Comments on: My so-called ‘real life’ http://savageminds.org/2008/02/21/my-so-called-real-life/ Notes and Queries in Anthropology — A Group Blog Thu, 09 Feb 2012 19:06:13 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 By: Practice-near, real life and some mixed methods: A post on finding new terms « Another student blog http://savageminds.org/2008/02/21/my-so-called-real-life/comment-page-1/#comment-629650 Practice-near, real life and some mixed methods: A post on finding new terms « Another student blog Fri, 02 Apr 2010 10:01:25 +0000 http://savageminds.org/2008/02/21/my-so-called-real-life/#comment-629650 [...] to say, ‘real-life’ research has received a few digs. While I have yet to get to some more substantial published works, I did get onto the ‘Vital [...] [...] to say, ‘real-life’ research has received a few digs. While I have yet to get to some more substantial published works, I did get onto the ‘Vital [...]

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]]> By: Max B. http://savageminds.org/2008/02/21/my-so-called-real-life/comment-page-1/#comment-226797 Max B. Tue, 26 Feb 2008 20:12:50 +0000 http://savageminds.org/2008/02/21/my-so-called-real-life/#comment-226797 "Real life research ethics and moralities" I'm in the middle of my IRB protocol, so this kind of made me laugh-I'm just picturing a fifteen page proposal done completely in compliance where the person justifies brushing their teeth, putting on their underwear, etc IN THEIR CAPACITY AS A RESEARCHER. Also, what the hell is 'research morality'? “Real life research ethics and moralities”

I’m in the middle of my IRB protocol, so this kind of made me laugh-I’m just picturing a fifteen page proposal done completely in compliance where the person justifies brushing their teeth, putting on their underwear, etc IN THEIR CAPACITY AS A RESEARCHER.

Also, what the hell is ‘research morality’?

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]]> By: John Smith http://savageminds.org/2008/02/21/my-so-called-real-life/comment-page-1/#comment-225603 John Smith Mon, 25 Feb 2008 21:04:24 +0000 http://savageminds.org/2008/02/21/my-so-called-real-life/#comment-225603 Well I see I misread the thread as usual. But I think academics do study the real world, but the way they do it is often fake... or "fake"... Well I see I misread the thread as usual. But I think academics do study the real world, but the way they do it is often fake… or “fake”…

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]]> By: John Smith http://savageminds.org/2008/02/21/my-so-called-real-life/comment-page-1/#comment-225562 John Smith Mon, 25 Feb 2008 20:05:04 +0000 http://savageminds.org/2008/02/21/my-so-called-real-life/#comment-225562 Well, my grandmother certainly did not feel the study of anthropology had anything to do with real life. Since when did anthropologists have trouble investigating semantic meaning? What does 'real' mean to you? when you have faith and believe that this life means something more than day to day mundane living, all of a sudden "real life" needs scare quotes. How do rural farmers react to the insane high flying lifestyle of city dwellers? Or how do people see the lifestyles of drunken tourists? What do you tell someone with a massive drug addiction. Can he grasp "reality". As people distance themselves from society, the meaning of "real" becomes more meaningful in my opinion. Isn't it about shifting perspectives? Maybe we are here for a reason, and maybe some of us feel traditional science doesn't cut it? Is this critique meant to be constructive or are we still playing power games? Well, my grandmother certainly did not feel the study of anthropology had anything to do with real life.

Since when did anthropologists have trouble investigating semantic meaning? What does ‘real’ mean to you? when you have faith and believe that this life means something more than day to day mundane living, all of a sudden “real life” needs scare quotes.

How do rural farmers react to the insane high flying lifestyle of city dwellers? Or how do people see the lifestyles of drunken tourists?

What do you tell someone with a massive drug addiction. Can he grasp “reality”. As people distance themselves from society, the meaning of “real” becomes more meaningful in my opinion.

Isn’t it about shifting perspectives? Maybe we are here for a reason, and maybe some of us feel traditional science doesn’t cut it?

Is this critique meant to be constructive or are we still playing power games?

