thanks

[Guest guest]

TO MEMBERS OF THE MIGRANT HEALTH RESEARCH NETWORK: Thanks.

I appreciate the suggestions for contacts and resources regarding my

three-part request for assistance in the area of HIV initiatives for/among

farmworkers. And, as an anthropologist, I appreciate the subtle hints on the

appropriate rules of conduct for entering into a multi-site dialogue by means

of the " network. "

The wherefore of my request? A proposal to deal with issues of transmission

for HIV, particularly in relation to what currently exists formally and

informally. The foundation for proposals of this type is documenting that a

need exists. The appropriate code for a funding source is numbers of those at

risk (persons affected) and numbers of those already facing a particular

problem (persons infected). My experience also indicates a greater need for

more inclusion of those who are beneficiaries of our " programs, " and this

means encouraging efforts in the area of HIV prevention and care management

that are initiatives for/among/by farmworkers.

For me, " ethnography " includes all that exists from the ground-up:

grass-roots, as well as the stems, branches, leaves and flowering parts. The

better it is, the more effective ethnography can be for solutions,

suggestions, recommendations, ideas and reflections. How much collaboratively

better it can become is determined by how much the community is involved. My

part, but not the only part, as an anthropologist, is " writing, " since the

term by its composition suggests a component that is " written " (clue:

" graphy " ). Beyond that, writing can have a greater meaning than taking pen to

paper or fingertips to keyboard. But it's the " people " part that comes first.

And they too may do their own writing, in their own way.

If it's omitted in speech, that doesn't mean it's missing in consciousness.

And if it's omitted in writing, there's a reason for it. That reason

typically revolves around translating one's ideas and inclinations into the

code of the funding source, and the reality of which many of you are aware who

have been at this longer than I, is that more funds are available from funding

sources whose code is other-than political-economic contingencies. The issue

of " causes, " what we are doing and where we are going, is well-taken. New

research paradigms? How?

Certainly the era of mobilization within the safety of the church or behind

the local store has become something a bit different from what it was in the

past. So has its shadow-twin, public awareness. The internet is among

potential resources that exist and their use is not limited to that of

advocates on behalf of those who suffer or lack, but those who lack and suffer

can gain access (and have gained access) and enjoy disseminating their cause

beyond local environment. Is there room for a " theater of the internet "

by/for farmworkers?

I've included a sign-off to this communication, all of it typed by hand. When

I sent my original message (the request), I missed the procedure for doing

this automatically, and it took two attendants consulting with each at the

computer commons where I read my e-mail (where I bicycle " after " work) to

explain a three-stroke procedure to include a sign-off. I've been in the

field for the past six years in another part of the country (to which I wish

to return, since the " numbers " tell us that's an area with an immediate need)

and my communication strategies for the work I've been doing rarely included

who I am as a " sign-off. " The who-one-is in that context comes up-front and

it is kept to a minimum, unless someone wishes more. Where I've worked some

will talk of the bigger picture, the grander theory, but most are batallando

on a daily basis. Their words better than mine describe the strengths they

embody. Thanks.

V Bletzer

Post-Doctoral Research Associate

Department of Anthropology

Arizona State University

PO BOX 87-2402

Tempe, AZ 85287-2402

Tel 480 858-0778

The fax at the office I use doesn't work, so it's not included.

The e-mail address at the top, on the other hand, works.