Ethnographic of Global Connection

Global Connection In Chapters 3-5 of Anna Tsing's 2005 book Friction: An Ethnography of Global Connection, the author expands on the core argument related to the collaborative construction of globalized spaces. This section of the book falls under the rubric of Part II, "Knowledge." Chapter 3 is entitled, "Natural Universals and the Global Scale." Here, Tsing discusses the notion of generalization and the myths related to universal truths. Tsing also discusses the role that science has played in shaping a paradigm based on incessant categorization.

Generalizations have reflected the impetus in the human brain for categorization and stereotyping, but this process has infected and biased human worldviews. A searcher for truth must find what Tsing calls an "axiom of unity," (p. 89). In Chapter 4, entitled, "Nature Loving," Tsing discusses the identities and ideologies of "nature lovers." Cosmopolitanism and nature loving is linked thematically and theoretically. Tsing unavoidably addresses the problem with romanticizing nature, in spite of the rich rewards that may be reaped on a personal and collective dimension with regards to a tree-hugging politics.

Ecotourism and other commercial means of ecological sustainability are means of resolving friction and creating collaborative frameworks for future development. In Chapter 5, "A History of Weediness," Tsing continues to probe the ways science, environmentalism, and commerce co-create the realities of the future. Interspersed between these three chapters comprising Part II, Tsing includes several poetic references in a non-linear fashion. The first is "Let a New Asia and new Africa be Born." The second is "Dark Rays." Finally, "This Earth, this Island Borneo" is the third insertion.

Overlooking Tsing's clumsy and convoluted scholarly language that hearkens back to a generation prior is difficult, requiring astute intertextual analyses that ironically convey the core concepts of the book. Tsing weaves together concepts and ideas, as well as methodologies. Ultimately, the passage is effective in raising awareness at the academic level without actually urging for political action.

Part II of Friction reads more like poetry and nonlinear stream of consciousness than a polemic, which is a welcome addition to the canon of literature on ecological sustainability, globalization, and the potentially conflicting goals of commerce and nature. The ethnographic modalities that Tsing invokes are appealing, related to Borneo and its curious perch between two countries. Borneo is an ideal metaphor or symbol, even as it is an appropriate practical location to explore the various frictions that Tsing identifies in the book.

Referring to political, environmental, scientific, and social realities and weaving them all together is challenging, and Tsing does so in ways that establish unwarranted but attractive credibility. Tsing's unfortunate reliance on religious terminology sullies what might have otherwise been a credible treatise, and yet the terminology anchors the book firmly in its postmodern sector of potential uselessness.

What might have improved the impact and effectiveness of Tsing's approach would have been to emerge from the ivory perch and settle on a domain more accessible to readers interested in formulating a meaningful approach to changing attitudes and minds in a world that is certainly permeated with real and symbolic frictions. Having studied.