(no subject)
I've been reading here for a bit, I suppose perhaps I should add to the content.
It used to be, Livejournal was about prognosticating, describing, telling and hoping. Now it's so much more reflective. I don't come to lj to let people know what's going on, or what will go on, but to see what happened. The source itself has become the archive.
What, then, remains to be said?
I'm going to Mexico again this summer. From the first week of June until mid-July. I'm supposed to be writing out grant proposals as we speak, ah yes lj, still perfect for periods of procrastination.
My first week will be spent brushing up on my Spanish... I definitely need that. I'll be in Piste again, near the site of Chichen Itza. After that, I'll be travelling in the Yucatan peninsula, checking out other sites of Maya ruins, probably Coba and Tulum, and the villages and towns nearby.
Anthropology, as an academic discipline, has a variety of methodologies. Current buzzwords are power, agency, and positionality. People have a general idea of what 'power' is (although explaining it outright is another thing entirely). Agency refers to the capacity of an individual to act independently, often in contrast to structures (policies, gender constructs, religion). Positionality is the idea that one must position themselves within the work that they produce.
Tourism, globalization, and development are buzzwords within Anthropology and most of the social sciences and humanities. What is interesting to me is the ways in which indigenous populations (what exactly that means is another complex discussion) relate to the commercial development of tourism in and near their hometowns.
It's difficult to place myself within that study, and this is one of my current struggles with the idea of anthropological fieldwork. I'm a middle-class white guy from Michigan, and the notion of me using my racial and class advantages to pursue a study of those in areas that are less "advanced" or "developed" or what have you, seems entirely colonial - very much a problem of early anthropology.
However, through spending time with people, my identity grows to include more than simply middle-class white guy from Michigan. I have become friends with people in Piste, and that goes far beyond the generality of acquaintance oriented research. The tools of anthropology will (hopefully) make one ready to understand the systematicity of a culture in a broad, overarching sense, both through removed observation of the parts, and also with careful consideration of the individual.
People discuss important issues much differently with a friend than they do in formal interviews. Is there something more "real" or "authentic" or "significant" in this type of language and interaction? I would certainly argue that so much is true.
I suppose what I'm really after than, is a more complete, if not truer understanding of the way in which sites of important cultural heritage are transferred to national patrimony and later to world tourism, and what that means for those who may more closely interpret the sites at a basic level.
It used to be, Livejournal was about prognosticating, describing, telling and hoping. Now it's so much more reflective. I don't come to lj to let people know what's going on, or what will go on, but to see what happened. The source itself has become the archive.
What, then, remains to be said?
I'm going to Mexico again this summer. From the first week of June until mid-July. I'm supposed to be writing out grant proposals as we speak, ah yes lj, still perfect for periods of procrastination.
My first week will be spent brushing up on my Spanish... I definitely need that. I'll be in Piste again, near the site of Chichen Itza. After that, I'll be travelling in the Yucatan peninsula, checking out other sites of Maya ruins, probably Coba and Tulum, and the villages and towns nearby.
Anthropology, as an academic discipline, has a variety of methodologies. Current buzzwords are power, agency, and positionality. People have a general idea of what 'power' is (although explaining it outright is another thing entirely). Agency refers to the capacity of an individual to act independently, often in contrast to structures (policies, gender constructs, religion). Positionality is the idea that one must position themselves within the work that they produce.
Tourism, globalization, and development are buzzwords within Anthropology and most of the social sciences and humanities. What is interesting to me is the ways in which indigenous populations (what exactly that means is another complex discussion) relate to the commercial development of tourism in and near their hometowns.
It's difficult to place myself within that study, and this is one of my current struggles with the idea of anthropological fieldwork. I'm a middle-class white guy from Michigan, and the notion of me using my racial and class advantages to pursue a study of those in areas that are less "advanced" or "developed" or what have you, seems entirely colonial - very much a problem of early anthropology.
However, through spending time with people, my identity grows to include more than simply middle-class white guy from Michigan. I have become friends with people in Piste, and that goes far beyond the generality of acquaintance oriented research. The tools of anthropology will (hopefully) make one ready to understand the systematicity of a culture in a broad, overarching sense, both through removed observation of the parts, and also with careful consideration of the individual.
People discuss important issues much differently with a friend than they do in formal interviews. Is there something more "real" or "authentic" or "significant" in this type of language and interaction? I would certainly argue that so much is true.
I suppose what I'm really after than, is a more complete, if not truer understanding of the way in which sites of important cultural heritage are transferred to national patrimony and later to world tourism, and what that means for those who may more closely interpret the sites at a basic level.