Posts Tagged anthropology
July 13, 2008 at 1:56 am
· Filed under Uncategorized ·Tagged anthropology, maybury-lewis, oxford, salsa, video
As some of you know, I recently finished a video tribute to the late anthropologist David Maybury-Lewis with one of my former professors and mentors, Harald Prins, and my good friend and former classmate, Jessie Stone. A couple weeks back it had its debut screening at Oxford University at the annual Society for Anthropology of Lowland South America (SALSA) meeting. I uploaded it today and wanted to post the link for those interested. It was made on an extremely low budget (mainly recycled footage from Maybury-Lewis’ television series Millennium: Tribal Wisdom and the Modern World along with some pictures and a voice over), but nonetheless I was pleased to have the opportunity to honor such a great humanitarian and anthropologist.
Along with his wife, Pia, Maybury-Lewis co-founded Cultural Survival, an organization dedicated to promoting and advocating for the rights of indigenous peoples around the world. A former Kansas State anthropology student, Lucas Bessire (now at NYU) recently published an insightful piece in the Cultural Survival Quarterly titled Isolation that provides a glimpse into his own fieldwork with Ayoreo Indians in the Gran Chaco near the border between Paraguay and Bolivia. There are many other quality publications on their website, available for free. I suggest you check them out.
I wish I could embed the video here, but my wordpress account won’t allow it. You can click the link below and wait for it to buffer (it’s fairly large so it will take a bit), or you can just go FILE / SAVE PAGE AS to download the file. Enjoy!
Video URL: http://adambohannon.org/dml_film.wmv
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July 8, 2008 at 10:50 pm
· Filed under Uncategorized ·Tagged anthropology, facebook, identity, privacy, self, web
An interesting article was brought to my attention via Twitter this afternoon. Melanie McBride tweeted an article written last December that presents the complex issue of self celebration on the web through a particularly unsettling case of a Facebook group named 30 Reasons Girls Should Call It A Night where thousands of posted pictures depict (mostly) girls drinking, partying, and in many cases engaging in all out debauchery. The group is a relatively large online community within Facebook ostensibly centered around the nightlife ritual of binge drinking. Thousands of pictures, videos, and a robust discussion thread are found on the group’s page where members discuss everything from the best alcoholic drinks to mix to the weirdest thoughts they’ve had while vomiting.
Now I’m not writing this to pass judgment. Lord knows I’ve engaged in such debauchery many-a-time (many of us have, c’mon admit it), and that’s precisely my point. The increased transparency allowed by many web applications (social networks being the most popularly debated and criticized) is creating situations where we are forced to confront the strange space where our private and public behaviors interface. As the more conservative of us decry the increased awareness of less-than-socially-acceptable behavior as evidence of the corruption of our youth and claim anymore “nothing is sacred,” others of us see the possible enlightening truth behind it all – this behavior, to varying degrees, has always been practiced. What’s different is the changing technological landscape that pushes helps push our private selves to the fore for all to see (though, this is not to say cultural norms and values are static). What we are seeing is not the despicable behaviors of others and ourselves, but rather our common humanity. Now before some of you protest that lying in the fetal position next to a toilet in a puddle of your own vomit is not the warm and fuzzy essence of humanity that we all share, think about it for a minute. No one would claim they are perfect, obviously. We all make mistakes, we all go wild, we all experience fear, embarrassment. Why should these essential experiences of the human condition take a backstage to happiness, love, and joy?
I’d like to think my own nightlife behavior is a bit more controlled than many of the people depicted in 30 Reasons Why, but maybe not. I certainly recognize that any representation of me, be it a photograph or video, can be misinterpreted and possibly damage my future, so I passively avoid putting myself in such situations. There is a high premium on our front stage face, one that is separate from the face we keep back stage, and online identity management is important, I won’t deny that, but maybe this is changing. I also think that a healthy restraint on the content you publish online about yourself is a good thing. That’s just me. It’s different for others. In addition to the discussions about the craziest things they’ve done while drinking, the members of 30 Reasons Why are also discussing topics with names like “Your Internet Life” and “Private versus Public” where as a community they are grappling with the issues mentioned in this post.
I’d love to hear your thoughts on this, since, obviously, its tremendously complex and I’ve only begun to scratch the surface here.
