Anthropological Niche

What I found in my research was that in many ways investment bankers and how th
ey approach work beca me a model for how work should be conducted. Wall Street
shapes not just the stock market but also t he very nature of employment and wha
t kinds of wor kers are valued. These firms sit at the nexus — th ey are the fin
ancial advisers and sources of exper tise to major U.S. corporations and institu
tional investors — and from this highly empowered middle- man role, what they s
ay has a lot of influence.
- Karen Ho

The above quote is interesting because i
t makes a connection between distinct anthropologi cal assertions made by both
Cornelius Holtorf (col lective memories, also see Univ. of Minn. Projects , Time
Passages; Lipsitz, and others) and Peter R . Schmidt and Thomas C. Patterson,
who wrote " From Constructing to Making Alternate Histories,&# 34; found in
the publication The Practice of Archa eology and History in Non-Western Settings
, 1995; School of American Research Press, Santa Fe, NM.
U sing these citations
, and expanding on this vein, I have submitted work (2009 APLA submission, and
o thers) to suggest that people inclined by nature w ith a herd instinct, are qu
ite easily confused bet ween knowledge, as truth, and the construction of infor
mation which is derived from versions of info rmation that is not necessarily kn
owledge, but sim ply the interpretations and ideas of other people, especially
people who are presumed to be influent ial.
What we see with Wall Street and Who
lesale Fi nance Institutions are the tendencies of average p eople to believe th
at the conduct portrayed by dep ictions of Wall Street firm, "nexus" fir
ms , and make financial decisions based on the belief that everything will alwa
ys eventually end up  4;gaining" in value.
The result is an expectan cy f
or capitalization and profit, and the associat ions of wealth, which create, dri
ve and foster ide al conditions for situations to arise where people are afflic
ted as are those who are the subject of the El Dorado literature.
Unless people
can be in fluenced to learn that reality is not truth, but v ery often the cons
truction of idealistic nexus-sty lized glorifications, we will continue to give
peo ple reason to treat people poorly and exploit them , and their natural resou
rces, cultural resources, and, accordingly, the pursuit of happiness.
An ex amp
le is the housing market meltdown and recessive US economy. In this scenario, b
anks extended so m any offers of credit, and consolidation, and attra ctive offe
rs, and offers for loans and products an d services, while simultaneously portra
ying a thri ving and luxurious outlook for growth based on the perception of ne
xus-styled corporate depictions, that people began to fully believe that more c
redi t was available, better loans would be offered if they held worse notes fo
r short terms, and that th ere was an endless supply of credit available, whi ch
could always be consolidated into a cheaper and more affordable product.
Then,
suddenly, credit s cores plummeted, and offers quit coming, and banks quit len
ding, and those "introductory" ra tes began to become permanent rates, a
nd people st arted to lose their homes, their jobs, and their h ope. They got mo
re desperate for more and more thi ngs, to substitute for the reality they faced
, and ultimately, lead to further reason for exploitati on of other people.
It
can all be changed, and it can all become harmonious and, at least, semi-Utop i
an, once we begin to see that characterizations o f glitter and glitz do not equ
ate to the reality o f life, and when they do, the come at the expense of human
dignity, the pursuit of happiness of othe rs, and the loss of cultural history
that may be i rreplaceable. We can do better, but it will take a lot of educati
on, and a lot of working for the co mmon good, as opposed to showing, or trying
to sho w, just how good it is to have it all for you, you rself. The common good
versus the individual desir e, in so many words.
So who has the influence to m
ake these changes? I think that is answered above.
We need corporate responsibi
lity, philanthropy an d humanitarian efforts and we should be willing to enforc
e executive management to participate in in voluntary programs designed to accre
dit those indi viduals, and insure their accountability to the hu man race.
Exec
utive level certification is a must, and the foundation for this need comes dir
ectly f rom the statements contained in Karen's article, a s it applies to colle
ctive memories and alternativ e histories. All we need to do is to make it so. I
t's what we are already doing...just not quite as well as we could be doing it
.
jesatiu
http://omnip reserve.blogspot.com

Sources:
http://arjournals.a nnualr
eviews.org/doi/abs/10.1146/annurev.lawsocsci .3.081806.112757
http://news.bbc.co
.uk/2/hi/americ as/938915.stm
http://www.questia.com/PM.qst;jsessi onid=KtLB8yML
cLdQVpcqDsYK01l22lVb8hh8YNpy2dtpfFQnB vfxLx11!275188706!82156550?a=o&d=114263988

http:// www.time.com/time/business/article/0,8599,1912085, 00.html
http://www.n
ku.edu/~humed1/