WEBVTT

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Thanks for joining us in this panel part of

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the intersections initiative by

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the college diversity committee.

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Today, we have three guests that are going to talk for

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their own work and interests in research about migration.

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The structure for this is I'm going to be introducing

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the speaker who's going

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to present for around seven minutes or so,

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and I'm going to introduce the next speaker who was

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going to do the same, and then afterwards,

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there's going to be around 30 minutes for

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open discussion and for you to ask

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questions and have a conversation with the speakers.

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We're going to start today with Rachel Weaver.

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Rachel Lynn Weaver is an artist working across video,

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sound, installation, and performance.

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Her project is explore the intersections of

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personal and cultural memory, narrative, and ecology.

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Weaver's art work has been exhibited in 39 countries over

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the last decade and it's held

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the numerous private and public collections.

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Since 2008, Weaver has also worked closely with

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indigenous communities facing displacement

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due to climate change,

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environmental degradation,

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and industrial and governmental land annexation.

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She's currently partnering with

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Alaskan native, Greenlandic,

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and Canadian First Nations' leaders to

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facilitate youth-led media projects.

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Weaver is an assistant professor and director of

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creative technologies programs at

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the School of Visual Arts at Virginia Tech. Thank you.

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I guess it's my turn.

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Do I have to hold the microphone?

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No, I don't think so.

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Maybe I shouldn't have said that there either.

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Just asking for trouble.

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I was looking forward to my Beyonce moment,

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but I suppose I'll just start by saying,

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thank you so much for the opportunity.

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I'm really excited to share

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a little bit about the work that I'm doing today.

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We're going to test the range on this clicker here.

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Just to start out, I'd like to frame the work that I

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do with a little bit of context in mind.

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Specifically, I am not

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a sociologist nor am I a member of a native community.

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I am a person who comes from

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a context of complicated intersectional,

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geographic, and class realities.

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I was raised primarily at

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Alaskan and Appalachian rural communities.

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I am a filmmaker,

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but I'm also a video artist.

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I work in sound,

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media installation, and community collaboration.

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There are a range of different

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thematic and research centerings

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that motivate the work that I do.

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Over a decade now, that has

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included working very closely with

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Alaskan native communities and

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indigenous communities in a number of Arctic countries,

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as well as in Central America towards thinking about

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media sovereignty and

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media representation of displacement.

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In addition to that, that has meant

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collaborating with and working very

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closely with communities towards the creation of

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new media projects that

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reflect the narratives that

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those communities want to center.

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I'm going to talk a little bit about that work

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today and then depending on timing later on,

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I'll provide some context

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for the creative practice itself.

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To give you a little bit of additional background,

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my media career began in

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forensic science and then moved from

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forensic documentation and investigation

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to straight ahead documentary filmmaking.

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Right away I began thinking about the authority of image,

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who controls the way that communities are represented,

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the history of documentary,

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and the way the documentary has been used to position or

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otherwise support or misrepresent

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communities that are imperiled

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in one way, shape, or form.

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Growing up in areas that don't

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have a lot of regional media production, that is to say,

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far from very large cities,

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far from urban infrastructures that support mediation and

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media production and yet

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seeing these regions in the media again and again.

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I started to think about authority

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and control and power representation.

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Additionally, I grew really disenfranchised with

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my traditional documentary work where I was often sent

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to indigenous communities or to

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marginalized communities and expected

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to work in a hit and

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run capacity where my role as

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a filmmaker was to capture a very particular story,

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leave, and never return.

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That work was really at odds with the ethic of

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care that I wanted to bring to the work that I was doing.

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There was also no shortage of media,

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misrepresentation of communities that

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I was familiar with.

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For example, images such as this one perpetuated

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by TV series that

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focus on the extremes of architect landscapes,

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the romanticization and ridiculousness of

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that media space neglects the complexity of those places.

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I also started to think of culture mining as another type

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of extractive industry along

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the lines of the extractive industries

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that were so prevalent

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in the regions that I was based in.

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I decided, okay, I'm not going to work in that way.

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Instead I wanted to turn my attention to

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complexity and instead of oversimplification,

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finding ways to center the complexity

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of the regions that I

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called home and that I worked with them.

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There are 231 distinct tribal entities in Alaska and

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20 federally-recognized languages from

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a number of different language groups.

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That's a much more diverse vision

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of that region than this one.

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I wanted to return

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to accurate representation and

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portrayal of these communities.

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Let me go back here.

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In addition to the fact that these are

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very complex societies that I'm working within,

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indigenous mobility has transformed in

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the region over the last 50-75 years.

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That's due to a number of different factors

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including desire,

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so central governments in

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addition to the complicated fact that

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many communities that had been forcibly moved have

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been done so without consent.

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Forced resettlement is a story

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that has happened again and again

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in the history of indigenous

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communities around the world,

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but that continued up until

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very recently in North America.

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There's also a problem of brain drain in those regions,

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out-migration of young people seeking

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economic and educational opportunities

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only to never return to their home communities.

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There are a number of different factors

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impacting what we think of migration.

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In addition to that, climate change has

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complicated the migratory story

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of indigenous communities.

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There are 200 plus Alaskan native villages

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facing risks of flooding and erosion,

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31 of them are facing an imminent displacement.

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That means that these are communities

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that have to relocate

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or their villages will be completely destroyed.

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At least 12 of the 31 highly threatened communities

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are already in the process of negotiating relocation.

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[NOISE] Climigration is one

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of the terms that's been used to

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describe this type of movement.

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This is a term that was

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first used in Alaska native human rights

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work surrounding several communities that have already

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been forcibly moved and had

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to move because of climate change.

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[NOISE] These are the stories

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and things that we hear about,

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but that may seem very far away from lower 48 reality is.

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That is to say, those of us who are not living

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in the Arctic in a day to day capacity.

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This is a quote from a woman

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named Allison Nayokpuk in Shishmaref, Alaska,

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which is a village that is

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three-quarters of the way we're located right now,

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and it's in the process of trying to

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raise funds to relocate because

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to relocate an entire community is extremely expensive.

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"If we relocate during the summer,

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we'd need a lot of barges to move everything.

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The thought of moving our village is very sad

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because Shishmaref is the place where I grew up.

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Shishmaref is a great place to

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live because everybody knows each other.

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If we move, it would probably

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bring our community closer together.

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It could be the totally opposite though,

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because some people might just move to a new place.

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If we move, it won't be the same because

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it wouldn't be the Shishmaref that everyone knows."

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So continuing negotiation of what it will mean to move.

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[NOISE] I enter and negotiate this story of

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communities that are imperiled by

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both climate transformation and

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also by histories of colonization and racism.

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By thinking about what it means to be

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a stakeholder and media sovereignty, that is to say,

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the sovereign determination of

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those individuals as to how they would

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like to be represented in the media.

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I have decided that facilitation and

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trust are long-term investments.

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They require long-term maintenance

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and long-term commitments.

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I don't work in a hit and run

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capacity in my filmmaking anymore.

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That has meant that I commit to partnerships with

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communities beyond just a single creative project.

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I also tried to remain accountable to communities.

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That means that I need to be transparent.

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I need to be honest,

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and I need to work very closely with

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leadership and youth in those communities.

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I'm going to quickly talk about Belkofski,

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which is one of the villages that

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I worked with very closely,

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which is a community that suffered

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forced relocation essentially due to

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economic forces and the lack of

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social services in the region that they were based in.

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Villagers had to leave their traditional home because

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of economic instability and climate instability.

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But they returned to

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their traditional village regionally every year,

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every season to participate in subsistence food ways,

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to participate in religious ceremonies,

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because the large church that was

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the community's Russia Orthodox Center of

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Worship was still based there.

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This was a place that people return to.

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But unfortunately, because the village was depopulated,

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it was prone to danger and

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the entire village site was burned by arsonists in 2013.

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This community lost the majority

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of the physical material,

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all the architectural structures,

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and a lot of the artifacts and artwork

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and archives that were important to them.

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My role as a filmmaker,

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working very closely with this community,

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was one of negotiating

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the remaining memories that community members held,

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while also having to come to terms with and find space

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for and elevate the complexity

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and poetics of the experience of displacement,

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the experience of yearning to

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go back to a place and return to a place that

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physically no longer existed

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that had been burned to the ground.

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[NOISE] Go back. There we go.

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We produced a film.

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I facilitated media training for the community.

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They shot interviews with all of their community elders.

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In 2017, we released a feature length film that was

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distributed at no cost to the entire community.

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It's now a member of Alaskan institutions.

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It's been distributed to other villages and it's

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held in a number of collections in

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urban centers as well because urban centers have

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become very important to the indigenous community.

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I'm going to stop there because there's

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a whole lot more than I could say,

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but I want to make room and time for

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the other conversations. Thank you.

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Thank you. [APPLAUSE]

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Do you want to trade places?

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Thank you Rachel.

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I'll queue up your presentation.

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Okay. Thank you

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There you go.

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Thank you.

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Now we're going to listen to Katrina Powell.

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Dr. Katrina Powell is a professor of English and

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Director of the Center for

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Rhetoric and Society at Virginia Tech.

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She teaches courses in rhetorics of social justice,

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autobiography, and research methodologies.

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Her research focuses on displacement narratives and

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human rights rhetorics across transnational contexts.

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She's the author of

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The Anguish of Displacement by UVA Press

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2007 and Identity and

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Power in Narratives of Displacement,

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Routledge 2015, also editor of "Answer at Once":

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Letters of Mountain Families in

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Shenandoah National Park, UVA 2009,

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and Practicing Research in Writing Studies: Reflexive

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and Ethically Responsible Research, Hampton 2012.

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Her current work focuses on

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the dissemination of displacement and

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refugee narratives and the ethical dimensions of

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our carving those narratives and alternative spaces.

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With support from the non-profit boards of witness,

00:15:38.530 --> 00:15:41.649
Powell is conducting an oral history titled "Resettled",

00:15:41.649 --> 00:15:43.870
beginning again in Appalachia to be published by

00:15:43.870 --> 00:15:45.970
Haymarket Books. Thank you.

