"In Motion" by Derek Pardue described an interesting type of fieldwork done in Sao Paulo, Brazil. He studied the people through the perspective of transportation (buses, trains). One quote that struck me was "We don't realize how connected we are to the space me occupy." The reason he probably chose transportation was because it brings many of the cities people together. Although 50% of the people in Sao Paulo lived in a type of slum some of them thought higher of themselves and just through their choice of transportation, you can see this.
Pardue spent a great deal of time with Brazilian hip-hoppers; interviewing them and spending time with them and also with other middle class citizens. The way they traveled in some ways implies the type of person they are. A middle class man enjoyed taking the bus because it made him feel like a “higher” observer of all the city around him. He might even feel godly looking at others below him in a busy city. He described a train ride as “weird”. Not seeing the city and passing by known places made this man uncomfortable.
To the hip hoppers traveling meant “a stepping stone to greater accomplishment”. They used it to increase the amount of places they occupied, “special occupation”, to increase people’s familiarity with them. Everyone had a different view of transportation.
“Culture of Poverty” by Oscar Lewis was much more interesting to me than Pardue’s writing. He spoke about how poverty is passed down through generations. Children are taught what their parents show them and living in poverty is all they know. Lewis stated that there were two types of poor people; the nice and honest kinds and the evil & mean kind. He implies that the poor are victims in their society and it is their way of life. They cannot escape the fate.
I think Lewis is right in many aspects but not always because there all those people with extrememly poor backgrounds who are very successful later in life and no longer live in those communities in which they were raised.
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