May
09
Half & Half
Bob Bartlett and local inhabitant aboard ship during Bartlett’s Arctic Expedition, 1933 by Smithsonian Institution
There’s a lot that can be said about this photograph.
Those who see the glass-as-half-full will see a delightful moment. Two people of very different backgrounds are sharing an experience together above and beyond their differences. Those who see the glass-as-half-empty will see an embarrassing moment. An empowered man (white, educated, wealthy) is tickling a disempowered man (indigenous, uneducated, landless). Belittled, the indigenous man’s only recourse is to laugh.
The first argument defends a faith in universality. It aims at the possibility that we can transcend economics and reach moments, however fleeting, of common humanity. This argument believes in the possibility of operating above identity–in that ethereal space where the isolation of the self dissolves. The world is a banquet and we must learn to enjoy it.
The latter argument decries the tragedies of the global playing field and suggests that interaction between the haves and the have-nots is always, forever, a negotiation of power – that it is, in fact, a sport of survival. In short, this argument believes there can be no authentic relationship between two entities whose access to power – financial, political, or otherwise – is skewed. The world is cruel and we must try to fix it.
Both arguments are arrows pointing at the heart of love – but neither can reach it without somehow embracing the other.
On the one hand, there is no way we can have a genuine relationship with anyone – whether of the opposite sex, race, or country – if we naively assume that power, money, status, and gender are not constantly affecting how we engage with each other. This is the lesson that Mitt “I just love Paris in the springtime” Romney could stand to learn.
But on the other hand, we will only isolate ourselves into oblivion if we dissect every moment of our lives into betrayals and wounds. That’s the lesson that President “Let’s blame the 1% for our failures” Obama could stand to learn.
The truth, the love, is somewhere in between, at that midpoint where identity completely matters and also completely does not. It is that space where we remember to care and to be careless, to agitate as well as to forget. And that’s because the glass is neither half full nor half empty. It is just half – always and perfectly, just half.
An amazing piece Kate, I was ready to jump in and embarrass myself by warning about the dangers of theoretical dichotomies when all along you were using it to get our attention. However, I will question one thing. I am not a believer in universalities applied to the human condition, but would suggest everything we look at through an anthropological lens, seems to end up having a possible explanation related to identity. Indeed, for many years our first year introduction course in anthropology is named “Identity and Difference”. You mention “midpoint where identity completely matters and also completely does not.” A condition I would suggest is impossible to achieve – in fact the sentence is semantically and philosophically impossible.
Despite my argument, I liked this post as it makes us think.
Mike thank you so much for your kind words and your thoughtful response!
One of the things I try to stress in all of my work is the validity of contradiction. I know that sounds insane, counterintuitive, even silly or philosophically lazy. But everything in my life (so far) has taught me that contradiction is THE thing to be embraced.
I have a hard time with identity theories because I feel they try to urge us to externalize the self and create a “brand” for ourselves. I myself don’t feel like I have an identity. The minute I think I’ve located it, I find myself feeling like a cheap object – embarrassed and annoyed with that externalization and articulation of the vague, unknowable, nothingness of the Self. (And it is in that unknowability where I do think there is something common, universal, and shared among all humans.)
I think a lot of people have tried to express an identity-less self. Michael Jackson always comes to mind as somebody who couldn’t fit into any “identity” categories, and I think he is a fantastic example of a person who lived his life articulating something that is inarticulatable – that is, the joy of music. A (nearly) universal pleasure! The middle gender among Indonesians is also an example. But we needn’t just look for examples of “genderless” people to locate these identity-less people. The Buddha and Jesus are also good examples! I personally believe that all of us are trying to escape the identities (brands) that have been imposed upon us – by ourselves or by others. Sure they are useful at times, but for at least half of the time (the point of this article), they are uncomfortable and they prevent us from loving. All of us aspire to nothingness, which can also be known as everythingness.
From the minute I learned about “identity” in, yes, my Anthro 101 class, I had no idea what these scholars were talking about. I still don’t. In the words of Michael Jackson, “It don’t matter if you’re black or white!” :)
Thanks again so much for your thoughtful response. I’m not sure if I’ve properly understood and responded to your message – big apologies if I’ve totally misinterpreted your words. I’m off to the NYC ballet tonight (I think) where, hopefully, a universal transcendence will be on full display…