March 2005 Stories

Beth Phillips: Bearing Witness

At my house one day, my mom’s boyfriend started to beat her up. He slammed her into the oven and broke her toe. He kept slamming her against the wall and throwing her all over the place. I ran to my brother’s room since it was the only place that had a lock on the door. I stayed there until it was all over. – Katie, 12 years, Latina

Stories like these invade the subconscious of Willamette University senior Elizabeth “Beth” Phillips. That’s because the anthropology and gender studies major spent five to six hours a day for nearly three months listening to the heart-wrenching stories of children who have witnessed domestic violence. Philips is a recipient a prestigious Carson Undergraduate Research Grant, a $2,500 stipend that encourages students to pursue an original idea or area of research beyond what they study in the classroom. “Remembering and Dealing with Domestic Violence: Youth in Transition” is the ethnographic study she conducted with 10- to 17-year-old youth at a domestic violence center in Seattle, Wash.

“There’s been a lot of qualitative research done on women and domestic violence, but there isn’t much on children,” says Phillips, who had previously volunteered during high school at the shelter. “I wanted to record children’s stories and explore what the children think about domestic violence, how they understand it, how it affects them and what they think about the programs designed to help.”

To get the youngsters to share their stories, Phillips first had to win their trust. She began by spending a month going on field trips and hanging out with them. Slowly, they began to open up. “They brought me into their lives and I got to know many of them well. Many are the same ages of my younger sisters. They became my little siblings.”

After obtaining the parents’ permission, Phillips started meeting weekly with two groups – six boys and six girls – who were living in transitional housing for up to 18 months. Additionally, she conducted one- to two-hour individual interviews with children living in short-term shelter housing. “As we got to know each other better, the kids started to share stuff with me, even things they hadn’t told the other counselors. They told me not only about the violence they’d witnessed, but also about abuse that had happened to them.”

Listening to all this pain took its toll on Phillips. “I was surprised by how willing these kids were to open up to me and how affected I was by their stories. Listening to their stories was really hard. I found myself feeling sad and angry. I had to figure out how to get angry about what had happened to them without getting depressed about it.”

Phillips worked through her feelings by “doing a lot of journaling, working on my field notes and talking with my family. I came to realize that you have to move on and help these kids. I was able to acknowledge the pain and sadness and still do the work.”

When he was done abusing her, my mom would always just go into her room. She thought we’d believe she was watching TV. We’d all leave her alone and I’d try to keep everything quiet so she could rest. – Tim, 14 years, Latino

One of the themes that emerged from the research was that children respond in their own unique ways to domestic violence. “There is no single way that kids deal with domestic violence. Some push it away and try to forget about it. Others act out or get defensive.”

She also found that because children are naturally focused on themselves, they tend to view the experience of family domestic violence through a narrow lens. “When they talk about the domestic violence incidences in their family, they remember what they were doing during the experience. They understand domestic violence in terms of what it meant for them and their safety. They also often feel guilty about the abuse and talk about what they should have done.”

When my mom’s in a bad mood because of the violence my step-dad does on her, I help by telling her that it’s going to be all right. I help her calm down. – Chris, 12 years, Slovenian immigrant

When families seek help for domestic violence, Phillips found children are often thrown into conflict about differences in how society – friends, classmates, people they meet on the street – and shelter counselors tell them to behave. “In domestic violence centers, youth are told to open up, to share their stories and to talk about how they feel. A boy in one of my groups called it ‘becoming a softie.’ At school or in their neighborhoods, people tell them to be tough and to forget about the domestic violence.”

Girls, too, receive conflicting messages. “Domestic violence counselors tell girls that if a guy hits or teases them, it’s not okay. But everyone knows that boys tease when they flirt. Counselors tell girls, for instance, that it’s not okay if their boyfriends tell them not to wear certain clothing because that’s controlling behavior. Their girlfriends tell them that the boy is just showing how much he cares. The question is how are these kids supposed to negotiate these different messages?”

I tell my friends that my parents never fight. I say I’m the one who cries all the time. It’s just the opposite. It’s my mom who’s crying. – Christina, 10 years, Caucasian

Counseling professionals, say the youth, are out of touch with the reality of their worlds. “Domestic violence counselors tell the kids not to fight. The kids say they’re being bullied and have to stand up for themselves. One boy told me, ‘Hey, they’re beating me up. I’m going to fight back.’”