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June 30, 2008 at 10:49 pm
· Filed under Uncategorized ·Tagged anthropology
Although I’m taking a hiatus from formal schooling, I’d like to keep my mind sharp and my anthropological repertoire up to snuff. I’ve been planning on creating a reading list of all the most critical sociological and anthropological (and everything in between) texts I and others can think of. A few I have thought about, just to get the list going and in no particular order, are:
Coming of Age in Samoa – Margaret Mead
Cows, Pigs, Wars, and Witches: The Riddles of Culture – Marvin Harris
The Interpretation of Cultures – Clifford Geertz
General Theory of Magic – Marcel Mauss
Tristes Tropiques – Claude Levi-Strauss
Writing Culture: The Poetics and Politics of Ethnography – James Clifford and George E. Marcus
I’d love to hear about the books that have impacted your life or that you feel were critical to your understanding of anthropology/humanity in general. It would really help a young neophyte like myself prepare for the rite of passage that is graduate school! And maybe we can create an informative list for others looking for some good reading.
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June 8, 2008 at 5:51 pm
· Filed under Uncategorized ·Tagged anthropology, cycling, my life, san diego
Yesterday afternoon my brother and I went on an hour-long bike ride along the San Diego coast. The weather was amazing and the view from Coast Hwy is remarkable, especially near the Carlsbad area. Since this was my first time riding in dense traffic on a road bike and this is something I have never shared with my brother (nor my father) I felt I should reflect on the experience. Both my brother and my father are triathletes and they have been since I was young. I never got into doing triathlons, but I have always been a runner, starting young and continuing until now. As a competitor I stopped running track after high school, but I still enjoy going for a run now and then to clear the cob-webs from my head. They have always tried to talk me into doing a triathlon, but I’ve always denied – not enough time to train and frankly it’s something I’m not very interested in (doing myself, that is).
I have, for a couple years, wanted to get into cycling (or at least try it out). So yesterday my brother decided to take me out on a ride (complete with the sponsor covered spandex and speedy looking helmet). I thought this was a great opportunity to see what all the hype was about. Both my brother and father are very active in the triathlon subculture. When I visit my father in Overland Park, him and I usually hang out with his triathlon buddies (which consists of me listening to them talk about their training and upcoming races). I had pondered a few years ago doing an ethnography of their group as they trained and subsequently participated in an Ironman, of which my father along with multiple of his friends have done many all over the country. They certainly are a different breed. They have all the qualities that we anthropologists like to attribute to a “culture” – seemingly religious concern with physical wellness and personal achievement, camaraderie among fellow triathletes (in Overland Park they have a tight-knit group called “KC Multisport”), and frequent rituals (training and races) that serve to reinforce their beliefs and further define their community. So keeping all this in mind I accompanied my brother on a bike ride to gain a kernel of insight into one piece of the triathlon lifestyle.
After an initial learning curve, we were off (the funky handle bars and tiny peddles are a pain to get used to). The Encinitas/Leucadia/Carlsbad/Oceanside area pretty much has bike lanes every where you go which is super-convenient. We started pretty slow, getting passed by fellow bikers along the way (who always seemed to acknowledge our presence). My brother explained to me I should shift gears frequently in order to keep the same cadence in my legs the entire time. He also explained to me the correct positioning of my body which KILLED my perineum as well as the pad’s of my hands. Aside from the initial pain the whole experience was really enjoyable. When the bike lane eventually widened we rode side-by-side and talked about our recent move to SD, among other things. It was exhilarating to be coasting along with the cars, taking in the scenery around me, and doing it all on my own two legs. When we decided to turn around and head back we had a bit of a head wind which made the ride a little more difficult but just enough not to be impossible for my first ride. Indeed, my legs were numb when we finally got back, but it felt great. The endorphins were surging through my brain putting me in a state of mild bliss and the sense of personal accomplishment after riding 12 miles on my own two legs was satisfying.
Since I can work from home (if I ever get *absolute* confirmation that I can start working) I’m going to try and stay active, possibly through cycling. If that doesn’t work out I will fall back to my staple of running. My brother really seemed to enjoy the whole experience (as I would have expected – he’s been doing it for a long time). We stopped briefly along the way to take in the ocean and watch a few surfers who were hanging out with 4 or 5 dolphins that were riding the tide in. He told me that’s one of the reasons he loves riding, especially in the mountains or some place with beautiful scenery. You never know what you’re going to see. I couldn’t agree more… the ride yesterday was a lot of fun and I hope to continue my participant observation soon.
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May 6, 2008 at 3:48 am
· Filed under Uncategorized ·Tagged anthropology, review, sociology, structural power, television, The Wire
After reading a post on Savage Minds about how HBO’s The Wire might be ‘our best ethnographic text on the U.S. today’ I decided to check it out. I don’t typically watch TV let alone TV series, with the exception of a few choice shows, but I must say: The Wire is a masterpiece. It’s ability to weave such an intricate plot, be entertaining, and still accurately represent the reality of urban life and structural power is simply amazing. It’s refreshing to find a show crafted with such awareness and attention to detail (for example, the writers use a lot of contemporary slang, much of which is unique to the city of Baltimore, to enhance the shows realism).
