Nowhere

So every year at Nowhere there is a debate as to how to interract wth local surrounding communities, whether to reach out and if so, what to offer and who will oversee it.

I feel there is a danger here of a form of cultural imperialism, if left unquestioned. We tend to think automatically without questioning that the principles we so value at Nowhere and take pride in promoting all year round are inherently, unquestionably good and wouldn't the world be a better place if everyone adopted them?

There is a reason why Burning Man and Nowhere attract middle class white people and perhaps it's not just a financial issue. What is the BM & Nowhere culture is just too different to really make integration with non white middleclass cultures feasible?

I'm interested in peoples thoughts on this...

Should we think of ways of integrating local people into Nowhere culture?
Do we have something of value? If so, what?
Why are there so more Americans than Spanish at Nowhere and why is the Regional Contact for Spain an American?

Part of the "ethos" take that phrase as you will, is also about inclusivity.

As guests of the very friendly and accommodating local region, and temporary neighbours it is good to reach out and thank them for their support in helping us to make our tempoary home in their region, I cannot imagine, this event happening in England, Ireland or Norway not only with such little interferance but with such genuine support from officials and local traders as we do in Sarinena

In order to make the event accessable to locals and enable them to "participate" in the event, it is great if projects can be intitiated to allow people from other countries, age brackets, language groups and such to work together and learn more about each other.

If i had had a way to participate such as a large art project my first year at burning man it would have been amazing.

Nothing is being forced upon anyone and the term cultural imperialism is a tad strong in my opnion.

Every year for a few weeks a speck of light, and electric activity springs up on a hill in the region where lots of local youths ride their dirt bikes, and it can be visable from the road and it ignites curiosity amongst them.

Every year we get interest from local youth who want to know what the event is about and the project suggested by massimo, ( not mentioned above but what inspired the post) has an aim to make a pathway for people to come early and get involved in constructing or Artistic projects with a potential for them to return later in the week when the event has started.

Whilst our event may not be a beacon of superiority or imperialistic beliefs worth imposing we do have an air of freedom tolerance, respect, sharing and acceptance which is of value to those who attend. I am reminded of two years ago when some local guests were on site and two dudes were making out, normal for nowhere but not castajon or Sarinena, one guy was a little peterbed and nudged his friend and said something the response was translated for me as "it is their party" .

Any attempt to bring locals is not to indoctrinate them but to have two neighbouring communities showcase who they are, what they do, and what we can learn from each other.

Its also worth pointing out that two members of his team for this project are from the local region itself and they are keen to help and create bridge what can be quite an alien event for a sleepy town like castajon or the region and local youth who due to financial and cultural factors provides little outlet for young people seeking creative projects.

All three members intersted in this specific project have been working hard in showcasing the event in Zaragoza, and wondering how concepts like buying a ticket or camping in the spanish sun for days on end with no A/c can really be translated and they have come up with a plan to share this with local youth through art, skill swapping and participation.

The regional contact? Are you talking about Burning man's regional contact if so i do believe she is spanish.

As for why more americans than spanish, mm off hand armchair anthropology guesses, higher levels of awareness of burning man, more disposable income on the part of americans, more americans backpacking through europe looking to visit this event than spanish people taking time off to do so, the timing of the event during July when august is the holiday month, spanish people might be less likely to camp in the spanish desert for days with no Air Con, a lack of spanish people on the ground able to devote time and energy into showcasing and sharing the event, the cost of a

Hopefully with more local participation we can learn what would make the event more appealing and help our community to serve the needs of spanish participants.

Ok - all this discussion starts, as Michael mentioned, because I proposed to the NORG and Nowhere Leads a project, that I've actually been discussing already for at least a year, if not more. I believe there has been a misunderstanding that led Ruby to think about "cultural imperialism" - a misunderstanding that I hope has been cleared here by Nurse, and via email exchange.

If you want to judge for yourself and add input to this conversation, let's have a clear idea of what we are talking about! Let me copy and paste the project proposal as I sent it to the Nowhere leads - here we go!

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This is a proposal of sustainable interaction between our Nowhere community and the communities permanently living in the region of Los Monegros, with major focus on Sarinena and Castejon de Monegros.

While as Local Liason I’m working with Silja on a network of relationship with the likes of City Hall, Guardia Civil (police), Supermarkets, local suppliers etc, I have proposed recently to approach the local communities in a more engaging way, such as Burning Man does with the communities of Gerlach, Empire and the environment of the Black Rock Desert.

