Thus far, whenever I have spoken of “collaborative” work between researchers and their non-academic partners (because one can also speak of collaboration between researchers themselves) I have tended to present an argument that was only “positive,” and by that I mean this was presented as the way to go in decolonizing the discipline, heightening its public engagement, and opening the process of knowledge production to less elitist/”professional” modes. There are a number of limitations, however, that need to be addressed…

Read the post for his full relection on these issues. Collaborative Anthropology or ethnography is an approach to ethnography most associated with the good work and leadership of Luke Eric Lassiter. Lassiter writes on his home page:

Collaboration is inherent to all fieldwork practice.  Collaborative ethnography both highlights and focuses this collaboration — specifically that between ethnographers and their interlocutors — and moves it to center stage.  It seeks to make collaboration an explicit and deliberate part of not only fieldwork but also part of the writing process itself.  Community collaborators thus become a central part of the construction of ethnographic texts — which shifts their role from “informants” (who merely inform the knowledge on which ethnographies are based) to “consultants” (who co-interpret culture and its representation along with the ethnographer).

Clearly, this effort aligns with the interests of Cultural Sustainability. What may be a useful distinction is a Cultural Sustainability practitioner may more centrally consider a range of projects to collaborate with communities beyond writing, and see the production of action to serve the communty’s interests as determined through collaboration as the goal of ethnographic engagement.  Either way, the ethical and political issues that Forte raises in his post deserve to be considered carefully.

“The Cambodia Community-Based Ecotourism Network (CCBEN) is the only network of organizations which are involved in community-based ecotourism. CCBEN aims to promote and support this unique style of tourism for the conservation of natural and cultural resources, and for raising the living standards of local communities.”

SUSTAINABILITY / SOSTENIBILIDAD
A visual and literary exhibition in response to the
Americans for the Arts 2009 Conference theme
“Arts in Sustainable Communities”

Here is the link to the conference

Sustainability is clearly a topic of a great deal of current interest and there is an ongoing conversation about what it means, and how it intersects with other key human terms/issues — culture, community, economy, environment. I am interested in how the conversation will unfold at AFTA. Will the processual, holistic and emergent nature of culture sustainability be explored? More on these topics later.

I believe that such experiences are defining of human life, culture and community. I believe that by helping encourage the human capacities and condition that make communitas possible, we significantly improve the quality and value of life.