00:15:45.970 --> 00:15:48.130
Thank you. Anthony, Rachel,

00:15:48.130 --> 00:15:50.950
and Georgeta, thank you for inviting us to be here.

00:15:50.950 --> 00:15:53.950
You can probably tell from the description of my work,

00:15:53.950 --> 00:15:57.820
how excited I was when Rachel joined the faculty here.

00:15:57.820 --> 00:15:59.980
She and I have a lot of common interests.

00:15:59.980 --> 00:16:04.240
In fact, some of the collages that she worked on,

00:16:04.240 --> 00:16:05.860
was it this particular community?

00:16:05.860 --> 00:16:06.610
It was.

00:16:06.610 --> 00:16:08.530
Are hanging in the Center for Rhetoric

00:16:08.530 --> 00:16:09.940
in Society which I direct.

00:16:09.940 --> 00:16:12.460
Those are lovely pieces

00:16:12.460 --> 00:16:14.995
for everyone to see and to learn about.

00:16:14.995 --> 00:16:18.310
I want to do a similar thing to Rachel,

00:16:18.310 --> 00:16:20.575
just to tell you a little bit about my past research,

00:16:20.575 --> 00:16:21.910
to then give you some context

00:16:21.910 --> 00:16:23.845
for what I'm working on right now.

00:16:23.845 --> 00:16:27.219
My first book was about displacement

00:16:27.219 --> 00:16:29.050
of families from Shenandoah National Park

00:16:29.050 --> 00:16:30.670
here in Virginia.

00:16:30.670 --> 00:16:32.844
How many people have been to Shenandoah?

00:16:32.844 --> 00:16:34.210
Anybody been hiking there?

00:16:34.210 --> 00:16:37.270
Few of you. About 500 families

00:16:37.270 --> 00:16:39.070
were displaced when that park was formed.

00:16:39.070 --> 00:16:42.910
[NOISE] When they were displaced,

00:16:42.910 --> 00:16:46.300
they were moved, some of them to resettlement housing.

00:16:46.300 --> 00:16:50.920
You can see the houses here in the background and then

00:16:50.920 --> 00:16:52.570
a nicely staged photograph of

00:16:52.570 --> 00:16:55.255
people doing their garden in the front yard.

00:16:55.255 --> 00:17:05.020
A government image intersects

00:17:05.020 --> 00:17:07.300
with these earlier media images of

00:17:07.300 --> 00:17:09.985
what life was like in the mountains for families.

00:17:09.985 --> 00:17:12.910
You can see the plain board housing,

00:17:12.910 --> 00:17:14.604
a couple of broken windows,

00:17:14.604 --> 00:17:17.110
and the representation of families as

00:17:17.110 --> 00:17:19.990
being poor and not able to take care of themselves,

00:17:19.990 --> 00:17:23.680
which then created an argument that it was okay to

00:17:23.680 --> 00:17:25.480
displace them and put them

00:17:25.480 --> 00:17:27.580
in this tract housing that was new,

00:17:27.580 --> 00:17:30.440
that had running water and electricity.

00:17:32.070 --> 00:17:35.605
In doing a documentary film,

00:17:35.605 --> 00:17:38.440
I interviewed some families

00:17:38.440 --> 00:17:40.210
who had been displaced, who had been resettled,

00:17:40.210 --> 00:17:42.040
not only to the resettlement housing,

00:17:42.040 --> 00:17:44.260
but then to The

00:17:44.260 --> 00:17:46.629
Virginia Colony for Epileptics and Feebleminded,

00:17:46.629 --> 00:17:49.750
which is located in Lynchburg, Virginia.

00:17:49.750 --> 00:17:54.040
Forcible sterilization occurred at this hospital.

00:17:54.040 --> 00:17:56.510
The argument about one's

00:17:56.510 --> 00:17:59.030
housing not being suitable for them to live and

00:17:59.030 --> 00:18:01.910
then to be forced to move somewhere else

00:18:01.910 --> 00:18:05.440
can have lots of different kinds of consequences.

00:18:05.440 --> 00:18:08.285
This piqued my interest at the time

00:18:08.285 --> 00:18:10.670
about architectural structures and

00:18:10.670 --> 00:18:12.150
what arguments they made,

00:18:12.150 --> 00:18:13.700
and architects are also

00:18:13.700 --> 00:18:16.650
interested in those issues as well.

00:18:18.040 --> 00:18:21.170
Part of what I did at that time,

00:18:21.170 --> 00:18:23.240
was look at the ways that people

00:18:23.240 --> 00:18:25.310
talked about their own situations in

00:18:25.310 --> 00:18:28.205
relationship to those broader media representations

00:18:28.205 --> 00:18:30.705
of them as displaceable.

00:18:30.705 --> 00:18:33.800
I analyzed some handwritten letters

00:18:33.800 --> 00:18:34.940
that were found in

00:18:34.940 --> 00:18:37.190
an archive in Shenandoah National Park.

00:18:37.190 --> 00:18:39.710
I share Rachel's interest in trying to

00:18:39.710 --> 00:18:42.245
understand what people want to say

00:18:42.245 --> 00:18:45.830
about their own representations and lived experiences

00:18:45.830 --> 00:18:47.510
and how that contrasts

00:18:47.510 --> 00:18:51.050
with broader institutional representations.

00:18:51.050 --> 00:18:53.690
This picture here on the bottom is of

00:18:53.690 --> 00:18:56.270
Mary Francis who was displaced when she was

00:18:56.270 --> 00:18:59.600
a girl in the 1930s and

00:18:59.600 --> 00:19:02.899
was relocated

00:19:02.899 --> 00:19:06.810
to The Virginia Colony for Epileptics and Feebleminded.

00:19:06.940 --> 00:19:10.310
Then my work expanded.

00:19:10.310 --> 00:19:12.530
I wanted to do a transnational comparison.

00:19:12.530 --> 00:19:14.630
Was what I was seeing in

00:19:14.630 --> 00:19:15.860
Shenandoah National Park in

00:19:15.860 --> 00:19:17.930
Virginia with a very small group of people,

00:19:17.930 --> 00:19:19.430
something that was happening

00:19:19.430 --> 00:19:22.770
similarly across transnational context?

00:19:22.770 --> 00:19:26.720
These images here are some of research in Sri Lanka,

00:19:26.720 --> 00:19:29.390
in particular, of people who had been resettled

00:19:29.390 --> 00:19:32.060
because of the Civil War there,

00:19:32.060 --> 00:19:36.650
but also resettled because of the tsunami in 2004,

00:19:36.650 --> 00:19:40.700
and there's also very routinized displacement

00:19:40.700 --> 00:19:42.604
due to the monsoon seasons,

00:19:42.604 --> 00:19:46.260
and also just economic development.

00:19:47.460 --> 00:19:50.770
If you compare them,

00:19:50.770 --> 00:19:52.900
this resettlement housing in Virginia,

00:19:52.900 --> 00:19:55.870
I don't have an aerial view of that housing.

00:19:55.870 --> 00:19:58.090
This is more of an on the ground view.

00:19:58.090 --> 00:19:59.560
But most of the resettlement

00:19:59.560 --> 00:20:02.050
housing images that we see in

00:20:02.050 --> 00:20:03.745
the media are from

00:20:03.745 --> 00:20:06.325
what I would argue as a colonialist lens,

00:20:06.325 --> 00:20:09.280
looking down on rows and rows of tents,

00:20:09.280 --> 00:20:11.570
usually from the UN.

00:20:11.610 --> 00:20:14.155
Again, in my earlier work,

00:20:14.155 --> 00:20:15.745
this really peaked my interest

00:20:15.745 --> 00:20:18.040
from a structural perspective.

00:20:18.040 --> 00:20:20.455
What does it mean to only see

00:20:20.455 --> 00:20:23.170
displaced populations through the lens

00:20:23.170 --> 00:20:27.340
of the rows and rows of tents?

00:20:27.340 --> 00:20:31.855
This is Menik Farm in Sri Lanka.

00:20:31.855 --> 00:20:35.620
What's interesting about this space is that it was

00:20:35.620 --> 00:20:38.275
a refugee camp during the Civil War

00:20:38.275 --> 00:20:39.820
when the Tamil communities

00:20:39.820 --> 00:20:41.755
were forced to leave their homes.

00:20:41.755 --> 00:20:42.910
After the war was over,

00:20:42.910 --> 00:20:46.135
the government decided not to give their property back,

00:20:46.135 --> 00:20:48.760
and so Menik Farm which had been a refugee camp,

00:20:48.760 --> 00:20:51.470
became a permanent town.

00:20:52.440 --> 00:20:55.270
These are just a variety of images.

00:20:55.270 --> 00:21:00.835
These are ones from Hurricane Katrina on the bottom,

00:21:00.835 --> 00:21:03.145
Hurricane Betsy earlier in the '50s.

00:21:03.145 --> 00:21:05.020
I started collecting images.

00:21:05.020 --> 00:21:07.030
What are the images of displacement

00:21:07.030 --> 00:21:09.865
and where people were housed?

00:21:09.865 --> 00:21:14.950
Then we have some more recent images from

00:21:14.950 --> 00:21:17.350
Southwest Key Programs which build

00:21:17.350 --> 00:21:18.640
the detention centers that are in

00:21:18.640 --> 00:21:21.175
Texas and Arizona and Florida.

00:21:21.175 --> 00:21:26.020
Now, I'm intrigued now by the way that large corporations

00:21:26.020 --> 00:21:28.809
profit off of the vulnerability

00:21:28.809 --> 00:21:30.970
and precarity of other people.

00:21:30.970 --> 00:21:33.460
These images, as you can see,

00:21:33.460 --> 00:21:39.205
present a particular dimension of one who is displaced.

