I read a lot of historical fiction or medieval fantasy. You know, knights on horseback, traveling takes a while, peasants and lords, servants and manors. It's a highly romanticized time (hey, wouldn't it be cool to joust? Yeah, right. More likely to die of the flu from lack of ibuprofen than to see a tourney), but I've started to glimpse access to this world.
This medieval landscape is found in third-world countries. Not completely, as there are some serious anachronisms (the, um, lord doesn't ride in on a fancy carriage; instead it's a military helicopter. But darn right the whole town turns up to watch him arrive), but the mindset is surprisingly similar. I'm not a medieval scholar by any means, so I couldn't tell you what technology or everyday life was like in feudal England, for example, but I get the impression that it's similar to the village in Africa that I worked in for the last 9 months.
The outlying villages are several days' travel by foot, but travel time can be reduced by our expensive means of transport (landcruisers could be carriages) that require resources that only we can provide (diesel instead of oats, a mechanic and spare parts instead of a farrier and metal shoes). Cattleherds come through with their possessions lashed to the back of a prized cow. Some ride horses, most walk. You cross the river by using the ferry, when the ferryman is around. If you fall ill, you go to the local shaman/barber (even if there's a hospital; please go to the hospital; why don't you go to the hospital?). Children gather and stare at strangers, because they know the name of everyone in their village (and how they're related to them). You can tell people's class by the state of their dress (fine new tunic you've got there).
In a 4-day process, I left the field. I took landcruisers, small humanitarian flights, trains, planes, and buses. I gradually phased back into 21st century life in the United States.
But a week out of a village in Africa, I found myself as a guest in the Google Offices outside of San Francisco, in one of the most technologically advanced places of the world, in a company that really cares about employee happiness.
This medieval landscape is found in third-world countries. Not completely, as there are some serious anachronisms (the, um, lord doesn't ride in on a fancy carriage; instead it's a military helicopter. But darn right the whole town turns up to watch him arrive), but the mindset is surprisingly similar. I'm not a medieval scholar by any means, so I couldn't tell you what technology or everyday life was like in feudal England, for example, but I get the impression that it's similar to the village in Africa that I worked in for the last 9 months.
The outlying villages are several days' travel by foot, but travel time can be reduced by our expensive means of transport (landcruisers could be carriages) that require resources that only we can provide (diesel instead of oats, a mechanic and spare parts instead of a farrier and metal shoes). Cattleherds come through with their possessions lashed to the back of a prized cow. Some ride horses, most walk. You cross the river by using the ferry, when the ferryman is around. If you fall ill, you go to the local shaman/barber (even if there's a hospital; please go to the hospital; why don't you go to the hospital?). Children gather and stare at strangers, because they know the name of everyone in their village (and how they're related to them). You can tell people's class by the state of their dress (fine new tunic you've got there).
In a 4-day process, I left the field. I took landcruisers, small humanitarian flights, trains, planes, and buses. I gradually phased back into 21st century life in the United States.
But a week out of a village in Africa, I found myself as a guest in the Google Offices outside of San Francisco, in one of the most technologically advanced places of the world, in a company that really cares about employee happiness.
It was the biggest shift in context I've ever experienced. From thoroughly antiquated to cutting-edge modern, I think I got the closest experience to time travel we'll ever find.
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