Anthropology Times

I hope to return sometime this year.  I’ve been writing some, but not publishing.  And, I’ve been moving forward on interviewing and making videos.  I’ve had busy semesters and the current one is no exception, but I will squeeze in the time for a post or two.

It seems that my mind and body determined that I needed a more substantial break, so I’ve been doing some reading.  About a week ago I finished Richard Wright’s Black Boy.  I made some notes comparing Wright’s Mississippi to the Mississippi in which I grew up.  I also found comfort in some of the parallels between Wright’s experience of moving from the south to Chicago and mine moving from the south to California.  I’m still working through some thoughts on this, but I will definitely post something.

I’m almost done with the redesign of this site.  I hope to finish this week.  And though I didn’t get in my first interview in July, I am still working on that.

So, new things coming soon.

Letters to My Tutor…

My dearest Simone,

Taking the week off… well, not really.  I’m working on the re-design of this site and a couple others.

Will be back next in a few weeks.

Cheers,
S

Letters to My Tutor…

My dearest Simone,

In reading Brackette Williams, in reading through her interviews, I am struck by the fact that she does not at all write/speak in ordered lists. She speaks in layers. She speaks with context. In answering questions it is as if she is all at once several entities inhabiting the sphere surrounding a topic. In an interview (Categories are alive: interview with Brackette F. Williams) she says, “we all already know you can’t make objectivity, rather you can make all kinds of objectivities – just get enough people in a room.” I read this and thought that it echoed this thinking I was having about how Williams writes. I’ve been listening to lectures on literature, on the American novel, and I smiled at the thought that this woman writes anthropology like someone who reads literature and loves literature. She illuminates. I’ve been listening to the Open Yale course, The American Novel Since 1945 with Professor Amy Hungerford, and the novel at the moment is Flannery O’Connor’s Wise Blood.  At the close of the last lecture, Professor Hungerford brought attention to how O’Connor’s writing is filled with body parts. A character looks through a window and sees a knee, a hand reaches through a car window, etc… I thought, too, that this speaks to my impressions of how Williams writes/speaks. I have the second lecture on O’Connor still. I am curious as to Professor Hungerford’s discussion of body parts in O’Connor and how that discussion might help me better read Williams.

More next time…

Yours ever,
S.

Letters to My Tutor…

My dearest Simone,

I’m working my way through the article I chose, but it’s taking longer than expected. I continue to refine what I can get done over the summer. I’ve been plugging away at multiple projects – mostly trying to get the projects outlined and started so that I will have well-structured distractions for those times during the next semester that I don’t want to do math or chemistry but need to stay in study mode.

I’ve been listening to online lectures in various subjects including anthropology, and that’s helping me come up with a more workable study plan and reading list. I’ve lost a bit of focus with my anthropology studies, but I’m working myself back to a more defined path.

Yours,
S.

Letters to My Tutor…

My dearest Simone,

I didn’t plan to post this week, but I had a quick note. If I get any takers, I will volunteer to tutor someone in chemistry and/or precalculus next semester. And in addition to the tutoring, I may be able to provide some math/physical science culture guidance. As regards both my professors, I felt very much like I recognized the types of teachers they were (demanding, but fair). However, reading through their reviews, I was left with the impression that many students may have misinterpreted some behaviors because they were unfamiliar with math/physical science culture.

For example, my first couple chemistry labs, I was feeling hesitant and unsure. I noticed that other students were asking to have their work checked in a certain way and I figured I would ask, too. I immediately recognized the tone, look, body language of my professor’s response to me. It was a vote of confidence that I could figure that out on my own. Reading through her reviews I got the impression that many students may have misinterpreted similar responses, and as a result felt more discouraged than warranted. I may be able to assist someone in clearing such hurdles.

And that’s the end of my quick note…

Yours truly,
S.

A Class Act: Anthropology and the Race to Nation Across Ethnic Terrain
Annual Review of Anthropology
Vol. 18: 401-444 (Volume publication date October 1989)
B F Williams
In lieu of an abstract, the publisher reproduces the first page of the article. (Link)

Letters to My Tutor…

My dearest Simone,

It’s quite a different experience to read peer-reviewed anthropology/social science articles than it is to read social science articles produced for or by mass media outlets. I started to read “A Class Act” and I thought articles like these form the basis for falling in love with anthropology. Though all my anthropology professors have seemed well-educated, I also came across anthropologists/social scientists who seemed at best to have been educated at Mass Media U; and that was disheartening. Sometimes it seems like bad social science is winning.

I am excited to finish the current article and comment. With my new schedule it will take me a couple weeks to do so which means it will likely be a couple weeks before I post again. (I’ve had to make some tough decisions about what I can realistically get done over the summer.) Just tonight I learned that the author is a black (African-American) woman. I’ve found a couple interviews of her and will include the links along with comments when I post. Often I look up the author as I start to read an article, but this time I was away from the computer. She speaks in one of the interviews on what attracted her to anthropology and I’m especially interested in reading that.

I do still believe math/physical science culture is a better fit for me. I felt at home during my first semester of math and chemistry (and I made A’s!) , and I feel especially compelled to take more math. I do continue to look for intersections between physics and anthropology…

Yours ever,
S.

Letters to My Tutor…

My dearest Simone,

It’s been a little over two years since the death of my good friend and it’s starting to be/to feel that he is dead in the way that my (paternal) grandmother is dead, in the way that my great-grandmother is dead. It’s not exactly the same; it’s as if he’s just crossed over a threshold, and time is no longer out of joint. The elements have done their work. The pain is less sharp when I pass his building and in its place there is a warmer, deeper feeling, a more than (>).

It’s not as though I frequently engaged in fantasy that he was secretly still alive, but still I feel as though I’ve given up on that in a way that leads me to believe that I did engage that fantasy on a subconscious level. It’s a matter of going from that sense of “I wish I could tell him this or that” to a sense of his being part of that cosmic consciousness that knows.

I can’t immediately outline the cultural model guiding my thoughts and feelings on death. That’s to say that these transitions in my thinking about my friend’s death are not part of any conscious belief system. I feel as though I’m observing my family, my small Mississippi Delta town, my Southern community in my thinking on death.

My best regards,
S.

Letters to My Tutor…

My dearest Simone,

I’ve decided to start interviews in July. I haven’t set an exact date. I see starting interviews as part of the transition toward a more magazine-styled site as opposed to just a blog. I’m still in the process of determining reasonable goals for the summer given all the things that I would like to do. While I expect a productivity boost over the summer given the improvements to my time management and study skills over the past semester, there are still only so many weeks available. The manner in which this past week seemed to just fly by highlighted the need for a more structured schedule.

I have several unfinished blog posts and I’ve read a few articles that I found interesting, so I may do a mid-week update.

We’ll see,
S.

Letters to My Tutor…

My dearest Simone,

It’s been a while since the post on soda drinking. I feel a bit removed from that discussion at the moment, but I will say a few things. The white people in group one could only socialize with black people who agreed that white culture defined normal or certainly that white norms superseded nonwhite norms. It appears that in California, propaganda surrounding immigration issues strongly encourages this view.

It’s unlikely that I will take classes over the summer, so I hope to interview people about their cross-cultural experiences here in California. I will be thinking about my minimum goals on that front (Conduct X number of interviews over the summer — that sort of thing). I’ll talk some more about my experiences in Mississippi, too.

This past week I’ve been lost in thought about my most recent semester of study and planning my summer math and chemistry review and kick start for the next semester.  I should have more to say on this topic soon, too!

Yours ever,
S.