00:21:39.205 --> 00:21:41.125
I want to take you now to

00:21:41.125 --> 00:21:43.840
an architectural innovation by IKEA,

00:21:43.840 --> 00:21:50.029
which is really fascinating in terms of IKEA Foundation,

00:21:50.580 --> 00:21:54.655
philanthropic arm of the IKEA corporation.

00:21:54.655 --> 00:21:55.930
They've built this really

00:21:55.930 --> 00:21:57.684
interesting innovative structure

00:21:57.684 --> 00:21:59.905
for refugee housing,

00:21:59.905 --> 00:22:03.085
where as opposed to a tent,

00:22:03.085 --> 00:22:06.250
it can withstand some more extreme weather

00:22:06.250 --> 00:22:09.760
and it can be put up and down pretty quickly.

00:22:09.760 --> 00:22:13.555
Then the media advertisement for this,

00:22:13.555 --> 00:22:14.950
you can donate your money to

00:22:14.950 --> 00:22:17.440
help the UN raise funds to them,

00:22:17.440 --> 00:22:20.650
buy these structures at cost from IKEA,

00:22:20.650 --> 00:22:23.575
intrigues me from a rhetorical perspective.

00:22:23.575 --> 00:22:25.690
I did mention before that I'm a rhetorician.

00:22:25.690 --> 00:22:27.925
I'm not an architect, I'm a rhetorician,

00:22:27.925 --> 00:22:30.040
but I see this image making

00:22:30.040 --> 00:22:33.430
the rhetorical argument about who is displaceable,

00:22:33.430 --> 00:22:35.380
and making a rhetorical argument

00:22:35.380 --> 00:22:37.900
about the kind of housing and the kind of

00:22:37.900 --> 00:22:40.570
situation that's okay for one who

00:22:40.570 --> 00:22:43.660
needs help in a moment of crisis.

00:22:43.660 --> 00:22:47.920
You see here, there's electricity inside the structure.

00:22:47.920 --> 00:22:50.500
The family is sitting there watching TV.

00:22:50.500 --> 00:22:51.985
There's nice cushions.

00:22:51.985 --> 00:22:55.190
They might be from IKEA too, I don't know.

00:22:57.210 --> 00:23:00.310
One of the things that interests me about this

00:23:00.310 --> 00:23:02.485
is that it's not an aerial view,

00:23:02.485 --> 00:23:05.530
colonialist view of rows and rows of tents.

00:23:05.530 --> 00:23:07.780
You actually see the bodies of the people

00:23:07.780 --> 00:23:10.240
inside and what their life might be like.

00:23:10.240 --> 00:23:13.045
That might be a counterargument to that aerial view.

00:23:13.045 --> 00:23:16.510
But if you think about it more,

00:23:16.510 --> 00:23:18.970
you're getting an argument

00:23:18.970 --> 00:23:22.870
about how nice it is inside this structure,

00:23:22.870 --> 00:23:24.790
which therefore mask the precarity

00:23:24.790 --> 00:23:25.900
that continues to go on

00:23:25.900 --> 00:23:27.550
outside and doesn't address

00:23:27.550 --> 00:23:31.040
the root causes of displacement on the outside.

00:23:33.600 --> 00:23:36.280
I don't know if the architects in the room

00:23:36.280 --> 00:23:38.260
might already know about Dezeen magazine.

00:23:38.260 --> 00:23:39.400
There's lots of articles in there

00:23:39.400 --> 00:23:40.840
about variety of kinds of

00:23:40.840 --> 00:23:44.260
architectural innovations that are

00:23:44.260 --> 00:23:48.250
changing the lives of refugees in

00:23:48.250 --> 00:23:54.235
camps depending on what's being designed.

00:23:54.235 --> 00:23:56.440
But mostly, they focus

00:23:56.440 --> 00:23:59.245
on making the life in the camp easier.

00:23:59.245 --> 00:24:02.335
This one here on the bottom right

00:24:02.335 --> 00:24:06.130
is a pop-up kitchen in the City of London.

00:24:06.130 --> 00:24:08.520
That's a different kind of argument about

00:24:08.520 --> 00:24:11.520
how refugees and migrants might be able to live.

00:24:11.520 --> 00:24:13.800
They're living integrated in London,

00:24:13.800 --> 00:24:15.645
and here's a pop-up kitchen designed

00:24:15.645 --> 00:24:18.900
specifically for an immigrant neighborhood as

00:24:18.900 --> 00:24:21.674
opposed to living in a refugee camp away

00:24:21.674 --> 00:24:25.930
and outside of other communities.

00:24:29.150 --> 00:24:32.520
Like Rachel, I'm really interested in what

00:24:32.520 --> 00:24:35.685
people are saying about their displacement experience.

00:24:35.685 --> 00:24:37.720
Some of my own interest is in

00:24:37.720 --> 00:24:40.570
gathering communities together to talk

00:24:40.570 --> 00:24:44.080
about their resettlement experience and how that might

00:24:44.080 --> 00:24:46.449
counter the larger institutional

00:24:46.449 --> 00:24:48.460
or media representations of displacement.

00:24:48.460 --> 00:24:52.000
This little notebook was

00:24:52.000 --> 00:24:53.800
filled in by a woman who's

00:24:53.800 --> 00:24:55.960
recently resettled in this area,

00:24:55.960 --> 00:24:59.290
talking about her home that she used to have in Syria,

00:24:59.290 --> 00:25:00.430
the home she has now,

00:25:00.430 --> 00:25:04.030
her experience in Jordan as a refugee.

00:25:04.030 --> 00:25:07.765
Part of my project is to analyze

00:25:07.765 --> 00:25:12.235
and understand those narratives on a larger scale.

00:25:12.235 --> 00:25:13.480
What does one person say?

00:25:13.480 --> 00:25:14.770
What do 20 people say?

00:25:14.770 --> 00:25:18.355
What do 100 people say in relationship to each other?

00:25:18.355 --> 00:25:20.800
Then in relationship to what big data

00:25:20.800 --> 00:25:23.335
tells us about who is displaced,

00:25:23.335 --> 00:25:27.250
where they go when they migrate or when they move.

00:25:27.250 --> 00:25:37.480
[APPLAUSE]

00:25:37.480 --> 00:25:42.340
Now, lastly, you're going to hear from Georgeta Pourchot.

00:25:42.340 --> 00:25:44.755
You won't show any images.

00:25:44.755 --> 00:25:44.980
No.

00:25:44.980 --> 00:25:46.840
Just going to talk. Georgeta was

00:25:46.840 --> 00:25:48.730
born in Communist Romania.

00:25:48.730 --> 00:25:52.540
Having witnessed lack of freedom, social injustice,

00:25:52.540 --> 00:25:54.250
and government oppression, she developed

00:25:54.250 --> 00:25:57.025
a keen desire to study governments and how they work.

00:25:57.025 --> 00:25:58.990
In particular, why democratic governments

00:25:58.990 --> 00:26:00.565
work better than other types.

00:26:00.565 --> 00:26:03.820
She became a founding member of the Romanian Green Party

00:26:03.820 --> 00:26:04.870
and run for office in

00:26:04.870 --> 00:26:07.285
the first free elections of main 1990.

00:26:07.285 --> 00:26:09.415
She was elected to the House of Deputies,

00:26:09.415 --> 00:26:11.665
equivalent to our House of Representatives,

00:26:11.665 --> 00:26:14.260
where she became involved in legislation to reform

00:26:14.260 --> 00:26:15.670
the education system and to

00:26:15.670 --> 00:26:17.605
address the environmental crisis.

00:26:17.605 --> 00:26:19.540
She had an opportunity to come to the US

00:26:19.540 --> 00:26:21.355
to research the democratic process,

00:26:21.355 --> 00:26:24.715
authoritarian regimes, and what makes them last,

00:26:24.715 --> 00:26:26.560
media freedom, and biases and

00:26:26.560 --> 00:26:28.960
security aspects of all types of states.

00:26:28.960 --> 00:26:30.550
She came to Virginia Tech where she

00:26:30.550 --> 00:26:32.200
has been teaching and developing courses

00:26:32.200 --> 00:26:34.750
about the democratization of Eastern Europe and

00:26:34.750 --> 00:26:37.975
the aftermath of the Iraq War.

00:26:37.975 --> 00:26:41.995
Her current research focus is on Russia and Central Asia,

00:26:41.995 --> 00:26:43.630
American foreign policy, and

00:26:43.630 --> 00:26:45.535
the international refugee crisis.

00:26:45.535 --> 00:26:46.960
She manages an international

00:26:46.960 --> 00:26:49.690
refugee partnerships special project

00:26:49.690 --> 00:26:51.835
that VT launched in 2017,

00:26:51.835 --> 00:26:54.340
created to address pressing issues related to

00:26:54.340 --> 00:26:57.325
refugee integration. Thank you.

00:26:57.325 --> 00:26:59.200
I was afraid for a second that you were gong

00:26:59.200 --> 00:27:00.700
to read the whole thing. It's long.

00:27:00.700 --> 00:27:04.030
[LAUGHTER] Thank you once

00:27:04.030 --> 00:27:06.880
again for having us here. Thank you, Catherine.

00:27:06.880 --> 00:27:09.220
I don't know who pointed it to me,

00:27:09.220 --> 00:27:11.410
but it was nice to hear from you.

00:27:11.410 --> 00:27:13.300
By now, you would have gotten

00:27:13.300 --> 00:27:15.880
an idea that we're talking about images and what

00:27:15.880 --> 00:27:17.500
the images are supposed to

00:27:17.500 --> 00:27:19.735
suggest in you mind and how you're going to

00:27:19.735 --> 00:27:24.685
think about displacement, refugees, migrations, etc.

00:27:24.685 --> 00:27:27.160
I'm guessing, if you

00:27:27.160 --> 00:27:30.160
were to neglect everything you heard from

00:27:30.160 --> 00:27:32.649
these two beautiful scholars

00:27:32.649 --> 00:27:36.175
and you state just with the official line,

00:27:36.175 --> 00:27:38.410
your impression of displacement

00:27:38.410 --> 00:27:41.170
would be positive, raise your hand?