I just started season 2 yesterday. Season 1 mostly focused on the Baltimore drug trade and black urban life (additionally, it seems that institutional bureaucracy, from the various police precincts to the catholic church is a common theme running throughout the entire show). Season 2 so far is focusing more on white urban life, in specific the lives of dock workers struggling to keep their jobs at one of the city’s deteriorating ports. To be honest, I found it hard to get into The Wire when I initially started watching it. The show is at times slow and methodical, building characters and situations in such a way as to heighten its realism. If you come from a habit of watching other more sensational shows like Nip/Tuck or CSI, it may take a few episodes to settle in – but it’s worth it. I wish I would have known about the show sooner. Coming from an anthropological perspective, it employs many of the themes common in Anthropology, such as Bourdieu’s various notions of capital and symbolic violence. The representation of structural power portrayed in many of the characters’ struggles with the various institutions within which they find themselves embedded is genuinely educational. I agree with many of the comments over @ Savage Minds that The Wire would be a nice addition to a course related to these themes (i.e. Anthropology, Sociology, etc).
It’s easy to see why many critics have claimed The Wire is the best TV series of all time. It’s a shame such a great show went under my radar for so long!
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April 25, 2008 at 2:41 am
· Filed under Uncategorized ·Tagged anthropology, cultural capital, interaction, job, sociology
I’ve spent most of today hashing out a resume for a potential job offer. From a list of achievements and relevant experience I made a while back, I constructed a one page textual representation of all the recognized cultural capital I’ve acquired over the years. Resumes have always been funny to me; why can’t you just give an interested employer a list of relevant experiences, activities, etc. and call it good? Why must there be such a science to creating a resume. I mean, I spent 30 minutes today talking to a campus employee whose sole job is to critique and give advice on constructing resumes and an hour or so more making sure my resume was juuuuust right. Do employers really care if your margins are off, if you write in complete sentences, or if you don’t use action verbs? Has anyone ever been given justification on why this is so? In addition to getting advice on my resume, I was also given an interview guide. I skimmed through it while walking home from campus figuring I might learn a thing or two. I was astonished by how precise the guide was with regard to behavior during an interview. It read as if it were some esoteric text revealing the all-powerful secrets of influencing employers in order to get the job you want. But aren’t the “secrets” known by everyone, thus rendering them no longer secrets? I read somewhere a while back, maybe in a Goffman text, that when you recognize and subsequently verbalize the structure of social interaction, it breaks down. What I took this to mean was that social interaction hides behind a degree of intuition and its best to keep it that way lest you botch the whole thing. It’s difficult, however, when you study anthropology as I do (or sociology) and your “job” is to analyze and pick apart these things; it can lead to some awkward social encounters! Eventually you learn (or at least I did) to keep your opinions inside in order to preserve the interaction. You turn yourself over to intuition and “feel” rather than “think” things out. Is this what we do in interviews and other strict social interactions? Do we all recognize the structure but choose to temporarily ignore it in order to preserve the interaction? I have an interview next Thursday… wish me luck on not over-analyzing the situation! 
Just some Thursday evening thoughts….
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April 18, 2008 at 9:57 pm
· Filed under Uncategorized ·Tagged anthropology, culture, education, rant, testing
What do you all think? I just finished taking a couple exams today and I noticed something: neither of them taught me anything (besides how to take tests and that there is always a correct answer). The common paradigm seems to assume that all learning takes place in the classroom before the exam and that test day is strictly for regurgitation of the material you learned before the exam; no learning should take place. You either know it or you don’t. And if you don’t, tough.
Personally, I think this method is counter-productive. I’ve taken classes where, although you needed to study, the exam questions were worded in such a way as to reinforce further learning of the material. If you don’t know the “answer” immediately, there are enough hints in the question to conjure up those hard-to-retrieve memories which leads to further rehearsal and ultimately better learning. Oddly enough, these exams were often the “easiest,” but I feel like I learned the most from them. It seems like “typical” exams reinforce argumentation and competition – a definite reflection of American culture (it probably extends beyond this). Is this beneficial? If our current testing method does indeed prepare us for a cultural environment characterized by argumentation and competition then perhaps the current method is the best, from a preparatory standpoint.
But I argue that a more cooperative format is more beneficial in the long run. I had a good conversation the other day about cultural differences in debate. One of my professors was talking about his friends in Papua New Guinea favor a more cooperative style of discourse. The simplicity of his example was perfect. Among his friends, first of all, direct confrontation or the display of an individual opinion is uncommon. Indirection seems to be more common. For instance, if there is a situation of A vs. B, each letter representing a difference in opinion, and B wants A to come over to the B side, B will exercise indirection and slowly try to convince A to come over to B. The whole process is slow, cooperative, and consensual. In contrast, here in the United States, we tend to have our opinions and stick to them. Recently we’ve seen such a display on television with the presidential candidates. Little to no effort is made to come to a consensus. It is always “I am right, you are wrong.” I question what the impact is of such binary, competitive discourse on American culture. Would a more cooperative, consensual discourse be better? I’m not trying to say that fixing our testing methods will magically transform the nature of political discourse, or any other discourse for that matter. But I think it’s worth considering and elucidating the relationships between these things…. what do you all think? Any thoughts about testing methods and how this influences/reflects American culture? Any ideas for change?
