Anthropology Times

Letters to My Tutor…

My dearest Simone,

Before moving to California I had never had the experience of anyone assuming that I lived somewhere along the spectrum of either being in agreement with or in strident opposition to the traditional housewife paradigm and that my position along that spectrum dictated all my interactions with women and men. These novel experiences have left me with an even greater appreciation of my first anthropology professor. She seemed to have an understanding that when she spoke of her experience as a middle class white woman, she was not speaking on behalf of the experience of all women. More specifically she said that as a middle class white woman, she had great difficulty conceiving of a woman who grew up outside the housewife paradigm. In the next couple of weeks, I will speak some of my experiences with people, social scientists included, who appear to have the same difficulty as my first anthropology professor, but don’t show any awareness of that fact.

I had written quite a bit more, but it became clear that I would not finish tonight.

Until next week then,
S.

Letters to My Tutor…

My dearest Simone,

I grew up in a economically poor, “culturally rich” area, the Mississippi Delta. Social scientists and aid workers often visited this area and they were most often white and middle class. And sometimes they were also racist. And it was uncomfortable, to say the least, to interact with racist people who were in the midst of performing work or providing services that could be helpful. Of course there were also many wonderful people doing excellent work, but the overall feeling was one of suspicion from both black and white residents of the Delta.

The thing I want to mention at the moment is that often the white, middle class social scientists/aid workers seemed to think it a mystery which among them were considered racist. And I don’t know whether it was they didn’t understand that their behaviors were different or whether they did not view the differences as significant. Some were mean or grouchy, but not racist. Some were very uncomfortable being around so many black people for the first time, but not racist. Even I find it easier to say what was not racist. My more recent experiences with social scientists/aid workers have reminded me of this dynamic.

I’m searching for a way to speak about my experience in a manner that is thoughtful and instructive. The experiences in my home area, my own as well as the stories of the experiences of others, definitely shade my thinking about social science and social scientists, and believe it’s important to explore this more as I continue to consider further study in social science. More on this next week.

My warmest regards,

S.

Letters to My Tutor…

My dearest Simone,

I haven’t had a chance to start my anthropology lectures as of yet. I do hope to be caught up and into a more regular routine with my classes (chemistry, chemistry lab, and precalculus) by the beginning of next week. I continue to learn things about my study habits and abilities such as I can do my math well while more tired than I can do chemistry. I’m making adjustments.

While browsing around for female chemists for a report, I came across a black, female chemist and anthropologist, Eslanda Goode Robeson (1896-1965). She received a B. S. in chemistry from Columbia University, and later a degree in anthropology from the London School of Economics . She engaged in extensive research in Africa and she lived for a long period in the Soviet Union. My local library has a copy of one of her books, African Journey. I will add it to that list of books that hopefully I’ll get around to soon.

Yours truly,

S.

Letters to My Tutor…

My dearest Simone,

I’ve been preparing for a small grouping of exams, and time has been short. I find that I’m still more confident as far as my math studying abilities than my chemistry study skill. I believe the fact that many of my family members were were math positive when I was growing up helps on this front. My mother used to make a game of adding up the checkout cost in the grocery store. If she were off by any noticeable amount, it usually meant there was some checkout mistake. Simple lessons like these in the usefulness of very basic math seems to have cemented a lifelong math positive attitude for me.

With that, I must get back to studying chemistry.

Yours,

S.