00:27:41.170 --> 00:27:43.495
Negative, raise your hand?

00:27:43.495 --> 00:27:46.570
There we go. Here's the other one.

00:27:46.570 --> 00:27:49.435
We're talking about images from above.

00:27:49.435 --> 00:27:54.500
All of this is people in the shadows and we have

00:27:55.440 --> 00:27:58.150
gotten to the point where that's how we

00:27:58.150 --> 00:27:59.860
think about displaced people,

00:27:59.860 --> 00:28:03.370
refugees, illegal aliens.

00:28:03.370 --> 00:28:04.720
Aliens, it could be

00:28:04.720 --> 00:28:08.560
legal persons or undocumented persons.

00:28:08.560 --> 00:28:10.000
Now, they have to be undocumented

00:28:10.000 --> 00:28:12.145
aliens to make even worse.

00:28:12.145 --> 00:28:15.010
I'm going to switch from images to language.

00:28:15.010 --> 00:28:17.710
That's what I'm good at, I talk.

00:28:17.710 --> 00:28:20.050
This is the report that we created.

00:28:20.050 --> 00:28:24.760
Katie was in fact on the refugee team, she still is.

00:28:24.760 --> 00:28:26.500
If any of you is interested in a copy,

00:28:26.500 --> 00:28:28.450
I brought a couple of copies.

00:28:28.450 --> 00:28:31.840
Given what you too presented so far,

00:28:31.840 --> 00:28:35.935
I want to switch a little bit to my current interests.

00:28:35.935 --> 00:28:37.420
I sent you something about Europe.

00:28:37.420 --> 00:28:39.190
I'm going to something else now

00:28:39.190 --> 00:28:43.400
because I would like to look at the positive sides.

00:28:44.900 --> 00:28:47.700
All these images do not tell you much

00:28:47.700 --> 00:28:49.500
about who these people are,

00:28:49.500 --> 00:28:51.735
what they do, what they like, what they eat,

00:28:51.735 --> 00:28:54.210
how they spend weekends,

00:28:54.210 --> 00:28:56.670
why they're in the situation they're in,

00:28:56.670 --> 00:28:59.580
and why should we care?

00:28:59.580 --> 00:29:01.680
What's the story here?

00:29:01.680 --> 00:29:03.915
Why should we care about all of us?

00:29:03.915 --> 00:29:05.880
After a number of

00:29:05.880 --> 00:29:08.175
research data within Europe and Central Europe,

00:29:08.175 --> 00:29:10.755
Russia, I looked over at them and release them,

00:29:10.755 --> 00:29:12.660
and [NOISE] what's happening in Jordan.

00:29:12.660 --> 00:29:16.710
Yes, there is a massive flux

00:29:16.710 --> 00:29:19.560
of Syrian refugees now after the most recent,

00:29:19.560 --> 00:29:21.855
if you follow the news, the most recent

00:29:21.855 --> 00:29:26.025
withdrawal of American troops from Turkey even more so.

00:29:26.025 --> 00:29:31.785
The Turks now are free to decapitate everything they can.

00:29:31.785 --> 00:29:33.690
That's called Kurdish because they've had

00:29:33.690 --> 00:29:37.260
this controversy over a piece

00:29:37.260 --> 00:29:40.990
of land in northern Turkey for a very long time.

00:29:41.420 --> 00:29:45.405
What the media tells us is one thing.

00:29:45.405 --> 00:29:47.985
You've seen some of the images.

00:29:47.985 --> 00:29:50.010
I could put in front of you,

00:29:50.010 --> 00:29:54.825
any number of titles from the last two,

00:29:54.825 --> 00:29:59.370
three, four days, two, three, four years.

00:29:59.370 --> 00:30:02.070
You'll see that in general,

00:30:02.070 --> 00:30:04.260
the narrative being told about

00:30:04.260 --> 00:30:08.625
displaced populations is fairly negative.

00:30:08.625 --> 00:30:10.380
In recent years, even more

00:30:10.380 --> 00:30:12.480
so and not just in this country,

00:30:12.480 --> 00:30:14.550
Europe started a little better with

00:30:14.550 --> 00:30:20.295
the Syrian refugee [NOISE] crisis in 2015 but by 2017,

00:30:20.295 --> 00:30:24.600
the number sorts so much that they just could not handle

00:30:24.600 --> 00:30:29.430
it and that's where the politicians do the talking,

00:30:29.430 --> 00:30:34.455
they saw their opportunity to recreate the dialogue,

00:30:34.455 --> 00:30:36.870
recast, if you will,

00:30:36.870 --> 00:30:39.630
the issue of relocation of refugees.

00:30:39.630 --> 00:30:43.750
From these people who are displaced,

00:30:44.780 --> 00:30:50.160
driven out of their homes by war and us having

00:30:50.160 --> 00:30:55.960
a humane responsibility to help where we can.

00:31:00.590 --> 00:31:04.350
In a short amount of time if we

00:31:04.350 --> 00:31:07.260
continue to absorb them at this rate,

00:31:07.260 --> 00:31:09.075
they're going to be a majority.

00:31:09.075 --> 00:31:12.180
What do you do when you have that majority?

00:31:12.180 --> 00:31:13.710
You're going to have darker skins [NOISE]

00:31:13.710 --> 00:31:18.525
in the polls voting.

00:31:18.525 --> 00:31:20.700
What are they going to vote for?

00:31:20.700 --> 00:31:23.940
From all this political charade,

00:31:23.940 --> 00:31:25.470
you ended up with Italy,

00:31:25.470 --> 00:31:29.655
Germany, Denmark, Sweden, Greece,

00:31:29.655 --> 00:31:31.680
not just central European

00:31:31.680 --> 00:31:33.885
countries who are not doing their job anyway,

00:31:33.885 --> 00:31:37.905
in terms of taking in refugees,

00:31:37.905 --> 00:31:40.935
we're talking about Western Europe

00:31:40.935 --> 00:31:43.020
that has been democratic for

00:31:43.020 --> 00:31:48.960
quite some time who has dealt with refugees from Austria,

00:31:48.960 --> 00:31:52.110
from Russia Communist times when it was

00:31:52.110 --> 00:31:54.105
a badge of honor to be a refugee

00:31:54.105 --> 00:31:56.445
from the other side of the Arab countries.

00:31:56.445 --> 00:31:58.785
All of this is not always heard,

00:31:58.785 --> 00:32:01.140
the Danes now are thinking, "Well,

00:32:01.140 --> 00:32:03.270
we're going to show them that they're not wanted,

00:32:03.270 --> 00:32:06.795
we're going to put them on an uninhabited island."

00:32:06.795 --> 00:32:10.050
That was just about six months ago.

00:32:10.050 --> 00:32:13.440
Italy's thinking of deporting them also

00:32:13.440 --> 00:32:14.700
South and putting them in

00:32:14.700 --> 00:32:16.350
an area that nobody wants to live in.

00:32:16.350 --> 00:32:17.715
There are just rocks and

00:32:17.715 --> 00:32:20.550
deserted land. You can't do anything.

00:32:20.550 --> 00:32:22.200
You cannot grow anything

00:32:22.200 --> 00:32:24.420
to feed your family, you cannot do anything.

00:32:24.420 --> 00:32:26.235
Anyway, enough of this.

00:32:26.235 --> 00:32:27.780
I thought there has to be

00:32:27.780 --> 00:32:31.095
some positive stories and there are here on Earth.

00:32:31.095 --> 00:32:32.910
They do not make the headlines.

00:32:32.910 --> 00:32:36.150
You're not going to see them on CNN. Maybe once a year.

00:32:36.150 --> 00:32:37.965
That's not nearly enough.

00:32:37.965 --> 00:32:39.825
There are refugees who,

00:32:39.825 --> 00:32:44.550
despite all these, are struggling to make ends meet.

00:32:44.550 --> 00:32:46.320
In places in countries in

00:32:46.320 --> 00:32:48.675
which they are allowed to earn a living,

00:32:48.675 --> 00:32:50.205
they're allowed to work.

00:32:50.205 --> 00:32:53.290
They are building their own businesses.

00:32:54.380 --> 00:32:58.395
One family of Syrian in Germany

00:32:58.395 --> 00:33:00.960
started from the premise that in

00:33:00.960 --> 00:33:03.255
Germany they couldn't find cheese.

00:33:03.255 --> 00:33:06.000
It's a specific Syrian cheese made,

00:33:06.000 --> 00:33:08.430
there's a specific manufacturing process

00:33:08.430 --> 00:33:12.070
to create what they are used to.

00:33:12.080 --> 00:33:15.135
So they started making it at home.

00:33:15.135 --> 00:33:18.000
Before they know it, they share it to the neighbors,

00:33:18.000 --> 00:33:19.050
the neighbors liked it,

00:33:19.050 --> 00:33:20.310
[NOISE] the neighbors ordered some.

00:33:20.310 --> 00:33:21.930
Then the friends of the neighbors

00:33:21.930 --> 00:33:23.805
ordered some and before they knew

00:33:23.805 --> 00:33:27.645
they had an offer from the family that was hosting them.

00:33:27.645 --> 00:33:30.210
They gave them some capital money to start

00:33:30.210 --> 00:33:34.095
their own little factory and that's what they're doing.

00:33:34.095 --> 00:33:35.400
They have farm [NOISE]

00:33:35.400 --> 00:33:38.400
and they're exporting cheese

00:33:38.400 --> 00:33:40.890
even to United States to Syrians here.

00:33:40.890 --> 00:33:43.605
There are stories like that everywhere.

00:33:43.605 --> 00:33:46.470
They just don't make the news.

00:33:46.470 --> 00:33:49.050
The reality is that the only way I

00:33:49.050 --> 00:33:51.720
think we can counter the negativity and

00:33:51.720 --> 00:33:54.530
all these images that takeover is

00:33:54.530 --> 00:33:57.710
to think positive and to look at what's positive.