If people hear about my dad beating up my mom, they’re going to think I’m weird, you know? – Courtney, 16 years, Solvenian immigrant

Phillips, who has spoken about her research at several nonprofit agencies and will present her study findings in San Diego at the domestic violence conference, “Violence in the World of Our Youth,” insists that helping children who witness domestic violence requires a much larger cultural change. “Domestic violence programs can only go so far in solving the problem. Our schools and our society need to change. We have to be willing to get involved and help those we suspect are being abused. Our schools need to address the huge bullying problem that exists and talk openly about behaviors that aren’t okay. They need to get more involved in conflict management and create an atmosphere that says it’s okay for boys and girls to share their feelings.”

Her work with these kids has defined a career path for Phillips. “This experience has made me realize how valuable it is to do research with people that makes a difference,” says Phillips, who would like to go to South Africa and work with homeless youth. “I want to work with grassroots organizations doing research that helps tell their story. I want to tell their stories to help change the story.”

Sarah Sprinkle: Modern Day Slaves

Most of us think slavery ended with the Emancipation Proclamation. However, in nearly every country in the world, trafficking in human beings, especially women and girls, is commonplace. According to the U.S. State Department, nearly a million people annually are subjected to force, fraud or coercion for the purpose of forced labor or sexual exploitation. Willamette University Carson scholar, Sarah Sprinkle, traveled halfway around the world to research this little-known, but growing international crisis.

“I became interested in trafficking in human beings while I was doing an independent study in Bosnia last year,” says the senior who’s pursuing a double major in rhetoric and media studies and women and gender studies. “I wanted to explore the problem of human trafficking and see what kinds of anti-trafficking programs are in place and how effective they are in dealing with it.”

To fund her research, Sprinkle received a prestigious Carson Undergraduate Research Grant. The $2,500 stipend is designed to encourage students to pursue original research or areas of study outside the classroom. Sprinkle spent a month in Thailand – in Bangkok in the south and in Chang Mai in the north.

“Because of the poverty, Northern Thailand has a huge problem with families selling their daughters. In fact, about 70 percent of families sell at least one daughter into the sex trade. You can tell which families sell their daughters by their houses. Instead of the usual wooden houses, they use the money to build fancy concrete houses.”

In Thailand, Sprinkle interviewed 10 people working in nine different organizations – non-government organizations (NGOs), international organizations and government organizations. Her first hurdle was getting people to talk with her. “Getting through the red tape just to interview people was a challenge. I’d call and call and end up scheduling one interview. Finally, it all fell into place.”

Sprinkle learned that Thailand has a number of anti-trafficking programs in place. “The Thai government has taken quite a bit of initiative and that’s encouraging. Their victim assistance programs bring people who have been sold into safe houses and provide them with medical treatment, legal counseling and psychological treatment. There are also programs to help them get back home.”

Repatriation – returning home – is problematic for people who have been trafficked, especially women who are victims of the sex trade. “Even though it wasn’t her fault, a woman trafficked in the sex trade is often blamed. When she goes home, she may be scorned. She may not be welcomed back into her family or be eligible for marriage. In many countries, a woman who isn’t welcome in her own country has no other options.”

Too often, Sprinkle found, the victims are also treated like criminals by foreign governments. “Many times, victims of traffickers are viewed only as illegal immigrants. It’s a challenge to try to change the beliefs of police officers, judges and prosecutors. They’re treated like criminals and immediately sent back to their home countries where they’re often re-trafficked again and again.”

One of the most effective ways Thailand combats trafficking is through education. Sprinkle interviewed an NGO worker in Northern Thailand whose program focuses on community development. “Many of the people in the hill tribes in Northern Thailand have migrated down from other countries so they’re not full Thai citizens. They’re not eligible for education or health benefits. The NGO is trying to provide education for these children and their families. There are also programs where people can learn a trade so they don’t have to rely on selling children or going to another country to work.”

Sprinkle also discovered that lack of communication and cooperation between anti-trafficking programs poses a significant barrier to effectively countering international trafficking. “The communication is better between the groups in Thailand than it is in Bosnia. But I found every group I spoke with put a different slant on their program. Everyone wants to talk up their own program and put down every one else’s program because there are limited funding opportunities. Cooperation is essential, but it’s something they all struggle to achieve.”

Another challenge is simply getting countries to acknowledge and address the problem. “Human trafficking a world-wide problem, but many countries like the U.S. are just starting to address the issue. Some countries have extensive systems already in place to deal with trafficking; others like Australia haven’t even begun to deal with it.”

