TRADE
Jamie and Mike read and talked about books on Western domination of the modern world. We wondered if there was a better way to trade than through intimidation or colonization. We also learned about the presence of Reciprocity in the exchange of goods among traditional indigenous peoples. Based on our study of history, we made a concept map on Trade.
In the map, MYTH is a story told to bring people together, to build community, or to ease suffering and loss. In contrast, False Narrative is a story told to achieve personal gain or domination. Myth and False Narrative, Fear and Trust, and the other pairs across the map are “competing concepts. The Red and Blue lines meet at Cross Points. These are circumstances where negotiation can result in trade that benefits all parties.
Real-world Example
POETIC RESPONSES
Jamie and Mike each wrote poems in response to the concepts in Approaches to
Trade. We each wrote one poem in response to the sequence of concepts in the Blue Line and another poem for Red-Line concepts. Otherwise, we had no knowledge of what the other had written until we met and shared the poems.
Mike’s poems speak in an ancient, prophetic voice. Jamie’s poems speak in an historic voice. The Blue-Line poems include a different set of concepts from the Red-Line poems, so the poems are presented in pairs according to color.
The first of 4 poems appear below.
Blue-Line Poems
EARTH ORIGINS OF COMMUNITY
From its molten and living core
in streams flowing
outward to the highest mountains,
the earth
gives us stories and land
on which we walk
and the Myths
that grow to sustain us.
Walking, we Trust the ground
and hear its tale of wandering
in darkness, under deserts
under oceans feeding life within.
We are the earth, too,
living over our common ground
feeding on the plants
growing out from within it.
To carry ourselves toward
one another and our common future.
Goodwill comes from the ground
in sweet corn and bright red tomatoes.
It is the kindness of the continents
that brings us together.
On Earth the sunny climes
of South Sea islands live together
with frozen Siberia,
and they, in turn,
show mutual respect
for the great
Sands of Arabia.
~Mike Edwards
INDIAN OCEAN TRADE BEFORE VASCO DA GAMA
The Myth of trade.
Taxing goods, not seizing them,
keeps them flowing across the sea.
A fair trade is good for all.
Both traders take and receive
satisfactory value for their wares.
Town merchants, in turn,
can offer low prices to their people
on goods from faraway lands.
Chinese junks from Guangzhoa
Indian ships from Kozhikode (Calicut)
Arab ships from Hormuz or Aden
African dhows from Mogadishu
sailed without any ruler’s warships,
sailing with Trust in peaceful trade.
From Guangzhoa, traders acquired
tea, silk, porcelain, and ginger.
From Calicut came pepper and calico cloth,
Aden offered perfumes and precious stones,
Mogadishu supplied slaves, gold, ivory, and wax.
As they carried cargoes from port to port,
traders conveyed the reputations
of other traders along with their goods.
Goodwill energized fair, peaceful trading.
Arabic, the language of commerce,
enabled traders to talk over the terms
of a sale in a common language.
At times, the glimpse of a knife
or the presence of muscle
enforced the formalities of trade,
which wore a cloak of Mutual Respect.
~Jamie Armstrong
Red-Line Poems
ORIGINS—LUST FOR POWER
My prophet is supreme, my prophet is the son of
the tribal war god of Abraham the all-powerful.
We who know him must interpret his Word
for the Word is his direction.
The earth was created by all-knowing Yahweh,
and by his Word and power he rules over us.
We must fear him and be inspired by his vast powers.
We who know him inherit the gift of his Word and
must protect mankind from bitter jealousies.
We who know him must control the resources of creation.
All infidels must convert to his worship,
above all else, or be killed. Yahweh rules all.
It is our divine right to rule the earth,
to have and to hold its resources.
Those who do not believe the Word,
or who defile the Word, must be punished,
stricken from society with ridicule.
As does the lord Yahweh, we must chasten
and dominate those who act as animals.
~Mike Edwards
VASCO DA GAMA ON THE INDIAN OCEAN
“In search of Christians and spices”—
a False Narrative da Gama fed
to the Zamorin of Calicut (Kozhikode).
King John II sent da Gama’s armada
around Africa to find sea routes to China
with ports for trade and soon for colonies.
Fearing a hostile reception
from brown-skinned Indians
who spoke unknown languages,
da Gama brought armed trade
for the first time to the Indian Ocean.
Greeted by the Zamorin of Kozhikode
with hospitality and
a procession of thousands,
da Gama gave the ruler a few hats,
cloaks, some branches of coral,
and a chest full of sugar.
Living on the gold standard,
the Zamorin rejected these gifts.
Da Gama was seized by greed,
refusing to pay customs duties in gold.
All the other traders paid in gold.
A ruthless Christian man, da Gama
sent brutal messages of imperial power.
He burned a ship full of Arab pilgrims.
He cut off the lips and ears of a spy.
King John made da Gama governor of India,
granting him the privileged title of “Viceroy.”
Portugal celebrates da Gama’s legacy
in Os Luisiadas, the national epic poem.
~Jamie Armstrong