Saturday
marked our first weekly garden experience and it was a great day for it.
Besides the 20 mph wind, the sun was shining and the temperature was
perfect for a day in the garden. Now, as part of our research question,
we will be looking into the power dynamics of the community of Lumbisi, and I
found it very interesting how the gardens have their own power dynamics as
well. Starting with Mother Dawn, as head of the community gardens because
of her knowledge of the ins and outs of what needs to take place in the gardens
to have the greatest success. At the
garden there is a list of tasks that need to be done at the gardens for whoever
wants to come and work. When I showed up
to the garden, I jumped right in to what the other workers were doing which was
raking out the dead leaves in the crop beds.
Then, Mother Dawn suggested that I work on hauling and setting out new
mulch in between other crop beds on the opposite side of the garden. I found it interesting how there is a culture
at the garden where everyone knows that Mother Dawn is the head and she and her
task list are what the workers look to for the next move. This relates to our research question because
of how the community members work together with a shared goal in mind, under a
common authority. Because we are so
early in our research, our group is looking forward to continuing our research
at the community gardens for the rest of the semester.
Hey guys! I feel like you guys are already gathering great insight into the power dynamics of the community gardens. I love the photos, too. I'm not sure what you have all discussed about where you want to take this research, but I think it would be interesting for you to reach out to the gardeners and see if you can gather stories about how the garden has impacted them. I know that you want to be able to track the power shifts due to the project in Lumbisi, so this might be a great way to get a retrospective view of how this project has shifted power in the community space. Because the garden provides access to fresh produce has it actually led to the empowerment of the entire community? I'm excited to see what information you guys can get!!
ReplyDelete-Team County Market
I really liked what you wrote here because for most of my visits, I have been alone in the garden, relying only on the list in the shed to learn what to do. While Mother Dawn has prepared the list, I got to choose my task and level of engagement working alone. You give a great alternative perspective for what it's like when the work is being coordinated and delegated when many people are there together.
ReplyDeleteVery different encounters with the power dynamics in the space but both ways of working give clarity on how to fill a role in the community by satisfying a stated need. The centrality of Mother Dawn's vision is always there to guide and assist!