Sprinkle, who plans to work for the Peace Corps or Teach for America before returning to school to pursue a graduate degree, says her research has made the world a smaller, more personal place for her. “I used to see stories on the news about what’s happening in other countries and it was never personal for me. Traveling to Thailand and Bosnia and talking with people who are fighting human trafficking has brought this issue home to me. It’s also opened my eyes. I could really do something to make a difference.”

Kate McClendon: Silk Road: Religion’s Melting Pot

We often think of Eastern and Western religions as being worlds apart. But, as religious and classical studies major, Kate McClendon ’05, recently found, they have borrowed traditions, doctrine and even holidays and celebrations from one another, creating a sort of religious melting pot.

“I’ve always been interested in points where East and West come together and blend,” says the Willamette University senior, who wrote a proposal for a $3,000 Lilly Grant to pursue a project she calls “Journeys of the Spirit: Shamanic Influences on Silk Road Religions.” “Because I’m a religion major, I’m interested in how religions have blended together throughout history.”

McClendon’s hypothesis was that shamanism, the traditional religion of Siberia, acted as a foundation for both major Eastern and Western religions and influenced many of the similarities and seemingly contradictory traditions found in Buddhism, Christianity, Middle Eastern and Hellenistic religions. Shamanism combines animal worship (animism) and the concept of a wise man or medicine man, similar to traditions found in Native American religions. The shaman or wise man receives special knowledge that allows him to travel through various levels of heaven and hell, often battling demons or meeting spiritual helpers, to gain knowledge to guide his people to salvation. According to McClendon, the Silk Road, the historic, 4,000-mile network of trade routes that connected Europe and the Middle East with Asia from 500 B.C. to 1500 A.D., acted as the conduit that spread shamanism’s ideas and traditions across the world.

Being exposed to shamanism along the Silk Road, changed the religions of other regions. “Indigenous groups develop their beliefs, practices and collections of stories,” explains McClendon. “Then a wider tradition, like Buddhism or Christianity, comes in and sweeps over the culture. The people adopt the new religion, but they map it onto their own indigenous traditions, so the meaning and the imagery changes a bit. That’s what shamanism did to all these religions.”

The influence of shamanism, says McClendon, can be seen in the artwork of various religious. “I studied art, especially art from the Silk Road, in the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C., at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, at the Philadelphia Museum of Art and at the University of Pennsylvania Museum of Anthropology. I looked at Buddhist art, Middle Eastern art from Babylon and Sumer and Greek and Roman art as well as original Gnostic Christian texts. I found lots of imagery that suggests shamanic influences such as angels and ecstatic trance dancing that essentially have nothing to do with the belief systems.”

Shamanism can help explain beliefs and traditions that seem uncharacteristic. For instance, some Buddhist sects believe in Pure Land, a heaven-like place filled with jewels, angels and dancing. “It’s all very shamanic and certainly doesn’t have much to do with Buddha’s original message or with the concept of Buddhist detachment.”

McClendon points to shamanic influences in Christianity too, particularly Gnosism, an early form of Christianity. “The main element of Gnosism is that the practitioner receives specific and secret knowledge from a messenger of God. The first shamanic element is that of a messenger. In shamanism, the shaman is the messenger. In Gnostic Christianity, Jesus is the messenger. In both, it’s the knowledge the messenger brings, not the messenger himself that brings salvation.”

McClendon’s research, she admits, doesn’t fit in with mainstream academic avenues of research. “I was surprised that other academics and curators were so skeptical,” she says. Often, the academics she spoke with at universities didn’t know what she was talking about. Curators at museums told her they didn’t have any shamanic-influenced art. “I’d go into the museums and there would be a tremendous amount of material. They just weren’t seeing it with eyes open to looking at the art in that way.”

McClendon’s project is just another step in challenging and defining her own religious beliefs. “I was raised Mormon and Baptist. In high school, I realized the more you know, the more you don’t know, which has made me want to study everything. It’s really fulfilling for me to study the origins of Christianity to see what Christianity could have been and consider what its possibilities can be.”

Her work isn’t an end, she says, but rather a beginning. “I know this project has been a springboard for me into a lifetime of research,” she says, her eyes shining with excitement. When she graduates this May, she plans to pursue a master’s degree in classical archeology at Florida State University. “I know Greek and Latin and I’m studying Sanskrit. Now I want to learn Chinese so I can go to the Buddhist caves in China and read the Gnostic texts there. I’ve come to understand that there doesn’t have to be one answer; you can be open to all types of spiritual experience.”