last week's radio silence was brought to you by:
The Society for Anthropology of Consciousness, whose annual spring conference was last week and weekend in the lovely setting of Asilomar. I had long contemplated posting something about this conference before it actually happened, but figured that of my known readers who might be interested in such goings on, and actually likely to make the haul down there, the only person I was sure would be into it was already planning to be there. If I was wrong in that assessment, do let me know and I'll try to be more attentive to such promotional notes in the future.
On that note, had a lovely--if rather rainy--ride down with panshiva, with whom I shared several fascinating and edifying conversations about Western Esotericism and Thelema et al, which seem to be ever growing nodes in my fields of observation and interest, even if I still find that approach somehow alien. And, as seems to be the case with me these days wherever I go, I discovered more Feri folk (who also happen to be livejournal folk--hello tyrsalvia and metaphorge). Funny old world, that.
I spent the first couple mornings holed up in my room, or rather on the porch just outside my room, toiling on away on the dross into gold project, and made, I think, some good progress. Must find more opportunities and locales for writing retreats.
As to the conference itself, just a few quick notes: my Rev. Billy paper was a hit, which bodes well for the more refined version planned for this fall. Lawrence B., one of the new-young-turks on the SAC scene, brought us a brilliant paper and panel on Hunter S. Thompson's legacy for ethnographers and consciousness studies. Andrei V.'s digitally delivered presentation--apparently "homeland security" now means that Russian scholars living and working in Canada might not be able to get a visa to come down to the U.S., invitation to speak be damned--was simply stunning: a cleverly irreverent deconstruction of "the anthropology of consciousness" which I cannot do justice to here, complete with strange spinning/singing pink plastic "shamanic devices."
Matt Bronson's presentation on "Reading and Writing Consciousness: How ESL Graduate Students Construct Knowledge and Identity" made me want to take another class with him (Language and Consciousness 10 years ago was one of the best I had at CIIS). His insights on education as a process of identity change, helping students face and overcome their self-imposed limitations by setting appropriate contexts and models for learning, and the importance of praising the performer not the performance in giving feedback could be extremely helpful in my work at Chabot, and beyond. And there were interesting parallels too with Larissa C.'s paper on the "Body of Knowledge: Choosing the School of Hard Knocks... and Slaps and Spanks"--learning can be painful, but ultimately liberating.
I could say much more on other interesting panels and topics, but these were the main highlights for me. SAC is, as you might guess by now, a decidedly oddball and academically diverse group, but this renders it a wonderful space to try out new material and explore strange ideas. It has been a great place for me to cut my academic teeth, as it were, even as I now find myself largely moving on from more active involvement with SAC. And it was affirming to notice this weekend that I've really arrived at another level of confidence and clarity in my own work.
Finally, R and I took the opportunity to head down to one of my favorite places on the planet for lunch yesterday. Must go back again soon for a longer and sunnier visit.
On that note, had a lovely--if rather rainy--ride down with panshiva, with whom I shared several fascinating and edifying conversations about Western Esotericism and Thelema et al, which seem to be ever growing nodes in my fields of observation and interest, even if I still find that approach somehow alien. And, as seems to be the case with me these days wherever I go, I discovered more Feri folk (who also happen to be livejournal folk--hello tyrsalvia and metaphorge). Funny old world, that.
I spent the first couple mornings holed up in my room, or rather on the porch just outside my room, toiling on away on the dross into gold project, and made, I think, some good progress. Must find more opportunities and locales for writing retreats.
As to the conference itself, just a few quick notes: my Rev. Billy paper was a hit, which bodes well for the more refined version planned for this fall. Lawrence B., one of the new-young-turks on the SAC scene, brought us a brilliant paper and panel on Hunter S. Thompson's legacy for ethnographers and consciousness studies. Andrei V.'s digitally delivered presentation--apparently "homeland security" now means that Russian scholars living and working in Canada might not be able to get a visa to come down to the U.S., invitation to speak be damned--was simply stunning: a cleverly irreverent deconstruction of "the anthropology of consciousness" which I cannot do justice to here, complete with strange spinning/singing pink plastic "shamanic devices."
Matt Bronson's presentation on "Reading and Writing Consciousness: How ESL Graduate Students Construct Knowledge and Identity" made me want to take another class with him (Language and Consciousness 10 years ago was one of the best I had at CIIS). His insights on education as a process of identity change, helping students face and overcome their self-imposed limitations by setting appropriate contexts and models for learning, and the importance of praising the performer not the performance in giving feedback could be extremely helpful in my work at Chabot, and beyond. And there were interesting parallels too with Larissa C.'s paper on the "Body of Knowledge: Choosing the School of Hard Knocks... and Slaps and Spanks"--learning can be painful, but ultimately liberating.
I could say much more on other interesting panels and topics, but these were the main highlights for me. SAC is, as you might guess by now, a decidedly oddball and academically diverse group, but this renders it a wonderful space to try out new material and explore strange ideas. It has been a great place for me to cut my academic teeth, as it were, even as I now find myself largely moving on from more active involvement with SAC. And it was affirming to notice this weekend that I've really arrived at another level of confidence and clarity in my own work.
Finally, R and I took the opportunity to head down to one of my favorite places on the planet for lunch yesterday. Must go back again soon for a longer and sunnier visit.