these images, and I think "scientific" images more broadly, are much more dependent on discoure or narrative to draw out ethnographic meanings. what's most ethnographic about them is they way they condense a set of practices and relations: who makes them, how they are made, how they learn to make them, how people learn to read them, how they are used, etc. The genealogies of these practices in particular places.
This image is beautiful, but I am not sure if it is supposed to be. Is it a kernel of maize? Is it a microbe? What part of the soil does this represent? What stage of detoxificiation is it in, if at all?
I am not certain at all how this image is ethnographic, but I want to know how I can view it that way, which, perhaps will take some more "grounding," so to speak, of the image itself. I gather that this is a "healthy" soil particle that glows from the use of ancestral and traditional techniques for cultivation of crops. To the image statement, I would add precisely what these techniques are that rejuvenate both the soil and the people whose lives are entwined with fertilizing, planting, and harvesting.
These images show toxic masculinity or American masculinity, in general, spreads globally. Toxicity is never local, but is made, produced, and reproduced on global scales.
This image reminds me of recent work that has been done on global masculinity (Kimmel and Gardiner have a book series on this topic). It would be interesting to look into the global flows of masculine ideals between China and the US.
I had an emotional, almost angry reaction to the image especially since I recognized the photo of the high school boys on the left and the writing on the banner in the photo on the right.
I really liked this image because it collapses physical space between two countries to show how ideologies and discourses flow beyond national boundaries. In terms of analysis, this image capture two level of analsyis: meta and meso as it displays both discourses and the actors involved.
These two images were juxtaposed against one another to show exactly what the author was trying to convey: hegemonic heteronormativity. What does this say about the power of masculinity and heteronormativity when both Chinese and American boys are engaging in similar discourses and practices.
You are suggesting the connection between fascism and toxic masculinity here, which I find powerful. I would be interested in hearing more about your thoughts in that direction, why do you think the 'white boys' find the "Sieg Heil" greeting appropriate suitable to express their identities? You could even add another historical layer to your project, by not only looking at toxic masculinity from an international perspective (US and China), but also look at archivale material from the past(s), such as the Nazi period.
This image conveys how heteronormative ideas are not just social, but also political and affect our ideas about kinship, justice, and proper living. A singular type of toxicity can ripple through multiple facets and scales of society.
