BALTIMORE, MD--(Marketwire - January 19, 2011) - Context-Based Research Group, an ethnographic firm with a global network of consumer anthropologists, today announced the launch of the Wild Pig Tail Project -- an endeavor to help people articulate and act on the recessionary related need to restore civility as well as our 'sense of social.'
"After two years of research on the recession, it is clear that people understand our greatest deficit is not economic; it's social," said Dr. Robbie Blinkoff, founder and principal anthropologist at Context. "This new effort follows much of the behavior we see today, and will see into the future. People are anxiously rebuilding and restoring their sense of social." Dr. Blinkoff defines 'sense of social' as the sum total of relationships created with others and the ability to leverage those relationships to create a mutually beneficial way of life.
"The Wild Pig Tail Project is designed to help people articulate and realize their desire to reclaim the one thing in life that makes us most human -- relating and connecting to one another," said Dr. Blinkoff.
The cornerstone of the project is www.thewildpigtailproject.com, a social media website designed to foster conversations and help people find and create their sense of social. Other aspects of the project include a series of discussions lead by Dr. Blinkoff, and a forthcoming book.
The name of the project comes from Papua New Guinea where Dr. Blinkoff and his wife conducted their dissertation research. In the part of Papua New Guinea where they worked, the local people create "eilusanmin" or wild pig tail bags. These bags are traditional string bags that hang in men's houses in villages. After wild pig hunts, men take the wild pigs' tails and attach them to these bags. If you've placed a wild pig tail on a certain bag, then it signifies that you have the ability to take and share resources in the area where that bag resides. In short, a tail on the bag is like "money in the bank" -- except exchanging resources in this area means creating a series of mutually dependent relationships, not simple transactions that end at the point of purchase. In other words, their economy is primarily relational, not transactional, and wild pig tail bags represent their "sense of social."
"When I think about wild pig tail bags in relation to our society today, I ask myself: where have all of our wild pig tail bags gone, and how can we get them back?" said Dr. Blinkoff. "This project will help our society regain our much needed wild pig tail bags."
If you want to get involved, visit the project's website where you can observe, engage, understand, interpret and learn as we move to live socially.
About Dr. Robbie Blinkoff
Dr. Robbie Blinkoff is the founder and principal anthropologist at Context-Based Research Group, www.contextresearch.com, in Baltimore. Under his direction, Context has worked across a multitude of industries with a broad range of clients including American Express, Fisher-Price, Nike, Wyeth, and Procter & Gamble. Robbie also teaches courses in anthropology at Goucher College in Maryland.
About Context-Based Research Group
Context-Based Research Group is an ethnographic research and consulting firm that has provided companies with an anthropological perspective since 1999. Context's global network of cultural anthropologists observes and interprets human behavior to uncover the reasons why people do what they do. The end result brings clients closer to the actual experience of their customers and leads to development of better products and services. For more information, go to: www.contextresearch.com.