FIELDNOTE_0426_NALUWAN_MOLLY
Today it was time for me to hold a workshop with everyone.
FIELDNOTE_0419_NALUWAN_MOLLY
Today's visit started with all of us students going down to the canal that runs parallel to Naluwan to collect shells.
Fieldnote _0415_Naluwan_MOLLY
I arrived earlier than the other students and had some time to interact with Ivan and his family before the others arrived.
Fieldnote _0412_Naluwan_MOLLY
Also this week we spent time with the elderly in the community. Me and Charles had a conversation with a man in a wheelchair that Charles also talked to last time.
(Non)Sharing Economies
mwendaAnnotation of
I am interested in the Macro scale and the macro effects evident at a city-scale level. I remember visiting New Orleans in 2016 and vividly remember seeing several signs with a large 'No' symbol drawn and the text "neighbors not tourists" printed on the sign. Recently, as part of my research into New Orleans, I stumbled on this piece by the Guardian on how short-term rentals through platforms such as Airbnb are leading to gentrification in New Orleans. Highlighted in the article is how several Airbnb hosts do not reside on the listed premises. I remember the place we stayed, as we were a large party, having a 617 prefix number. The prefix stood out as I knew the code 617 represented Boston and was curious what someone with ties to Boston doing in New Orleans as a host. In a similar vein, the article also highlights the problem of absentee hosts, hosts who acquire property for the sole purpose of setting up the property as an Airbnb site.
To tackle the problem, one councilwoman passed a law that required any Airbnb hosts in residential zones to have a homestead exemption verifying they live on site. In this case, a city-wide measure was taken and passed into law affecting the micro. It is common to have one host having several properties in different residential areas in New Orleans. From a technical standpoint, it could be viewed that Airbnb as technology is developed and presented as a scalable product. With no limits to reproducibility. Meanwhile, real-life discontinuities exist in the form of such homestead laws. It is impossible to live in more than one homestead at the same time. In other words, the concept of the human is not scalable.
Likewise, neither is cultural heritage. The city of New Orleans positions its self as a city with great cultural heritage. It is through this heritage that they seek to draw more and more tourists. How do cities think of scaling up successful initiatives and how do they navigate the political, social, ecological, or economic entanglements. At what point is downscaling necessary? Is culture scalable?
[1]https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2019/mar/13/new-orleans-airbnb-trem…
Art at Naluwan created by the former chief of the tribe.
(The gouverment refused to accept this as art.)