00:33:57.710 --> 00:34:00.320
I'm going to close with one little thing.

00:34:00.320 --> 00:34:02.900
Couple of weeks ago I was in Canada talking

00:34:02.900 --> 00:34:05.450
about some of the issues in Europe

00:34:05.450 --> 00:34:08.900
[NOISE] and it so happened that this was

00:34:08.900 --> 00:34:13.685
taking place a few days after the US Open was over.

00:34:13.685 --> 00:34:15.290
If you are concerned,

00:34:15.290 --> 00:34:17.440
you know that the US Open was won by?

00:34:17.440 --> 00:34:22.530
Anybody? Wow, I'm impressed now.

00:34:22.530 --> 00:34:26.295
[LAUGHTER] By a Canadian who also happens to be

00:34:26.295 --> 00:34:29.550
the daughter of a couple of

00:34:29.550 --> 00:34:32.790
Romanians who emigrated to Canada in the early '90s,

00:34:32.790 --> 00:34:34.470
just like me when I

00:34:34.470 --> 00:34:37.020
came here to the States in the early '90s.

00:34:37.020 --> 00:34:40.665
Bianca Andreescu. She beats Serena.

00:34:40.665 --> 00:34:44.055
Serena again didn't have her 25th trophy.

00:34:44.055 --> 00:34:48.855
This was happening five minutes after she won.

00:34:48.855 --> 00:34:50.445
The Prime Minister of Canada

00:34:50.445 --> 00:34:52.875
posted on Twitter, Sheila North.

00:34:52.875 --> 00:34:54.990
Toronto had the lights on

00:34:54.990 --> 00:34:57.600
all night and they celebrated for about a week.

00:34:57.600 --> 00:34:59.580
By the time she got to Canada,

00:34:59.580 --> 00:35:00.915
the town in which they

00:35:00.915 --> 00:35:04.590
relocated named a street after her.

00:35:04.590 --> 00:35:06.840
Everybody claims her now,

00:35:06.840 --> 00:35:08.490
she's not just from Toronto,

00:35:08.490 --> 00:35:11.265
she's from whatever it's called,

00:35:11.265 --> 00:35:14.595
a small suburb of Toronto.

00:35:14.595 --> 00:35:16.980
This comes two days, three days,

00:35:16.980 --> 00:35:20.175
four days after a vitriolic essay

00:35:20.175 --> 00:35:23.130
in the papers was written up,

00:35:23.130 --> 00:35:26.025
anti-immigration and in particular,

00:35:26.025 --> 00:35:28.860
anti-Trudeau who was running again on

00:35:28.860 --> 00:35:31.875
the same platform he was welcoming of immigrants.

00:35:31.875 --> 00:35:33.630
In fact, there are plenty of immigrants in

00:35:33.630 --> 00:35:38.085
Canada. Here you are.

00:35:38.085 --> 00:35:40.350
Your country is all of a sudden very

00:35:40.350 --> 00:35:44.745
proud due to a recent immigrant.

00:35:44.745 --> 00:35:46.380
I'm going to leave it at that.

00:35:46.380 --> 00:35:48.735
There are good stories to be told.

00:35:48.735 --> 00:35:51.780
We need to see these connections

00:35:51.780 --> 00:35:53.520
and we need to be aware of them and it's

00:35:53.520 --> 00:35:55.275
very hard to penetrate through

00:35:55.275 --> 00:35:59.340
the dominant rhetoric that's coming our way.

00:35:59.340 --> 00:36:03.420
These mark the other resource options.

00:36:03.420 --> 00:36:05.730
If you are interested in talkings of this nature,

00:36:05.730 --> 00:36:07.665
don't just listen to or watch

00:36:07.665 --> 00:36:10.080
what you are given immediately.

00:36:10.080 --> 00:36:13.380
[NOISE] Look deeper and you're going to find

00:36:13.380 --> 00:36:18.525
alternative images like what we have seen today,

00:36:18.525 --> 00:36:21.000
alternative stories and you're going to see

00:36:21.000 --> 00:36:24.735
that the whole thing is far deeper.

00:36:24.735 --> 00:36:33.899
Thank you. [APPLAUSE]

00:36:33.899 --> 00:36:36.870
Now, we're going to open the floor for a conversation.

00:36:36.870 --> 00:36:39.510
[NOISE] Things that you may have and also if you have

00:36:39.510 --> 00:36:43.210
questions for each other, please feel free.

00:36:43.520 --> 00:36:46.080
How about you tripping my water

00:36:46.080 --> 00:36:47.400
for your water? [LAUGHTER]

00:36:47.400 --> 00:36:53.260
I have a question,

00:36:53.260 --> 00:36:58.350
[NOISE] based on your aggressiveness,

00:36:58.350 --> 00:37:00.990
but when it comes to housing,

00:37:00.990 --> 00:37:02.520
so I was involved in

00:37:02.520 --> 00:37:04.830
a project that time

00:37:04.830 --> 00:37:06.510
coming from an architectural point of view

00:37:06.510 --> 00:37:09.840
on how you can make housing [NOISE] for

00:37:09.840 --> 00:37:11.880
disaster relief and you can make it in

00:37:11.880 --> 00:37:15.490
a way that is mass-produced [NOISE] to say,

00:37:15.770 --> 00:37:18.030
you take us under half an hour

00:37:18.030 --> 00:37:19.530
and seven minutes to put it

00:37:19.530 --> 00:37:22.815
down but through that process,

00:37:22.815 --> 00:37:29.040
it was a lot of research in finding the FEMA trailers were so little used for Hurricane Katrina.

00:37:29.040 --> 00:37:33.690
All of these temporary solutions are becoming permanent.

00:37:33.690 --> 00:37:38.175
I was wondering for you guys,

00:37:38.175 --> 00:37:41.220
would you guys feel you want to talk more that condition

00:37:41.220 --> 00:37:42.930
from something that becomes displacement to

00:37:42.930 --> 00:37:45.570
something that becomes a permanent placement

00:37:45.570 --> 00:37:50.100
and if that affects people in that side.

00:37:50.100 --> 00:37:50.955
Yes.

00:37:50.955 --> 00:37:53.835
Yeah. I can start with that.

00:37:53.835 --> 00:37:56.895
The FEMA trailers in New Orleans are

00:37:56.895 --> 00:37:59.820
a really interesting example in

00:37:59.820 --> 00:38:03.090
part because of the fact that they were poisoning people.

00:38:03.090 --> 00:38:04.320
They were made with

00:38:04.320 --> 00:38:06.240
formaldehyde and ended up poisoning people,

00:38:06.240 --> 00:38:10.330
so then they sat unused for a long time.

00:38:11.330 --> 00:38:15.930
Refugee camps, you may or may not know this that

00:38:15.930 --> 00:38:18.210
the Deputy High Commissioner of Refugees is

00:38:18.210 --> 00:38:21.615
a Virginia Tech alum and her name is Kelly Clements.

00:38:21.615 --> 00:38:23.430
We had an opportunity to

00:38:23.430 --> 00:38:26.500
talk to her about some of these issues.

00:38:27.320 --> 00:38:29.970
How might we critique something like

00:38:29.970 --> 00:38:33.600
the IKEA structure and ostensibly,

00:38:33.600 --> 00:38:36.840
the UN for using it, and yet,

00:38:36.840 --> 00:38:38.610
also understand the role that

00:38:38.610 --> 00:38:40.935
she has and that the UN has in handling

00:38:40.935 --> 00:38:44.790
acute situations of disaster relief

00:38:44.790 --> 00:38:48.390
and disaster meaning war or natural disaster.

00:38:48.390 --> 00:38:51.660
She makes the really strong point

00:38:51.660 --> 00:38:55.425
that the UN is meant to handle these acute situations,

00:38:55.425 --> 00:38:57.120
the immediacy of the moment.

00:38:57.120 --> 00:38:59.130
Being able to design something

00:38:59.130 --> 00:39:01.080
innovative like that that can go up quickly,

00:39:01.080 --> 00:39:02.550
that can withstand weather,

00:39:02.550 --> 00:39:04.080
and that can be deconstructed

00:39:04.080 --> 00:39:06.420
quickly and moved to a different site is

00:39:06.420 --> 00:39:11.325
really important work and good work.

00:39:11.325 --> 00:39:13.560
What's happened is, as you point out,

00:39:13.560 --> 00:39:16.245
is that these structures then become permanent.

00:39:16.245 --> 00:39:18.870
There are people who have been born and raised for

00:39:18.870 --> 00:39:22.229
decades in Kakuma for example,

00:39:22.229 --> 00:39:25.090
a refugee camp in Kenya.

00:39:25.190 --> 00:39:28.470
Part of my argument is that when we see

00:39:28.470 --> 00:39:32.730
representations of the camp, two things happen.

00:39:32.730 --> 00:39:34.350
When you see representations of

00:39:34.350 --> 00:39:36.360
those camps from the aerial lens,

00:39:36.360 --> 00:39:40.305
we're completely disengaged from whoever's inside.

00:39:40.305 --> 00:39:42.255
We can't see who it is,

00:39:42.255 --> 00:39:44.820
we can't maybe connect with them on a human level.

00:39:44.820 --> 00:39:46.830
Then that interior view of

00:39:46.830 --> 00:39:49.275
the family being comfortable and watching TV

00:39:49.275 --> 00:39:51.480
also serves to distance us

00:39:51.480 --> 00:39:54.090
from the reality of the situation.

00:39:54.090 --> 00:39:56.190
In fact, it makes it seem like being in

00:39:56.190 --> 00:39:59.445
a refugee camp isn't that bad, they're watching TV.

00:39:59.445 --> 00:40:05.550
It's always a set of rhetorics that

00:40:05.550 --> 00:40:08.460
are operating at not addressing the

00:40:08.460 --> 00:40:09.975
root causes of what

00:40:09.975 --> 00:40:11.760
the displacement was in the first place.

