Walnut Room this way

Walnut Room this way
Rio.

Friday, January 30, 2009

Coming soon: "Not being from Mississippi is such a burden."

Reminds me of Alaska and how the assumption of some people is that if you are not native, you cannot know how to provide services to natives.  So, here we are in Mississippi, and yet again, since I am not from here, I apparently do not have the ability to look at the situation, make an assessment of the situation, and decide on an appropriate plan.  Apparently--in spite of my advanced training in the use of these techniques, as well as a long experience of what I would term reasonably successful work using those techniques and skills I have acquired (including in Alaska by the way)--my not being from here is limiting my ability to see the issue in the same way that native Mississippians see it--a hopeless repetition of the past that is not going to change unless we just bulldoze right through and damn the torpedos.  Once again, "You cannot convince someone of something with facts when the resistance is emotional."

I need to explore this topic in greater detail.  I feel a new research project coming on for my global south research.  Thanks, Mississippi dude.

4 comments:

Betty said...

You could always talk about the person who even though not blind could help Ann(?)Keller to see! Excuse the sentence but my brain is still fuzzy this morning. I useed that analogy a lot when I wanted to get a point across.

Suzassippi said...

Yeah, I used to say that no man had ever given birth to a baby, but a whole lot of them had delivered them successfully, including being able to tell a woman exactly how it would feel.

The main problem with either of these analogies is they assume the person is actually willing to reason, and consider alternatives. When the mind is pre-made, that is a difficult barrier to penetrate.

Gigi said...

But "best practice" doesn't apply, remember? LOL

Suzassippi said...

That's right, Gigi. Just because research has validated something as effective with Native Alaskan population does not mean that we should actually assume it is effective. We should just go with the time-honored approach of "whatever we want to do" rather than use best practice. After all, best practice is for everyone ELSE. :)