a group blog on a variety of topics related to anthropology, sociology, and ordinary people
Since returning to Kigoma, Tanzania on the shores of Lake Tanganyika in central Africa for my Fulbright research, I have been looking for two of my Congolese friends. I was told that they crossed the Lake, and returned to two of the cities in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo to live– to be together with … Continue reading Rumba is good, even through war, through Ebola
In my Criminology class, I used to lecture about "ecological theories" of crime. For example, the "ecology of bars" lend themselves to violence. Basically, ecological theory says that if you put together young males, alcohol, and guns, someone is more likely to get hurt than if any one of the tree elements is removed. Remove … Continue reading Johnny Cash on the Importance of Listening to Your Mama about Open Carry of Guns
One of my favorite sociological essays is Teodor Adorno’s 1941 “On Popular Music.” Adorno didn’t much like the popular music he heard on the radio in Los Angeles, and said so. He found it simplistic, monotonous, limited and manipulative. With an emphasis on manipulative. For besides being a classically trained musician, Adorno was also a … Continue reading Here is Why You Should Not Listen to Popular Music–But Will Anyway!
Have you been watching the Breaking Bad prequel, Better Call Saul? I have and I love it. I swear, Vince Gilligan is a modern-day Rod Serling, nobody since Serling's Twilight Zone has been able to create a morality play like Mr. Gilligan and his crew (the general theme: "be careful what you wish for, you just might get it"). … Continue reading Money Changes Everything: The Ascent of Walter White
The Order of the Eternal Social Conscience, Part 4 A Ghostly Play in Five Acts Featuring Karl Marx, of London, England Max Weber, of Heidelberg, Germany Emile Durkheim of Paris, France W.E.B. DuBois of Atlanta, USA Special Guest Appearance Charles Dickens of London As Narrated to Jerri Bedwell of California, USA Part … Continue reading The Order of the Eternal Social Conscience, Part 4
The Order of the Eternal Social Conscience, Part 3 A Ghostly Play in Five Acts Featuring Karl Marx, of London, England Max Weber, of Heidelberg, Germany Emile Durkheim of Paris, France W.E.B. DuBois of Atlanta, USA Special Guest Appearance Charles Dickens of London As Narrated to Jerri Bedwell of California, USA … Continue reading The Order of the Eternal Social Conscience, Part 3
The Order of the Eternal Social Conscience, Part 2 A Ghostly Play in Five Acts Featuring Karl Marx, of London, England Max Weber, of Heidelberg, Germany Emile Durkheim of Paris, France W.E.B. DuBois of Atlanta, USA Special Guest Appearance Charles Dickens of London As Narrated to Jerri Bedwell of California, USA Part … Continue reading The Order of the Eternal Social Conscience, Part 2
The Order of the Eternal Social Conscience Part 2 is here A Ghostly Play in Five Acts Featuring Karl Marx, of London, England Max Weber, of Heidelberg, Germany Emile Durkheim of Paris, France W.E.B. DuBois of Atlanta, USA Special Guest Appearance Charles Dickens of London As Narrated to Jerri Bedwell of California, USA … Continue reading The Order of the Eternal Social Conscience, Part I
It's Monday and I don't know what you did this weekend but I finished one book (Americanah) and started another (Descent). Since I quit teaching, reading has returned as my favorite thing to do. I always had the time but never took it, something about the frenzy of teaching that made it so I could … Continue reading The Best Book of the 21st Century (so far)
By Guest Writer: David Van Huff In passing, I met a hypothetical man some years back who laid claim to a tale within a tale, which has forever changed the way I think about a classic story from the past. For those of you who have heard the story the A Christmas Carol (Dickens, 1843) … Continue reading A Tale Within a Tale: The Dual Nature of Ebenezer Scrooge
"I did it for me. I liked it. I was good at it, and I was alive.” –W.W. I had to wait until the finale of Breaking Bad but at last, Walter White admitted that he was in to the meth cooking for the money. I’ve been frustrated since season 3, by that time the whole, … Continue reading Money Changes Everything: The Ascent of Walter White
Jodi Foster is one. She seems normal because she aggressively stays out of the public eye. This is interesting given that Howards Huges self-imposed isolation was seen as anything but normal. On the other hand, that seems to have been borne out. Lately I have been reading the blog WWdN: In Exile. This is the … Continue reading I like celebrities that turn out to be, well… normal.