Comments on: Great Diagrams in Anthropology: Mary Douglas Edition http://savageminds.org/2007/06/04/great-diagrams-in-anthropology-mary-douglas-edition/ Notes and Queries in Anthropology — A Group Blog Mon, 22 Mar 2010 02:31:17 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.2 hourly 1 By: Erkan's field diary http://savageminds.org/2007/06/04/great-diagrams-in-anthropology-mary-douglas-edition/comment-page-1/#comment-104578 Erkan's field diary Fri, 13 Jul 2007 13:47:58 +0000 http://savageminds.org/2007/06/04/great-diagrams-in-anthropology-mary-douglas-edition/#comment-104578 Prof. Fischer is in town!...  One of the professors I most admire in the discipline of anthropology is in Istanbul! I had the pleasure to meet with Prof Michael Fischer and we have even been to the opening ceremony of Santral Istanbul. Former power plant...... Prof. Fischer is in town!…

 One of the professors I most admire in the discipline of anthropology is in Istanbul! I had the pleasure to meet with Prof Michael Fischer and we have even been to the opening ceremony of Santral Istanbul. Former power plant……

]]> By: strong http://savageminds.org/2007/06/04/great-diagrams-in-anthropology-mary-douglas-edition/comment-page-1/#comment-80999 strong Tue, 05 Jun 2007 09:03:21 +0000 http://savageminds.org/2007/06/04/great-diagrams-in-anthropology-mary-douglas-edition/#comment-80999 Thank you for the story about Mary in Chicago. I find that really fascinating. Imagine how anthropological history might have changed if Douglas had been hired. Or, imagine this, if *both* Douglas and Munn had been hired. Thank you for the story about Mary in Chicago. I find that really fascinating. Imagine how anthropological history might have changed if Douglas had been hired. Or, imagine this, if *both* Douglas and Munn had been hired.

]]> By: srude http://savageminds.org/2007/06/04/great-diagrams-in-anthropology-mary-douglas-edition/comment-page-1/#comment-80630 srude Mon, 04 Jun 2007 16:32:47 +0000 http://savageminds.org/2007/06/04/great-diagrams-in-anthropology-mary-douglas-edition/#comment-80630 The meaning is the divisions and categories expressed. The meaning is the divisions and categories expressed.

]]> By: Bookbinder http://savageminds.org/2007/06/04/great-diagrams-in-anthropology-mary-douglas-edition/comment-page-1/#comment-80613 Bookbinder Mon, 04 Jun 2007 15:46:29 +0000 http://savageminds.org/2007/06/04/great-diagrams-in-anthropology-mary-douglas-edition/#comment-80613 Strong’s comment about Douglas’s deciphering a meal reminded me of a talk she gave to the anthropology department at the University of Chicago in the early-mid 70s, when I was a graduate student there. The department had recently lost its only female faculty member, and was bringing in notable women anthropologists in an effort to find a good colleague of the right gender. Douglas gave a talk, entitled “The Meaning of Meals” or something quite similar, drawing upon her work on meals and eating in the U.K. She offered a compelling analysis of the structure of meals, persuading us all that meals did, in fact, have structure, but at the end of the presentation Michael Silverstein quickly raised the question – what, exactly, was the “meaning” alluded to in her title? Douglas was notably thrown by the question, and seemed not to have given the issue of “meaning” much thought. After hemming and hawing for a few minutes, she finally concluded, rather weakly, that the “meaning” was that this event was, in the end, a “meal.” Someone scoffed that this was a fairly over-determined meaning, but Douglas was unable to offer much more. Many of us assumed that her failure to get a job offer was due, in part at least, to her poor performance with that question – though I have to confess that I was not privy to the smoked-filled room deliberations. Nancy Munn was ultimately hired. And I should add that I am reporting the recollections of a grad student more than 30 years later – all of the usual qualifications apply.... Strong’s comment about Douglas’s deciphering a meal reminded me of a talk she gave to the anthropology department at the University of Chicago in the early-mid 70s, when I was a graduate student there. The department had recently lost its only female faculty member, and was bringing in notable women anthropologists in an effort to find a good colleague of the right gender. Douglas gave a talk, entitled “The Meaning of Meals” or something quite similar, drawing upon her work on meals and eating in the U.K. She offered a compelling analysis of the structure of meals, persuading us all that meals did, in fact, have structure, but at the end of the presentation Michael Silverstein quickly raised the question – what, exactly, was the “meaning” alluded to in her title? Douglas was notably thrown by the question, and seemed not to have given the issue of “meaning” much thought. After hemming and hawing for a few minutes, she finally concluded, rather weakly, that the “meaning” was that this event was, in the end, a “meal.” Someone scoffed that this was a fairly over-determined meaning, but Douglas was unable to offer much more. Many of us assumed that her failure to get a job offer was due, in part at least, to her poor performance with that question – though I have to confess that I was not privy to the smoked-filled room deliberations. Nancy Munn was ultimately hired. And I should add that I am reporting the recollections of a grad student more than 30 years later – all of the usual qualifications apply….

]]> By: John McCreery http://savageminds.org/2007/06/04/great-diagrams-in-anthropology-mary-douglas-edition/comment-page-1/#comment-80610 John McCreery Mon, 04 Jun 2007 15:30:34 +0000 http://savageminds.org/2007/06/04/great-diagrams-in-anthropology-mary-douglas-edition/#comment-80610 Bravo. I am glad to find another "Strong" admirer of Mary Douglas here. Geertz, Levi-Strauss, Vic Turner and Jim Fernandez have all been inspirations to me, but Douglas is the theorist to whom I return over and over again when I want to move beyond methodological discussions to substantive hypotheses. She is very good to think, indeed. Bravo. I am glad to find another “Strong” admirer of Mary Douglas here. Geertz, Levi-Strauss, Vic Turner and Jim Fernandez have all been inspirations to me, but Douglas is the theorist to whom I return over and over again when I want to move beyond methodological discussions to substantive hypotheses. She is very good to think, indeed.

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