In November 2016, I was conducting part of my dissertation fieldwork and participating as a “formerly young” member of a month-long youth theater lab in Eastern Kentucky. I briefly returned home to vote in the US presidential election, and while driving back into town on election day, I took this photo of burning mountains next to the highway using a low-resolution camera on an old smartphone that my grandmother bought me. My ethnographic research includes interviewing and spending time with youth media makers and arts educators in media education programs and public regional events in Central Appalachia. This research also focuses on intergenerational mentorship relationships and networks that enable and support creative aspirations and livelihoods.
The participatory theater lab and the performance of our collaborative final production were both a way to process the various political and ecological wildfires impacting people's lives, and the continued uncertainty of how to move forward with hope and solidarity amidst numerous destructive forces that literally threaten the lives of people, ecosystems, and democratic principles and practices. The play combined different modes of storytelling and different metaphorical and literal themes around the subject of fire. Our stories focused on the emotional and intellectual fires burning internally in response to the political uncertainty that lies ahead, raising questions about identity, ancestors, responsibility, firearms, and collective action. Throughout the workshop and the final production, family and community members were inquisitive and supportive of these young people's (and even of this "formerly young" person's) voices and perspectives even while fires raged outside and elsewhere.
I have become increasingly aware of and pay attention to the political ecology of the very local contexts of my field sites and how they are connected to, interact with, and affected by global systems and contexts. These local contexts include ""natural"" disasters like water contamination, floods, drought and forest fires, which also invoke the often unspoken specter of climate change as well as social, political, and economic uncertainties like racial and gender tensions, the 2016 presidential election, unemployment and poverty, and the "post-coal" transition. Many regional discussions and programs emphasize the promise of technology and development for redesigning the economic landscape, which also connect to the global media ecology and the human and natural resources that support it.
This blurry, smoky forest fire photo, which I took through my windshield with limited but sufficient technology, represents these and other interconnected issues that affect the daily lives and mobilities of young people in the Appalachian region. Many rural youth, if they have access to transportation at all, must drive long distances to hang out with friends or participate in media arts opportunities; and while social media and other online platforms can help bridge geographical distance, rural access to high-speed internet varies in availability and cost and young people have different access to digital devices and technologies.
Fire is a potent symbol for both creative and destructive powers whether human, ecological, planetary, or beyond. This photo reminds me that, even when the world on fire, we can still take positive action to deflect and dampen the flames that threaten destruction while trying to fan the flames that hearten and give hearth. Fear is a natural response to fires that are out of control, and I personally know that fear as well as anyone else. However, it serves a fleeting purpose, which is to motivate, and to dwell too long on the dangers without mindful deliberation and action is to be consumed by it.
Be Kind, Be Kin,
*AnthroBone
p.s. I submitted this photo and essay/caption for the 2018 American Anthropological Association (AAA) Photo Contest. "Voting" was based on likes on the photo uploaded on the AAA FB page, but I didn't invest much effort in self-promotion. This was also the original photo and essay that I submitted for my Rachel Tanur Memorial Prize in Visual Sociology application. Most importantly, I share this image and essay because I hope they help show and tell an important story that is still relevant today.
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