0 false 18 pt 18 pt 0 0 false false false /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:12.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-ascii-font-family:Cambria; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-fareast; mso-hansi-font-family:Cambria; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;} 0 false 18 pt 18 pt 0 0 false false false /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:12.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-ascii-font-family:Cambria; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-fareast; mso-hansi-font-family:Cambria; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;} A recent hypothesis: regulation and patience are inversely related. The more laws and rules that are enforced the less likely individuals are to be patient with one another. Where laws are weak, patience will be high.The Infinite Fieldwork LoopWhat no one tells you about fieldwork is that every day—every minute of every day, really—is a potential intellectual pursuit. I’ve been calling this the “infinite fieldwork loop” because the questions never end, and when they appear to, I'm not trying hard enough. Sorry. This is the only photo I have of "traffic" since I'm usuallydriving while in it. I promise to take a better one.One intellectual pursuit here in Ouagadougou that I’ve been trying to wrap my head around is traffic. Every time I get on my motorcycle I brace myself. Don’t get me wrong. I’m comfortable on my moto and haven’t been in a serious accident (knock on wood). I have to brace myself mentally for the multitudes of mobilettes weaving in and out of one another; the cars driving in the middle of the road; the taxis without brake lights stopping suddenly to load and unload passengers; the bicycles crowding up at stop lights and blocking everyone with a motor when the light turns green; the lack of turn signals. 0 false 18 pt 18 pt 0 0 false false false /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:12.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-ascii-font-family:Cambria; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-fareast; mso-hansi-font-family:Cambria; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;} And I brace myself for the intensely random police checkpoints. These checkpoints are part bribe operation part attempt at discipline. This is the brunt of my mental preparation. As an intellectual pursuit I haven’t been able to “figure out” traffic here. Until now. I think.Governmentality 101Governmentality is a swanky academic term that essentially means “discipline,” but it’s a little more complicated so bear with me. In order to create a smoothly efficient society that is also ordered and controlled a government (more precisely those governments born from an Enlightenment tradition) must write and enforce laws. Laws are an attempt to ensure that all people behave in the same manner such that public behavior can, within reason, be relatively predictable. Laws are an attempt to discipline individuals for the benefit of the whole. But people are, well, people. Not everyone can or will be disciplined so laws need to be enforced. Thus, the police. But neither the populace nor the government (for their own reasons) would want to have police every few meters making sure all individuals obey public laws. Fortunately, or unfortunately, societies from the Enlightenment use culture to extend the enforcement of laws. What I mean is that the ideal of a smoothly efficient society with all individuals following the same rules is part of a cultural tradition born in the Enlightenment. It is part of the culture that makes us us. To this end, we teach our children and ourselves from a very early age that laws, rules, and regulations are good because they keep us safe and benefit everyone. We teach this implicitly and explicitly such that individuals grow up policing themselves because it appears to us as “commonsense”. This is governmentality: the internalization and naturalization of authority and discipline. Just think about traffic lights and speed limits. We stop at red lights and remain (often within reason) within the posted speed limits. But we also stop when police aren’t around and regard our speeds even when photo radar isn’t posted. For the most part.‘Patience is a virtue.’But the “most part” here in Ouaga is the exact opposite. Running red lights, when the city has electricity and the lights are working, is the norm. For bikes. For motos. For cars. And for giant trucks precariously loaded with timber, grain, or petrol. Speed limits are also suggestions. And even if the majority of vehicles on the road were able to signal I doubt drivers would. But what has been more surprising is that everyone takes all this in stride. It’s too easy to say, “This is what they’re used to.” Instead I offer a different suggestion.Those societies with more governmentality, with individuals who are policed by the government and themselves, are less likely to exhibit social patience. Those places where governmentality is lower, patience is higher.I’m simplifying a lot here in the interest of space, time and comprehensibility because I don’t really want to suggest that there is no governmentality here in Ouaga. On the contrary. There’s a lot, but it’s of a different type. For the purposes of this post, I’d just like to throw out into the blogosphere that it seems, from observation, that because the laws and regulations, which are on the books in Burkina Faso, are not enforced by either the government or individuals, people have had to find their own solutions in dealing with others in a crowded urban environment. One such solution: patience.Individuals will take in stride the most absurd (from my eyes) driving behavior. There are, of course, instances of disciplining, when one driver will reprimand another politely, as if talking to an ill-behaved child. These occasions are, I believe, examples of society attempting to create and amend the agreed upon rules of the road, the constant attempt at social consensus in practice. They are exceptions that prove the rule. The vast majority of behavior is quiet acceptance, of tolerating behaviors that disrupt the flow and reduce efficiency. There is no road rage, no instances of yelling and screaming at one another; people are defensive rather than offensive drivers. Of course we can discuss whether or not efficiency is a cultural value, but based on conversations I would say that it is. The inability to achieve perceived efficiency is tolerated because there is a recognition, implicit at least, that without enforcement people must be tolerant. Now I feel a little better when I strap on my helmet. Traffic isn’t as much of an epistemological quandary as it once was. It’s not all figured out, to be sure, and the real work comes with figuring out why it is the way it is. At least now, however, I know how to handle the traffic; to engage with it in both theory and practice.
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