Much of the conversation about who is an anthropologist is about the appropriateness of “secret” research. Currently the stance of many anthropologists and the AAA code of ethics is that no professional anthropologist should engage in secret research. This means you should avoid research were the data and analysis cannot be openly scrutinized by your peers. (Please see my previous entry, were I agree that the field of anthropology has not always been a paragon of ethical behavior.)…
I’m anthropologist. No you’re not. Yes I am (repeat as needed)
Its amazing how otherwise bright people can spend a goofy amount of energy trying to determine just who is in the tribe of anthropology and who is not. It’s not that I object to keeping an eye the quality of the profession, I am all for it. My own little corner of the anthropology world is chock-full of dreadful charlatans that believe Ethnography is as easy as mashing the record button on a video camera and asking inept questions.…
Trip to Northern India!
This is my grand test of using YouTube to embed video into my blog. Tell me what you think!
Blog Disclaimer. I will often go back to entries to make edits or clarify points. If I am changing my point of view, that will be a new entry.
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No, I have never dug up a dinosaur… ever.
When someone asks what I do, I usually tell them I am an anthropologist that helps companies find new opportunities for growth and strategic direction. This is most often followed by them asking: “That sounds really interesting. How does digging up dinosaur bones help a company find new opportunities?” It comes from a common misunderstanding: There are four different kinds of anthropologists: I am a cultural anthropologist (I talk to live people), rather than an archeologist (dig up people and objects).…
“Quick, look over there. No, don’t stare Dammit!”
These are the hushed tones of people celebrity watching. Someone in my office was recently talking about an experience a friend had seeing a celebrity in “real life” Having lived in LA for a bit, I can tell you that few are immune to the odd other-world feeling of seeing someone famous in the flesh. But why do we get those feelings, these are people with jobs and in some cases apparently serious personal issues.…
Clifford J. Geertz 1926 – 2006
The news is flashing around that Dr. Clifford Geertz has passed on, for his biography and information on recent research, please click on his name to go to the Institute for Advanced Study website.
As with many of my peers, I went to graduate school during a time when you rarely handed in an essay that did not make some reference to Geertz and/or the Balinese Cockfight and deep play.…
The New Atheists invent hell
This month in Wired there is an article called “The Church of The Non-Believers.” Written by Gary Wolf, he seeks out the people he believes are making the most cogent arguments for atheism. He speaks with people such as Richard Dawkins, Sam Harris, Daniel Dennett. Unfortunately it is a piece that speaks more too bigotry cloaked in scientific rhetoric. The core of the “new atheist”, and I am not sure how new this really is, is more than simply that there is no God.…