Any anthropologists out there?

[ellen_kushner]

After 3 days of intense & furious editing of everyone else's Bordertown stories, I am now working on my own. My character is a grad student in cultural anthropology, who had the bright idea of going to B'town to do field work among the elves (or Truebloods, as they call themselves).  Ideally he'd go right into the Realm, but of course no human can

Comments

[stevendj]

No idea what a typical anthropology thesis topic is like. How about inheritance customs?

[eila]

I'd like to share ideas, but since I'm writing a story about an anthropologist who is an elf, I can't really share her theses with you. ^_^

(Came here via damasthia)

[eila]

Actually, just think of your own favorite topics to read/write in Anthropology and apply them to working in the field. A decent ethnography can go a long way. The character I'm working with is primarily focused on linguistics and mythology.

If you're into bio-anth, you could go along the bent of their systems of healing?

[barondave]

Coming of Age in Bordertown

An Examination of The Silencing And It's Effect On Diffusion vs. Cultural Invention Disparities

Symbolism in Bordertown's Institutions

[heavenscalyx]

Symbolism in Bordertown's Institutions

I suspect that would be "Semiotics".

[ellen_kushner]

Remember I gotta understand this well enough to fake this myself!

[khraesch]

Fortunately, you can rest easy. You don't have to write work *on* the topic. You merely have to write work *about* the topic.

Obviously, you know enough about the topic. But a layman reader is more interested about how the characters deal with the subject matter than the matter itself. :-)

Does that make sense? I hope so!

[ellen_kushner]

yes & no. I do need to come up with some believable-sounding questions for him to ask the Bordertown elves (which they will invariably find offensive, intrusive & ill-bred).

Am I right in thinking that he needs to have a Thesis Topic, or is it enough for him to be doing fieldwork & hoping for something he'll be able to write up?

[movingfinger]

Then go at it from the other side. What would it be offensive, intrusive, and ill-bred to ask about? Sex? Money? Death? Marriage? etc. etc.

Personally, I'd write this with the guy having the wrong end of the stick about some push-button issue (say, incest!) and the elves deciding to take the piss out of him by feeding him a long, long line of sensationalist rubbish. (Think Margaret Mead.)

[ellen_kushner]

I'm already there! The comedy will be in his endlessly trying to make it work, and constantly getting jerked around by them one way and another. He's got just a few more weeks before he has to go home, and he still hasn't got (his data? his thesis?)....

[sinboy]

"War and Violent Conflict Among the Elves". Sort of the same type of study that's done on how war works on native tribes in Africa, Pacific Islanders and South America.

Or "Myths of the Elven People". Because everyone knows gods are mythical, right? (heh)

[tournevis]

I can support the first suggestion, though I'd add a gendred aspect. Something like "Gendered ritual violence and war-making among the Truebloods (Elves)"

[ellen_kushner]

Cute! But it has to fit with the Bordertown canon (see my link, above, and also:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Borderland_Series
)

[redbird]

If he's a gormless grad student who doesn't know much about elves or anthropology, the topic/title doesn't have to fit with the canon: you could play with them dealing with this clueless git who is asking them questions about why they have a council of elders when everyone knows that it's an absolute monarchy chosen by lottery (or the other way around).