My suggestion is that we should get more involved with the local community, and my proposal is to ask the Mayor(ess) of Sarinena to consider us as a “temporary local community” that belongs to (and participates to the economy of) the local territory. 

I would like to create the opportunity for an “art/cultural exchange” where the Mayor of Sarinena (and Castejon) commit to inviting some of our artists/performers to their local “fiestas de pueblo”, of course covering all travel and accommodation expenses, plus installation expenses if needed for the artwork. That’s good stuff for many of our artists or art collective, who can have a chance to fly over to Spain to perform a piece, play a concert, doing installation work and such. 

The relationship with the local communities should include also some education to the locals about Nowhere / Burning Man principles, art, community and lifestyle. This could be arranged also with the Mayor and fit in any of their budgets for cultural activities as a series of local workshops. This will help us educate the locals on who we are and what we do out there, and perhaps in getting them more involved with our community, as participants. This goes also in the direction taken this year of offering discounted tickets to locals, and actually pretty much complement it. [note: I call this engaging with local community, not cultural colonialism]

Another level of interaction that I would like to introduce is also a way for us to get access to building resources. During the set-up days we could offer to local people an hands-on workshop on "how to build desert tensiostructures" and such. In a couple of weeks I will pay for a week of bamboo bioconstruction workshop in Bilbao from the guys who build the Boom Festival. We should offer our workshop for free, and have it endorsed by the Mayor who will take charge of insurance costs for local participants. This will result in having some more strong arms helping us building the site. In my negotiation, I would like to ask the Mayor’s Office to support us also by providing us with some heavy machineries such as trucks, cranes, bobcats, escavators, tractors etcetera...

In the future, this project can evolve into taking in consideration committing to active local environmental initiatives to preserve some areas of the Monegros or restore the Hermit or some other local highlight (I’d love that) – like BM does with Frog Pond and the Water Tower project in the Black Rock Desert. We might decide to give back on a local environmental project – call it also a way to balance our carbon footprint in the region. We can talk about this in the future, but I’d like to leave it open as natural evolution of this idea / project.

Please note that I will be in the Monegros from May 6 to May 9, with a bunch of meeting scheduled and coordinated with Silja, who will also be out there on May 9. Your prompt feedback and input on these ideas (that I have been pitching since last Nowhere, and discussed with several of you over the last 6 months+) is therefore very much appreciated, as I could be able to start the new local pitch straight away.

So, what are your opinions about it all? Can I get the green light for switching from Local Liason to Local Community Integration? Thanks in advance for your feedback.

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OK - that was the proposal I files earlier this week to the Nowhere Norg and Leads - so now everybody knows "what is this year's debate on how to interact with the local communities". I hope you won't find it "imperialistic" in any way, but as a great opportunity to grow Nowhere through a better relationship and - why not? - cultural exchange with the local communities of the Monegros desert. A place that many of us, including myself, already call "home". Like we do with BRC.

One final note about the "cultural imperialism" - this is taken from the email discussion we had after Ruby's feedback. I used this sentence to close an email, I'll use it again to close this post, and possibly to clear up about the project's goals:

"By the way, let me just add that when a bunch of dusty punks with glitters and feathers flows bars, supermarkets and swimming pools of a small community in a conservative desert area it sounds like cultural imperialism already to me.... unless you want to call it a flash mob! =) Or unless local people understands why we do it and, if they will, support us with their businesses and their smiles."

That's it, kids! (or dusty punks!) - what do you think of this Monegros community reach out project?

Ciao,
Massimo / Burningmax

O.K, I used the word Cultural Imperialism purposefully as there ain't nothin like a bit of controversy to start a good discussion going!

Personally, I wouldn't go as far as to say this is significantly on the cards, I would just emphasise the importance of questioning our values and intentions and discussing things in the wider community. I do think I have a valid point on this.

I love the idea of you being a local liaison Massimo and strengthening communication between Norg and surrounding communities and getting a feel for how we can include and integrate local people based on tuning into their interests and needs.

I think this should be a long term intention, where we tread carefully and mindfully and build on each year, instead of making huge, sudden plans one year...

Massimo, I applaud you for taking the initiative!

Thank you Ruby! No need for applauses yet, as 1) I won't be doing this on my own but with the support of our community, and 2) there is still a lot or work to do until we develop this project properly. Of course this is something on which I'm committing on the long term, and I hope both NORG and the entire Nowhere community will support!