00:40:11.760 --> 00:40:13.730
It's a really complex issue

00:40:13.730 --> 00:40:17.375
because we have to be careful not to critique the UN,

00:40:17.375 --> 00:40:19.010
it's doing fantastic work.

00:40:19.010 --> 00:40:20.270
I think IKEA is too,

00:40:20.270 --> 00:40:21.935
and the architects and designers

00:40:21.935 --> 00:40:23.390
are doing fantastic work.

00:40:23.390 --> 00:40:26.040
But how do we

00:40:26.710 --> 00:40:31.430
address the protracted situations that tend to exist?

00:40:31.430 --> 00:40:35.585
Then how do we also address issues?

00:40:35.585 --> 00:40:37.280
There's one camp,

00:40:37.280 --> 00:40:40.280
I can't remember if it's in Jordan but there's

00:40:40.280 --> 00:40:43.020
this rows and rows of solar panels which

00:40:43.020 --> 00:40:47.100
then provide electricity to a camp.

00:40:47.100 --> 00:40:50.310
The kinds of environmental impacts of

00:40:50.310 --> 00:40:51.600
those kinds of built structures are

00:40:51.600 --> 00:40:53.415
really interesting as well.

00:40:53.415 --> 00:40:54.840
How do we manage then,

00:40:54.840 --> 00:40:57.720
the acute situation together with what are

00:40:57.720 --> 00:41:02.520
the impacts of those protracted situations?

00:41:02.520 --> 00:41:06.210
Can I add a word? But I think it seems

00:41:06.210 --> 00:41:09.480
that it's important to separate them.

00:41:09.480 --> 00:41:11.040
What you said was really important that

00:41:11.040 --> 00:41:13.650
the UN deals with the immediacy,

00:41:13.650 --> 00:41:15.600
because otherwise there's an expectation that

00:41:15.600 --> 00:41:17.550
whoever jumps in will take

00:41:17.550 --> 00:41:21.705
care of the whole problem and it's prone to failure.

00:41:21.705 --> 00:41:23.910
But if you have, the UN will take care of it,

00:41:23.910 --> 00:41:26.820
while then there are other systems in place,

00:41:26.820 --> 00:41:29.490
governments, and other institutions that will

00:41:29.490 --> 00:41:32.880
help in the incorporation of the refugees into society.

00:41:32.880 --> 00:41:33.750
Exactly.

00:41:33.750 --> 00:41:37.020
The UN and IKEA and others are

00:41:37.020 --> 00:41:40.770
working for that immediate moment,

00:41:40.770 --> 00:41:42.570
but then was failing or what's not

00:41:42.570 --> 00:41:45.000
working fast enough or not always

00:41:45.000 --> 00:41:48.030
successful is the other institutions or

00:41:48.030 --> 00:41:51.900
government that should be doing the longer-term work.

00:41:51.900 --> 00:41:54.120
That's why that public kitchen and

00:41:54.120 --> 00:41:56.325
other innovations like that in terms of

00:41:56.325 --> 00:41:57.885
integration into

00:41:57.885 --> 00:42:01.570
an already established communities is so key.

00:42:01.790 --> 00:42:05.190
A big part of that is having a job,

00:42:05.190 --> 00:42:06.795
being allowed to work.

00:42:06.795 --> 00:42:08.850
Because at that point,

00:42:08.850 --> 00:42:10.155
if you earn enough,

00:42:10.155 --> 00:42:12.570
you're going to move out of there no matter what.

00:42:12.570 --> 00:42:15.090
You're going to find a better place to live.

00:42:15.090 --> 00:42:17.490
Speaking of IKEA, in Sweden,

00:42:17.490 --> 00:42:22.140
they created these almost suburbs

00:42:22.140 --> 00:42:26.295
of the big cities with these fancy,

00:42:26.295 --> 00:42:30.870
well-designed, inexpensive theaters and

00:42:30.870 --> 00:42:32.565
that's where they put the refugees.

00:42:32.565 --> 00:42:34.940
The reality is even as refugees go

00:42:34.940 --> 00:42:37.910
into language training to

00:42:37.910 --> 00:42:40.430
learn Swedish and English because

00:42:40.430 --> 00:42:43.715
many Syrians do not know English,

00:42:43.715 --> 00:42:48.395
they are separate from the rest of society.

00:42:48.395 --> 00:42:51.770
If you do not have the human interaction,

00:42:51.770 --> 00:42:54.440
if you do not have the job

00:42:54.440 --> 00:42:57.605
that permits you to have that human interaction,

00:42:57.605 --> 00:42:59.240
you're going to still stay here.

00:42:59.240 --> 00:43:02.315
It's going to be another one of those

00:43:02.315 --> 00:43:06.320
in your face kind of separation of the two groups.

00:43:06.320 --> 00:43:08.180
Of course, they're going to become the other,

00:43:08.180 --> 00:43:11.210
we were here before you were and you're the ones who are

00:43:11.210 --> 00:43:12.950
making my life miserable and traffic

00:43:12.950 --> 00:43:15.080
is harder because of you and etc.

00:43:15.080 --> 00:43:16.940
There are all sorts of arguments

00:43:16.940 --> 00:43:19.410
made as a result of that.

00:43:20.950 --> 00:43:23.750
I think I want to add or

00:43:23.750 --> 00:43:26.870
echo on what both of you have said.

00:43:26.870 --> 00:43:30.590
Also, just to add to

00:43:30.590 --> 00:43:35.130
this that community that is displaced,

00:43:35.130 --> 00:43:38.430
that is relegated to a corner of a town and

00:43:38.430 --> 00:43:42.735
a corner of a city is a community that can be forgotten,

00:43:42.735 --> 00:43:47.430
that can be easily misrepresented,

00:43:47.430 --> 00:43:51.105
that can be easily misunderstood.

00:43:51.105 --> 00:43:54.780
Integration facilitates what it

00:43:54.780 --> 00:43:56.010
means to be a stakeholder.

00:43:56.010 --> 00:44:00.780
It facilitates care, it facilitates relationships.

00:44:00.780 --> 00:44:04.080
So communities that make space for

00:44:04.080 --> 00:44:07.650
refugee populations in their midst are much more likely

00:44:07.650 --> 00:44:10.860
to support those individuals

00:44:10.860 --> 00:44:15.015
as compared to the circumstances where there is

00:44:15.015 --> 00:44:22.740
ostracization is effective segregation

00:44:22.740 --> 00:44:25.140
of refugee communities.

00:44:25.140 --> 00:44:28.210
That's no good for anybody.

00:44:29.030 --> 00:44:33.750
As you said with an aerial community view of what it

00:44:33.750 --> 00:44:35.460
pertains to the ability to have

00:44:35.460 --> 00:44:38.115
human connection with the people there.

00:44:38.115 --> 00:44:39.600
Then where it's like in

00:44:39.600 --> 00:44:42.630
the tent setup, those aren't that bad.

00:44:42.630 --> 00:44:44.400
Unfortunately, a lot of people aren't

00:44:44.400 --> 00:44:46.050
going to take time to watch a film or

00:44:46.050 --> 00:44:49.800
documentary where you can understand that connection.

00:44:49.800 --> 00:44:53.160
Through image itself, what

00:44:53.160 --> 00:44:57.270
is the way through that threshold to be taking that out?

00:44:57.270 --> 00:45:01.560
For starters our next policy brief is going to have

00:45:01.560 --> 00:45:04.830
a very different photo for

00:45:04.830 --> 00:45:06.630
starters because all of a

00:45:06.630 --> 00:45:09.510
sudden when I was listening to them I realized,

00:45:09.510 --> 00:45:13.740
what have we done? [LAUGHTER] Next time.

00:45:13.740 --> 00:45:18.480
It's a really complicated question

00:45:18.480 --> 00:45:19.620
and it's a good question I

00:45:19.620 --> 00:45:24.450
think that probably one image or a series of

00:45:24.450 --> 00:45:27.480
images cannot adequately portray

00:45:27.480 --> 00:45:30.119
the complexity of these situations,

00:45:30.119 --> 00:45:32.550
and circumstances, and the various forces that

00:45:32.550 --> 00:45:35.520
lead to displacement and refugee status.

00:45:35.520 --> 00:45:42.555
[NOISE] But narrative combined with image can do a lot.

00:45:42.555 --> 00:45:45.750
Whether that is in the context of an essay,

00:45:45.750 --> 00:45:47.280
[NOISE] or a news story,

00:45:47.280 --> 00:45:49.710
or an interview, or a podcast.

00:45:49.710 --> 00:45:51.600
I feel like there's something to be

00:45:51.600 --> 00:45:53.310
said for individual narrative,

00:45:53.310 --> 00:45:55.560
personal narrative, and community narrative,

00:45:55.560 --> 00:46:00.180
and it's narrative that people will

00:46:00.180 --> 00:46:02.160
remember even if they can't remember

00:46:02.160 --> 00:46:04.905
the specifics of a particular image,

00:46:04.905 --> 00:46:08.860
they'll remember a good story.

00:46:09.350 --> 00:46:15.970
Are most of the audience members architect students?

00:46:16.190 --> 00:46:20.430
I think this is a really interesting question in terms of

00:46:20.430 --> 00:46:24.645
design for architects and engineers.

00:46:24.645 --> 00:46:29.505
Because a lot of what is talked about in [NOISE] terms of

00:46:29.505 --> 00:46:32.745
handling crisis generally is

00:46:32.745 --> 00:46:34.560
how do we efficiently handle the problem?

00:46:34.560 --> 00:46:36.600
What's the most efficient way the handle it?

00:46:36.600 --> 00:46:38.700
Sometimes the most efficient way

00:46:38.700 --> 00:46:41.670
isn't the best way for an individual person or

00:46:41.670 --> 00:46:43.830
an individual family and I think

00:46:43.830 --> 00:46:47.700
the FEMA trailers are a perfect example of that,

00:46:47.700 --> 00:46:51.190
because they ended up being toxic.

