[Stoves] Anthropological approach was Re: Example of missed opportunities was Re: is this new?

[Richard Stanley]

Paul Cecil et al. 

I too laud your elucidation Cecil. I would only add that there is a certain transfer of ownership from the "studier" to the studied that has to happen in this process. In as much as the  technology can be re-evolved through the studied,  they become the owner of the process. They assume responsibity for it not a a gift but as their own adapted idea. They become the expert or teacher as equal contributors to the  innovation process. Like you, Paul, I have great difficulty with the notion of short circuiting this with mass injections of cheap gods from China, no matter how well "designed" and "tested". 

Dunno: Maybe its just laziness that accompanies old age. I like to see others take it over and move it all forward.

Happy Baktun13 all.  Small world after all

Richard Stanley
La Antigua, Guatemala

On Jan 23, 2013, at 6:04 AM, Paul Anderson wrote:

Dear Cecil and all,

I have known of you and your fine efforts for many years via Crispin.  In your messaged you provided an excellent example of anthropological methods.   Highly valid.  Understand the people and their needs.  Classical Anthropology as an academic discipline attempts to NOT influence the culture being studied.  You are studying and learning how to improve their lives via appropriate changes that can be incorporated into their homes, in this case via stoves.

There is another side to the anthropology issue.   It is the study of the introduction of an innovation (whether good or bad is not the issue) and its impact on their lives.  The introduction of a "new-to-them" stove innovation (such as TLUD stoves that are ignited on the top, etc) that could impact many lives in serious ways is also a valid topic for the skills and methods of anthropologists, as well as of marketing specialists who also look at "acceptance / rejection" of what is new, but with a different perspective. 

We look forward to your continued efforts.

Paul

Paul S. Anderson, PhD  aka "Dr TLUD"
Email:  psanders at ilstu.edu   Skype: paultlud  Phone: +1-309-452-7072
Website:  www.drtlud.com
On 1/22/2013 3:49 AM, Cecil Cook wrote:
> Dear Pual, Kevin, Crispin, Marc, and kindred stovers,
>  I am a much backslid applied anthropologists who took a 30 year side trip into appropriate technology in South Africa at the instigation of Crispin.  Now a days Crispin is still misleading me by asking me to assist him and the World Bank design, test, produce, and market ever more perfect low cost biomass stoves in places like Ulaanbataar  in Mongolia, Yogyakarta in Java, and most recently Battambang in Cambodia.  With fiendish friends like Crispin, who needs enemies?
>  Kevin's comic stories about the idiot savant who is very good at drawing circles around bullet holes is unfortunately a hilarious metaphor for the multiple problems and predicaments that stove scientists, inventors and enthusiasts typically create for themselves when they (we?) try to innovate ever more perfect biomass burning stoves for imagined and therefore voiceless stove customers.  
>  I recently discovered there is a significant market in Central Java for big portable charcoal stoves so that neighbours can
(see the excellent original message) 
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