Digital Disconnection as Othering

Digital disconnection is often considered a necessary condition for “authentic” experience of difference. However, this discourse others not only those whose lives are “authentically” experienced, but also those who thrive on digital connection. Three cases illustrate this effect. First, the discourse of immersion prevalent in study abroad encourages students to “live like the locals”—“authentically”—by forgoing cell phones and the Internet. Second, educational farms provided college students on alternative break trips with simulations of life in poverty through digital disconnection to cultivate empathy toward them. Although meant to eliminate distraction, the digital disconnection in both cases also linked the life of Cultural Others and people in poverty with digital disconnection, othering them. Third, frictions on another alternative break trip pitted mainstream “outdoorsy” students seeking digital disconnection for “authentic” nature experience against “non-outdoorsy” students who enjoyed nature while digitally connected. This chapter investigates the othering effects of the discourse of digital disconnection and suggests ways to learn about difference with digital connectivity.

Combating Speciesism

Semi-structured in-depth interviews were conducted with six students prior to an alternative break trip to a companion and farmed animal sanctuary, along with participant observation of all student trip participants (n = 44) during the trip and at all pre- and post-trip events. Participants were overwhelmingly Anglo and female, and were enrolled at a Midwestern university. Results indicate that prior to the trip, the participants possessed minimal information about overpopulation of companion animals, vegetarianism, and factory farming, and were hesitant to embrace any lifestyle changes that would benefit animals. Additionally, enthusiasm for the volunteer work and interest in nonhuman animal well-being dropped precipitously over the course of the immersion experience. Results are discussed within the framework of Mezirow’s (1997, 2000) theory of transformative learning and Parks Daloz’s (2000) application of this theory to encouraging social activism. Recommendations are provided concerning how immersion experiences with animals may more effectively combat speciesism.

GIMME A BREAK! IDENTIFICATION AND ESTIMATION OF THE MACROECONOMIC EFFECTS OF MONETARY POLICY SHOCKS IN THE UNITED STATES

We employ a non-recursive identification scheme to identify the effects of a monetary policy shock in a Structural Vector Autoregressive (SVAR) model for the US post-WWII quarterly data. The identification of the shock is achieved via heteroskedasticity, and different on-impact macroeconomic responses are allowed for (but not imposed) in each volatility regime. We show that the impulse responses obtained with the suggested non-recursive identification scheme are quite similar to those conditional on a recursive VAR estimated with pre-1984 data. In contrast, recursive vs. non-recursive identification schemes return different short-run responses of output and investment during the Great Moderation. Robustness checks dealing with a different definition of investment, an alternative break-point, and federal funds futures rates as an indicator of the monetary policy stance are documented and discussed.