00:46:53.930 --> 00:46:56.460
I know given this program or

00:46:56.460 --> 00:46:58.110
the people who are teaching the program that you all

00:46:58.110 --> 00:46:59.400
are thinking about issues of

00:46:59.400 --> 00:47:03.809
ethical design and innovative design that accounts

00:47:03.809 --> 00:47:06.690
for the actual people who might

00:47:06.690 --> 00:47:09.810
be using the structures in one way or another.

00:47:09.810 --> 00:47:11.535
That's not efficient.

00:47:11.535 --> 00:47:13.230
If you're working for a company

00:47:13.230 --> 00:47:14.850
that's imposing deadlines and

00:47:14.850 --> 00:47:17.100
imposing certain kinds of quotas

00:47:17.100 --> 00:47:20.085
and you have to be able to build something quickly.

00:47:20.085 --> 00:47:23.220
Then being someone who works in a space like that,

00:47:23.220 --> 00:47:25.830
being able to push back on the way that you design,

00:47:25.830 --> 00:47:29.050
or the [NOISE] way that you interact with clients,

00:47:29.150 --> 00:47:33.240
I think is something that would be

00:47:33.240 --> 00:47:36.705
a real strength for you as a participant in that company.

00:47:36.705 --> 00:47:39.090
How are you going to design something that then tells

00:47:39.090 --> 00:47:40.230
the narrative that's a little bit

00:47:40.230 --> 00:47:42.735
different than what we're getting?

00:47:42.735 --> 00:47:46.030
Because buildings tell narratives.

00:47:46.730 --> 00:47:49.530
I was going to say or at least it's

00:47:49.530 --> 00:47:53.145
committed to sensitivity to that narrative.

00:47:53.145 --> 00:47:56.040
How are you going to etch

00:47:56.040 --> 00:48:00.405
the stories of an individual family into the walls?

00:48:00.405 --> 00:48:08.265
But you can think about who your audience is for a space,

00:48:08.265 --> 00:48:10.980
who may be being displaced by

00:48:10.980 --> 00:48:14.415
the building of that structure, and things like that.

00:48:14.415 --> 00:48:17.490
Bringing an ethic of care and

00:48:17.490 --> 00:48:21.825
concern to your work is a great way to start.

00:48:21.825 --> 00:48:24.165
Another one is to talk to them?

00:48:24.165 --> 00:48:25.065
Absolutely.

00:48:25.065 --> 00:48:28.620
Just try some of the work that Katie's doing.

00:48:28.620 --> 00:48:31.110
It's not that hard and you have

00:48:31.110 --> 00:48:34.365
several families relegated in this area.

00:48:34.365 --> 00:48:35.445
Yeah.

00:48:35.445 --> 00:48:37.500
That's all we need to do, you just

00:48:37.500 --> 00:48:39.480
mingle a little bit and listen to them.

00:48:39.480 --> 00:48:41.670
I like the point that both Rebecca and

00:48:41.670 --> 00:48:43.590
Georgiana said about actually

00:48:43.590 --> 00:48:45.930
improving living conditions for

00:48:45.930 --> 00:48:47.985
persons who may have been displaced.

00:48:47.985 --> 00:48:51.165
We have a stake in that too because it impacts us.

00:48:51.165 --> 00:48:53.010
I'm just thinking about a story I've heard

00:48:53.010 --> 00:48:55.590
from a Burundi family

00:48:55.590 --> 00:48:59.370
who was moved into

00:48:59.370 --> 00:49:02.760
an apartment that's the square box apartment,

00:49:02.760 --> 00:49:06.210
not a lot of personality and

00:49:06.210 --> 00:49:09.900
each room was the exact same size and all

00:49:09.900 --> 00:49:12.690
painted white and they hung

00:49:12.690 --> 00:49:15.060
really colorful fabrics all over

00:49:15.060 --> 00:49:18.405
the room to make it feel more like home.

00:49:18.405 --> 00:49:20.640
To me, that was really interesting.

00:49:20.640 --> 00:49:25.800
I think those apartment complexes

00:49:25.800 --> 00:49:27.150
that are little square boxes

00:49:27.150 --> 00:49:29.490
aren't necessarily good for anybody,

00:49:29.490 --> 00:49:31.905
whether you've been displaced [NOISE] or not.

00:49:31.905 --> 00:49:35.070
Innovative or different kinds of design that account

00:49:35.070 --> 00:49:39.870
for different concepts of home is good for all of us.

00:49:39.870 --> 00:49:42.990
I want to add to that, I've got another similar story.

00:49:42.990 --> 00:49:47.400
Working with Greenlandic communities the past year,

00:49:47.400 --> 00:49:52.170
I was told about a similar small boxy apartment

00:49:52.170 --> 00:49:56.049
and a large apartment complex in Nuuk Greenland.

00:49:56.740 --> 00:49:59.900
Again and again the people who

00:49:59.900 --> 00:50:02.480
lived in the apartment complex were removing the doors

00:50:02.480 --> 00:50:08.240
from the hinges of the entrance to the apartment.

00:50:08.240 --> 00:50:12.020
The building managers who are Danish, by the way,

00:50:12.020 --> 00:50:13.040
because Greenland has a very

00:50:13.040 --> 00:50:15.305
complicated Danish colonial story.

00:50:15.305 --> 00:50:17.300
Building managers were like,

00:50:17.300 --> 00:50:18.740
''Why the heck are you guys doing this?

00:50:18.740 --> 00:50:20.390
We don't understand, this is ridiculous.''

00:50:20.390 --> 00:50:22.400
They kept fining people for removing

00:50:22.400 --> 00:50:24.500
the doors and then

00:50:24.500 --> 00:50:26.325
finally somebody sat down and talked to them.

00:50:26.325 --> 00:50:27.810
It turns out that you can't

00:50:27.810 --> 00:50:29.850
wear your traditional very thick,

00:50:29.850 --> 00:50:32.820
very large parka and get through the doors of

00:50:32.820 --> 00:50:37.020
these very sleek Scandinavian designs.

00:50:37.020 --> 00:50:39.120
People were like, ''This is ridiculous,

00:50:39.120 --> 00:50:40.410
I'm just going to take the door off.''

00:50:40.410 --> 00:50:42.240
[LAUGHTER] If there had been thought or

00:50:42.240 --> 00:50:44.250
communication with what the people in

00:50:44.250 --> 00:50:46.590
my apartment complex actually needed it would have been

00:50:46.590 --> 00:50:49.845
a very different design to that space.

00:50:49.845 --> 00:50:51.555
Another example of that.

00:50:51.555 --> 00:50:53.640
Now I don't remember what I wanted to

00:50:53.640 --> 00:50:55.380
say but I was thinking about

00:50:55.380 --> 00:50:57.360
[LAUGHTER] it relates a little bit

00:50:57.360 --> 00:50:59.220
to what you were also talking and going back to

00:50:59.220 --> 00:51:03.540
the Ikea house because I don't want it to

00:51:03.540 --> 00:51:08.175
be seen as it was a bad thing.

00:51:08.175 --> 00:51:11.700
If you think of it as the immediacy and

00:51:11.700 --> 00:51:14.670
the efficiency of setting

00:51:14.670 --> 00:51:17.190
them up quickly for people to live it.

00:51:17.190 --> 00:51:19.020
But I remember when there was

00:51:19.020 --> 00:51:21.750
an article when they first came out and

00:51:21.750 --> 00:51:23.070
reading there and one of

00:51:23.070 --> 00:51:25.050
the important aspects of

00:51:25.050 --> 00:51:27.195
this house was that it had a door

00:51:27.195 --> 00:51:29.700
that could be locked and how that

00:51:29.700 --> 00:51:32.925
radically changed the quality of life for refugees.

00:51:32.925 --> 00:51:35.550
We'll have immediately left

00:51:35.550 --> 00:51:38.910
and whatever condition the possibility

00:51:38.910 --> 00:51:42.660
of within that precarious situation

00:51:42.660 --> 00:51:45.435
having a sense of private space,

00:51:45.435 --> 00:51:48.600
safety for women,

00:51:48.600 --> 00:51:51.330
and safety for any belongings that you may have,

00:51:51.330 --> 00:51:53.085
but you can actually lock the door.

00:51:53.085 --> 00:51:54.870
I was thinking about what you were saying,

00:51:54.870 --> 00:51:56.850
the pairing of the image with a narrative.

00:51:56.850 --> 00:51:59.460
But if you look at the image alone you can have

00:51:59.460 --> 00:52:02.220
multiple readings of it that could all be good

00:52:02.220 --> 00:52:03.840
and bad and in between

00:52:03.840 --> 00:52:05.640
but accompany it with a narrative you can

00:52:05.640 --> 00:52:08.760
understand a little bit more how effective it is with

00:52:08.760 --> 00:52:12.390
that narrow bandwidth of big media made.

00:52:12.390 --> 00:52:19.170
[LAUGHTER]

00:52:19.170 --> 00:52:21.180
I was going to say,

00:52:21.180 --> 00:52:25.185
so you guys talking about the perspective of some images

00:52:25.185 --> 00:52:26.385
of the structures.

00:52:26.385 --> 00:52:29.790
Do you think the shortcoming of this is

00:52:29.790 --> 00:52:32.100
that perception by the media

00:52:32.100 --> 00:52:34.545
or the perception of the actual structure?

00:52:34.545 --> 00:52:37.080
Like having all the different structures

00:52:37.080 --> 00:52:39.180
in rows too close together.

00:52:39.180 --> 00:52:41.430
What do you think is the actual portrayal

00:52:41.430 --> 00:52:45.040
or perspective of the actual structures?

00:52:45.350 --> 00:52:47.190
That's a good question.

00:52:47.190 --> 00:52:49.360
That's a good question.

