go into this learning experience with the hopes of 'being humbled' and 'not to take things for granted.' But leaving, I learned that there is so much more going on in the world. I cannot even compute the grandiose amount of knowledge I have acquired on this Go Global learning opportunity. This experience most definitely could not be actualized through a textbook or through paper and pencil examination alone. I now see value in having a collective education in class and outside of the classroom. During this experience I had many moments of clarity, but in terms of this image, I learned that being uncomfortable is a good thing because it causes you to question it, and that's exactly how you learn.