This week, I decided to read a piece shared with me by Dr Shaw. One of my committee members Yvonne Latty, a seasoned journalist, told me I should get an opinion from Starbucks in my documentary to avoid it turning into a union PR piece. I believe an interview with Starbucks will also serve to underscore the need for a union in the first place. I want to be well-prepared to interview Starbucks because I know the facts they share with me will be full of corporate spin. I was excited to receive Up the Anthropologist: Perspectives Gained From Studying Up by Laura Nader (1974) from Dr Shaw.
Nader’s article examines the need for anthropologists to study “up,” or to study those in power (Nader 1974, pp. 284). Nader argues that studying up is an attempt to “get behind the facelessness of a bureaucratic society, to get at the mechanisms whereby far away corporations and large scale industries are directing the everyday aspects of our lives” (Nader 1974, pp. 288). Instead of turning the microscope on those who lack power, positioning the anthropologist as having power within this dynamic, Nader advocates for looking into the reasons those in power have their societal power (Nader 1974, pp. 289). Nader also argues that the ethics in studying systems that affect the public differ from the ethics in studying private citizens or groups (Nader 1974, pp. 304-305).
This piece was very interesting in how it relates to my project. It identifies one of the cores of my project by looking deeply at a corporation that directs everyday aspects of the union group’s lives. However, Starbucks has made the argument that members should not let the union speak for them, that they can dialogue directly with the company, in my opinion purposely missing the entire point of having a union in the first place. It is easy to ignore one or even a handful of employees, but having a legally protected group of employees effectively forces the company to contend with the worker’s interests. I think shining a light on this phenomenon is deeply necessary for my documentary. Nader also discusses the challenges of having an honest interview with those in power. I think such interviews can still be very revealing in what they don’t say or how they choose to answer questions. I know that anything Starbucks tells me will have corporate spin, so I’m hoping to reveal what is in the spin.
In addition to beginning to speak with a Starbucks representative, I have been working with Yvonne to develop questions for the union. Yvonne also gave me the opportunity to work with a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist on some of my questions for Starbucks, which I’m very excited for. Finally, I had my first filming session with SBWU! We agreed that we will hold primary interviews after the Red Cup Strike.
Works Cited:
Nader, Laura 1974 (1969) Up the Anthropologist — Perspectives Gained From Studying Up. In Dell Hymes (ed.) Reinventing Anthropology, New York: Vintage Books, pp.284-311.