Mohan Dutta: Culture-Centered Approach

Brown, muslim, male An interrupted body the savage marker of primitiveness in need for his savior. Brown, muslim, male An interrupted story of violence enacted on his body through generations of enlightenment, progress, and modernization. Brown, muslim, male wanting to make a living with simple dreams, interrupted through interventions wanting to recreate an enlightened world. Brown, muslim, male simply wanting to be silent, to be indescript and hidden, interrupted through excavations of the imperial gaze. Brown, muslim, male wanting to live wanting to breathe Silenced, erased And lost.

One of the concepts that we have continually discussed in the culture-centered approach is the vitality of communication as the gateway to social change. The idea built into the culture-centered approach is fairly simple: that when communities at the margins that have been historically erased from the dominant structures find a space in mainstream platforms, their wishes and desires no longer remain the sites of erasure. Rather, the articulations of agendas of community members working individually as well as in communities as collectives become the reference points for structural transformations. Voices of community members when engaged in dialogue with policymakers, program planners, and mainstream audiences, offer entry points to change through the creation of nodes of listening in these policy and program platforms. This concept of listening to the voices of subaltern communities as an entry point to achieving change was beautifully elucidated at the PhotoVoice exhibit today that

Voices of Hunger: Thursday, May 5, 2011, 1 p.m. to 3 p.m.; Patty & Rusty Rueff Galleries, PAO Hall Dear friends and colleagues, You have followed our blog postings drawing on the reflections from the "Hunger Project" over the last few months.Finally, it is time to voice these stories that have been weaved together collaboratively by community members in West Lafayette/Lafayette who experience hunger in the current political and economic landscape. The stories will not only draw you to the everydayness of hunger amidst which communities at the margins negotiate their lives, but will also offer you insights into the tremendous courage and conviction with which community members negotiate their lived experiences in the midst of absence of fundamental resources. The purpose of the project titled “Voices of Hunger in Tippecanoe County,” is to develop a collaborative partnership between Purdue University, Food Finders, and its clients to listen to the voices of hunger in

Critical Cultural Studies in Global Health Communication Series Editors: Mohan J. Dutta, Purdue University & Ambar Basu, University of South Florida Global changes in migratory patterns, the increasing health inequalities faced by the poor, the health risks faced by communities at the margins of global societies, and the communicative nature of health problems have drawn additional attention to the relevance of studying health communication processes across global cultures. This series will challenge West-centric ideals of health and human behavior by publishing theoretically- provocative, pedagogically-critical volumes addressing the intersection of communication principles and practices with health concepts and structures. The series editors seek book proposals that address (a) the storied nature of health communication practices that are globally situated; (b) structurally-constituted nature of health communication; (c) individual and collective processes of communicating

Walking away from the first focus group and training session, I was especially surprised by the ways in which, through means of our brief 2 hours session, the attendees had begun to build a sense of camaraderie. Immediately upon entering the room, one participant recognized another from receiving services at the food pantry. Spawning from their acquaintanceship, a number of participants then began to share advice about receiving services, such as what pantries were open at particular times and locations. Others ended the evening by offering a ride home to an attendee that had missed the bus. I have written in my project journal about an emerging theme of selflessness and gratitude in my interviews, and being witness to such acts verifies my prior assertions. Particularly, a common critique relates to the ability of the food assistance system to provide enough quality food to all patrons in need. Getting access to food is a personalized need, basic to one’s survival. Despite the persona

A couple weeks ago, I questioned my assumption that there was a lack of a social network among food insecure. Did this commonality of interviewees happen to be a fluke or a norm? As I read through Chapter 8 in Communicating Health I realized that low social capital could be a possibility. However, I guess I now find myself at a crossroads with more questions than I do with answers. The presence of social capital lends itself to more established networks and a sense of solidarity within the community. As a result, what should be seen then is a more advantageous interaction with agency, structure and culture on behalf of the community. When social capital is lacking or absent, there is a missing framework on which to introduce opportunity and improvement. Perhaps where I find myself with the most questions is when social capital is lacking or non-existent within a marginalized audience. If the individuals we have interviewed lack the networks and solidarity like I sense that they do

Dutta’s chapter on culture and resistance poses some interesting questions regarding the processes by which marginalized communities enact their agency through offering opportunities for structurally altering the systems that sustain their positions at the margins. After reading, I found myself immediately considering some of the interview responses for the food insecurity project that individuals had shared. It seems as though, despite their underserved status, those in the food insecure community still find ways to enact resistance against the unfair practices of the food provision system in this community. Often enacted at the micro-level, these resistive acts work to open up spaces of social change by creating new meanings and by offering alternatives to the dominant discourses. For instance, I spoke with an individual yesterday who detailed the injustices present within the food pantry for union members, which allegedly refuses pantry access to those long-standing union members (o