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April 17, 2008 at 3:47 am
· Filed under Uncategorized ·Tagged anthropology, grad school, media
Graduation is coming up mid-May and I couldn’t be more excited – and anxious. I am more than ready to take a hiatus from late night studying and test-taking, but the decisions that are going to be popping up soon after I graduate are going to be equally as stressful. My original plan was to take a year off from school, get some experience, relax a little, and center myself. Then, I’d take the GRE, apply to grad schools and (hopefully) start school again in August of 2009. I’ve been planning for 4 years to apply to Ph.D. track graduate programs in anthropology; however, this decision is slowly changing. It seems my primary interests lay with media and communications, which means it may be a better fit to apply to these programs rather than anthropology programs.
I’ve got some definite tension from this potential decision. Personally, I think they both go together beautifully – I mean, I learned about media ecology from my adviser here at K-State while studying anthropology. I even wrote my senior thesis with these two disciplines in mind and it proved to be a valuable combination for analysis. But, what bothers me is the exclusive tendencies of “separate” disciplines. I really value anthropological theory and the emphasis on ethnography and participant observation, and I was looking forward to honing in on this during grad school. I’m afraid I will lose this opportunity if I choose to study media and communications. I *love* anthropology; I think it’s valuable. Not to say studies of media and communication aren’t valuable. Indeed, I also think they are extremely important. But can’t I have the best of both worlds? So much potential for overlap exists between the two.
My adviser recommended I take a look at the graduate program at the Annenberg School of Communication at USC. As one option, they have a Ph.D. focus of media, culture, and communication. As a description:
The courses in this track provide an overview to theories of media studies, media effects and cultural studies, including both social science methodologies of media analysis and humanities theories of cultural analysis.
The area introduces students to a broad array of theories of media and culture that provide the basis for analyzing television, the Internet, new media forms, advertising and other cultural artifacts and events. We explore the production, reception and critique of visual culture in commercial, technological and popular forms. Analysis focuses on the production practices and consumption patterns of media within and across communities.
This sounds like a nice blend of anthropology and media studies. I plan to inquire some more… There’s also the Department of Communication and Media Studies at Fordham University, but I haven’t looked much into it. I’m not so sure about New York, but I don’t think I have any right to be picky. All I know is I want to incorporate anthropology with media studies… any recommendations?
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April 8, 2008 at 4:58 pm
· Filed under Uncategorized ·Tagged anthropology, education, media, wesch
My adviser, Michael Wesch, just published an insightful article about the state of education. I won’t go into terrible detail about it here. I’ll let you all read it for yourselves – it’s definitely worth it. He makes a poignant critique about the lack of vision and the overwhelming myopia that characterizes education today. Of course, I agree with him.
He introduced the provocative book Teaching as a Subversive Activity to me a couple of years ago and from there I’ve jumped head first into the world of media ecology. It couples very nicely with anthropology. Not to shamelessly inflate Wesch (he is deserving of it though), but the environment he creates in his classes is so effective in helping educe the potential in his students that I measure every class I take against his.
It amazes me when I enter a classroom environment that gives no indication of having changed in the past, hmm, decade? The addition of PowerPoint is hardly an exception when the professor reads from the slides; it’s just a visual representation of the notes she/he would use anyways. It in no way adds positively to the learning environment other than reducing spelling errors in the students’ notes. The emphasis here is heavily on content rather than form. Multimedia learning environments, in my experience and when used appropriately and effectively, are much better.
However, there is a continuum. Just using videos to use them doesn’t fly. Teachers should ask themselves “Can I express what I want to express better with video than by just saying it?” Each medium used in the classroom is better at conveying certain messages than others. For example, visual media are better at conveying emotions. They are more expressive. Text media are better at conveying information, facts, the raw material most teachers focus the most on. They are more informative (but this doesn’t mean they are the most important). This isn’t to mention the medium of the spoken word between not only the students and teacher but between the students themselves. I am a strong advocate of Wesch’s definition of teachers as co-learners. Teachers should be moderators, leaders, students; not lecturers. I think when teachers see themselves this way and begin practicing this behavior we will see a gradual flattening of the master/slave relationship that is implicit in many learning environments.
There is some great conversation going on about this topic over at mediatedcultures.net. Come share your thoughts!
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