00:52:51.110 --> 00:52:54.720
I've studied stuff like that related

00:52:54.720 --> 00:53:00.675
to the environment when I was a student like you,

00:53:00.675 --> 00:53:02.670
and how the media was portraying

00:53:02.670 --> 00:53:05.475
the environmental crisis at the time.

00:53:05.475 --> 00:53:07.140
First, you need to remember that

00:53:07.140 --> 00:53:09.400
there's media and there's media.

00:53:09.470 --> 00:53:13.485
I'm not going to go to the fake media argument.

00:53:13.485 --> 00:53:18.510
But even within the media outlets in this country,

00:53:18.510 --> 00:53:24.315
we have a variety of perspectives on the same story.

00:53:24.315 --> 00:53:26.430
If you can't find

00:53:26.430 --> 00:53:30.495
three different perspectives on one story,

00:53:30.495 --> 00:53:32.730
that also comes with images,

00:53:32.730 --> 00:53:35.400
dig further and go to Al Jazeera,

00:53:35.400 --> 00:53:38.085
somebody who has an English Channel,

00:53:38.085 --> 00:53:40.335
go to ITN News.

00:53:40.335 --> 00:53:43.830
They will also have something about that story,

00:53:43.830 --> 00:53:46.920
and they will have different diligence.

00:53:46.920 --> 00:53:50.370
That's where your critical thinking comes in and

00:53:50.370 --> 00:53:53.145
that's how you start to figure out,

00:53:53.145 --> 00:53:55.350
well, I shouldn't really swallow everything that I'm

00:53:55.350 --> 00:53:59.520
given quickly on the headline news.

00:53:59.520 --> 00:54:03.675
Now, who's at fault and whose perspective it is?

00:54:03.675 --> 00:54:06.600
Some media outlets have a political agenda.

00:54:06.600 --> 00:54:09.405
Some do more in depth work,

00:54:09.405 --> 00:54:12.285
and they try to give you a bigger story.

00:54:12.285 --> 00:54:16.110
We need to remember that it is really very hard to get

00:54:16.110 --> 00:54:20.325
into these camps and represent

00:54:20.325 --> 00:54:22.500
the stories of the people in

00:54:22.500 --> 00:54:25.950
the camps as accurately as you

00:54:25.950 --> 00:54:29.295
can for one reason

00:54:29.295 --> 00:54:33.030
and one reason alone just to begin with,

00:54:33.030 --> 00:54:34.800
is the fact that they're very

00:54:34.800 --> 00:54:37.800
traumatized and they no longer

00:54:37.800 --> 00:54:42.960
trust the system, whatever system [inaudible].

00:54:42.960 --> 00:54:44.070
[NOISE] They are in a tent or in

00:54:44.070 --> 00:54:48.195
a building with a narrow door or a larger door,

00:54:48.195 --> 00:54:49.830
they no longer trust the system.

00:54:49.830 --> 00:54:52.410
Sometimes they will tell me what I want to hear,

00:54:52.410 --> 00:54:54.390
but most often than not,

00:54:54.390 --> 00:54:58.210
they will not tell you what you would like to know.

00:54:58.400 --> 00:55:01.439
That's where it gets really complicated

00:55:01.439 --> 00:55:03.810
and discerning, is the

00:55:03.810 --> 00:55:07.410
journalist at fault in all this, is there political agenda

00:55:07.410 --> 00:55:12.135
behind that or there is a deeper story?

00:55:12.135 --> 00:55:16.320
It takes people years to get their trust back.

00:55:16.320 --> 00:55:21.180
I think it's embedded historically too.

00:55:21.180 --> 00:55:22.980
Part of what interests me,

00:55:22.980 --> 00:55:26.940
this got me interested in this part of my research is,

00:55:26.940 --> 00:55:29.640
how is it exactly knowing what we

00:55:29.640 --> 00:55:32.550
know about the Japanese internment camps in this country,

00:55:32.550 --> 00:55:36.180
knowing what we know about the Nazi concentration

00:55:36.180 --> 00:55:38.940
and interment camps during World War II,

00:55:38.940 --> 00:55:43.170
how is it that we can these detention centers

00:55:43.170 --> 00:55:44.805
in Texas and Arizona?

00:55:44.805 --> 00:55:48.780
How is that a possibility given our history?

00:55:48.780 --> 00:55:52.665
I think it's a really interesting combination

00:55:52.665 --> 00:55:57.045
of attitudes and values and

00:55:57.045 --> 00:56:01.980
racism and historical narratives about

00:56:01.980 --> 00:56:04.079
particular groups of people embedded

00:56:04.079 --> 00:56:07.890
in the consciousness of some people in the country.

00:56:07.890 --> 00:56:09.960
Then you add that together with

00:56:09.960 --> 00:56:15.374
these media images of a detention center,

00:56:15.374 --> 00:56:19.050
which looks much like an army base camp.

00:56:19.050 --> 00:56:21.360
It's okay for our military personality

00:56:21.360 --> 00:56:22.710
that use army base camps.

00:56:22.710 --> 00:56:25.395
Why wouldn't it be okay for migrants

00:56:25.395 --> 00:56:28.380
crossing the US border to be in these camps?

00:56:28.380 --> 00:56:31.275
They're air conditioned. So you can see,

00:56:31.275 --> 00:56:34.605
that's the narrative behind that picture.

00:56:34.605 --> 00:56:37.529
That's the narrative that often politicians

00:56:37.529 --> 00:56:40.680
are counting on being part of

00:56:40.680 --> 00:56:43.605
the American consciousness to make it

00:56:43.605 --> 00:56:46.380
seem okay or for there not to

00:56:46.380 --> 00:56:49.260
be more resistance than there is to something like that.

00:56:49.260 --> 00:56:51.165
That's really what I'm interested in.

00:56:51.165 --> 00:56:52.650
The question you're asking is

00:56:52.650 --> 00:56:55.455
exactly the research question I'm asking is,

00:56:55.455 --> 00:56:58.875
is it inherent in the building itself?

00:56:58.875 --> 00:57:01.350
Or is it the story that comes along

00:57:01.350 --> 00:57:03.960
with a building like that and the story of our country,

00:57:03.960 --> 00:57:06.810
the story of the UNHCR in 1950,

00:57:06.810 --> 00:57:09.480
the story of the declaration of Human Rights in 1948.

00:57:09.480 --> 00:57:10.920
How does all that play into

00:57:10.920 --> 00:57:12.870
then this one building

00:57:12.870 --> 00:57:15.870
and how that has become acceptable?

00:57:15.870 --> 00:57:21.720
There's one question from the web and then they say,

00:57:21.720 --> 00:57:23.610
this is really fascinating.

00:57:23.610 --> 00:57:25.800
Does anyone want to comment on

00:57:25.800 --> 00:57:29.235
the design of the space between the shelters?

00:57:29.235 --> 00:57:31.380
The thresholds and zones between

00:57:31.380 --> 00:57:33.030
the extreme private of

00:57:33.030 --> 00:57:36.700
the Interior and extreme public of the camps?

00:57:41.900 --> 00:57:45.150
I will respond to that first by saying that

00:57:45.150 --> 00:57:49.935
my work with displaced communities began in East Africa.

00:57:49.935 --> 00:57:54.675
I worked in refugee camps in Uganda,

00:57:54.675 --> 00:57:59.595
Tanzania, Rwanda, and on the borders of those countries.

00:57:59.595 --> 00:58:01.830
Working with communities that we're

00:58:01.830 --> 00:58:03.750
dealing with a variety of health issues.

00:58:03.750 --> 00:58:04.110
Speak up.

00:58:04.110 --> 00:58:10.170
Yeah, of course. As well as working with folks [NOISE]

00:58:10.170 --> 00:58:14.730
who were very likely never going to be able to

00:58:14.730 --> 00:58:18.239
return to their original communities

00:58:18.239 --> 00:58:20.325
or to their home villages.

00:58:20.325 --> 00:58:23.670
One thing that I've heard again and

00:58:23.670 --> 00:58:28.275
again about the way that the spaces where laid out,

00:58:28.275 --> 00:58:31.725
the way that the tents were designed was that,

00:58:31.725 --> 00:58:38.100
there was no space for public gathering in a casual way,

00:58:38.100 --> 00:58:41.790
and there was no space for privacy

00:58:41.790 --> 00:58:46.590
beyond the tiny enclosure of the individual tent.

00:58:46.590 --> 00:58:50.610
Furthermore, there was no space for gardening or

00:58:50.610 --> 00:58:55.035
for the development of food resources.

00:58:55.035 --> 00:58:59.550
The grid-like structure of these camps,

00:58:59.550 --> 00:59:04.785
though very efficient for moving bags of

00:59:04.785 --> 00:59:07.800
USA donated rice around

00:59:07.800 --> 00:59:11.415
and things like that in the wheelbarrows that we used,

00:59:11.415 --> 00:59:15.270
was not efficient for the needs of

00:59:15.270 --> 00:59:20.250
the community with children that wanted to play,

00:59:20.250 --> 00:59:24.630
but it needed to be in the eyesight of parents.

00:59:24.630 --> 00:59:28.485
If in the midst of this complicated grid without

00:59:28.485 --> 00:59:30.840
spaces for play and

00:59:30.840 --> 00:59:34.750
discovery and for people to be human together.

00:59:36.140 --> 00:59:41.050
That's one way of thinking about all of this.

00:59:41.450 --> 00:59:43.470
Do we have another?

00:59:43.470 --> 00:59:47.160
I have a [inaudible] There are some questions;

00:59:47.160 --> 00:59:48.510
one in the back, one in the front.

00:59:48.510 --> 00:59:54.630
[OVERLAPPING]

00:59:54.630 --> 00:59:55.215
Thank you.

00:59:55.215 --> 00:59:57.420
Well, but we can linger somewhere out there.

00:59:57.420 --> 00:59:59.100
Ask a few questions,

00:59:59.100 --> 01:00:01.080
anyway. [inaudible]. [OVERLAPPING] [APPLAUSE]

01:00:01.080 --> 01:00:02.470
Thank you.