The Anthropological Defender Defends his Anthropology Tooth and Nail
I have officially passed the oral defense of my thesis. I arrived a half-hour early to set up my nifty (though hastily prepared) powerpoint presentation. I rehearsed my presentation and then my two committee members arrived (the third is out of town for the summer). We all said hello and I was asked to leave. I paced the hallway for about seven or eight minutes and then was asked back in and told to start my presentation. I do my presentation, which was very well visually aided and evenly paced, not rushed. My committee members didn't seem very interested until the pretty pictures came on the screen, then they perked right up and got actively involved. After the presentation there was a 2 hour long game of question and answer. Some of the questions were designed to get me to elaborate on the thesis points, others were more like an oral examination: "According to Victor Turner, what is a dominant ritual symbol and what are its characteristics?" "What is the theoretical framework of cognitive anthropology?" Other questions were rather odd, "Why don't you like Valerio Valeri?" As well as seeminly trite requests: "You shouldn't use the term 'function' because it makes me think of 'functionalism.' This request in particular was replied to by the other committee member saying "What's wrong with functionalism? I like functionalism!"
After this very long game I was asked to wait in the hall while they discussed me and my thesis further. Ten minutes later I was asked back in and congratulated on passing the defense. We all shook hands and smiled and relaxed and sat down so they could tell me I have to rework several key aspects of the thesis to make it more than merely passable. The changes, I have been assured, will make the thesis a significant contribution to the existing literature and Anthropology as a whole. The suck part of all this is that the changes will take me about two weeks since work takes up from 5am to 630pm of every weekday. My head committee member leaves for Thailand next week. So she won't be able to read it until late August, which is too late to turn it in to the grad school for Summer graduation. So I won't actually graduate until December. But they reiterated that I defended it very well and won't have to do that step again. They also said that they really enjoyed the thesis and think it is a very important topic which is more complex than most master's theses. So yay! Then they took me out to lunch.
Interesting note: At lunch, I was told that my museum display on Indonesian cemeteries and tombs, which was in Cole Hall, had made the front pages of several Indonesian newspapers (with pictures) after the shooting at NIU. I also found out that a few Chicago papers featured it in their stories of the shooting. While I am excited that it got so much exposure, it's not exactly what I had in mind. I was hoping for more the "amazingly educational and fun" exposure rather than the "creepy irony" exposure. I am conflicted as to whether or not to draw attention to this exposure in my resume. I'm leaning heavily towards not, but maybe I can slip it into the interview? Is it too morbid? Too soon? Too soon.
After this very long game I was asked to wait in the hall while they discussed me and my thesis further. Ten minutes later I was asked back in and congratulated on passing the defense. We all shook hands and smiled and relaxed and sat down so they could tell me I have to rework several key aspects of the thesis to make it more than merely passable. The changes, I have been assured, will make the thesis a significant contribution to the existing literature and Anthropology as a whole. The suck part of all this is that the changes will take me about two weeks since work takes up from 5am to 630pm of every weekday. My head committee member leaves for Thailand next week. So she won't be able to read it until late August, which is too late to turn it in to the grad school for Summer graduation. So I won't actually graduate until December. But they reiterated that I defended it very well and won't have to do that step again. They also said that they really enjoyed the thesis and think it is a very important topic which is more complex than most master's theses. So yay! Then they took me out to lunch.
Interesting note: At lunch, I was told that my museum display on Indonesian cemeteries and tombs, which was in Cole Hall, had made the front pages of several Indonesian newspapers (with pictures) after the shooting at NIU. I also found out that a few Chicago papers featured it in their stories of the shooting. While I am excited that it got so much exposure, it's not exactly what I had in mind. I was hoping for more the "amazingly educational and fun" exposure rather than the "creepy irony" exposure. I am conflicted as to whether or not to draw attention to this exposure in my resume. I'm leaning heavily towards not, but maybe I can slip it into the interview? Is it too morbid? Too soon? Too soon.