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]]> By: Maximilian Forte http://savageminds.org/2008/02/21/my-so-called-real-life/comment-page-1/#comment-222888 Maximilian Forte Sat, 23 Feb 2008 04:49:00 +0000 http://savageminds.org/2008/02/21/my-so-called-real-life/#comment-222888 This was very interesting, and left me to wonder: the anthropological study of anthropology would then be the study of... "unreal life"? Joking aside, assuming that is possible with such a call for papers, the notion begs the question of what is unreal life. Thanks for the post. This was very interesting, and left me to wonder: the anthropological study of anthropology would then be the study of… “unreal life”? Joking aside, assuming that is possible with such a call for papers, the notion begs the question of what is unreal life. Thanks for the post.

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]]> By: Rex http://savageminds.org/2008/02/21/my-so-called-real-life/comment-page-1/#comment-222526 Rex Fri, 22 Feb 2008 18:53:37 +0000 http://savageminds.org/2008/02/21/my-so-called-real-life/#comment-222526 Uh... didn't we use to call these people "substantivists"? Uh… didn’t we use to call these people “substantivists”?

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]]> By: Strong http://savageminds.org/2008/02/21/my-so-called-real-life/comment-page-1/#comment-222338 Strong Fri, 22 Feb 2008 13:14:43 +0000 http://savageminds.org/2008/02/21/my-so-called-real-life/#comment-222338 Wow, I had never heard of post-autistic economics until encountering Chris's comment... and it would appear that the subfield is indeed related to the "real world":http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1843312360/ref=cm_cr_pr_product_top I personally laughed out loud when a conference ostensibly organized around the idea of real life put scare quotes around the concept. And I LOLed again when reading Kerim's comment. Wow, I had never heard of post-autistic economics until encountering Chris’s comment… and it would appear that the subfield is indeed related to the “real world”:http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1843312360/ref=cm_cr_pr_product_top

I personally laughed out loud when a conference ostensibly organized around the idea of real life put scare quotes around the concept. And I LOLed again when reading Kerim’s comment.

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]]> By: L.L. Wynn http://savageminds.org/2008/02/21/my-so-called-real-life/comment-page-1/#comment-222192 L.L. Wynn Fri, 22 Feb 2008 09:14:46 +0000 http://savageminds.org/2008/02/21/my-so-called-real-life/#comment-222192 What?! A toothbrush? Not a flying rainbow house with gigantic marshmallows floating alongside? What?! A toothbrush? Not a flying rainbow house with gigantic marshmallows floating alongside?

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]]> By: John McCreery http://savageminds.org/2008/02/21/my-so-called-real-life/comment-page-1/#comment-222168 John McCreery Fri, 22 Feb 2008 08:40:30 +0000 http://savageminds.org/2008/02/21/my-so-called-real-life/#comment-222168 _And is there anything funny about this sentence, ”’Real life’ is complex and complicated”?_ To an editor there is. The quotation marks create an ambiguity. Do the authors want to say that real life is complex and complicated or that the concept denoted by "Real life" is complex and complicated? (I remember Tarski's famous sentence: "'Snow is white' is true if and only if snow is white.") That said, I wonder if the discomfort the sentence causes isn't deliberate, a postmodern gesture to unsettle the relationship of words to reality. Are the complexities and complications in the words or in the world to which they refer, or both? That sort of thing. It is interesting, too, that the keynote speakers represent three disciplines, sociology, anthropology and history, all of which grapple in different ways with the relationships of quantitative, ethnographic and textual research to the reality it purports to describe. This thought speaks to an issue that I am currently grappling with, in a project that combines social network analysis (quantitative), ethnography (interviewing creatives who occupy central nodes in networks of ad contest winners) and textual research ( the creatives in question are frequently prolific authors). Since the starting point is published collections of ad contest winners, the relationship to the reality of the advertising business as a whole cannot be taken for granted. _And is there anything funny about this sentence, ”’Real life’ is complex and complicated”?_

To an editor there is. The quotation marks create an ambiguity. Do the authors want to say that real life is complex and complicated or that the concept denoted by “Real life” is complex and complicated? (I remember Tarski’s famous sentence: “‘Snow is white’ is true if and only if snow is white.”)

That said, I wonder if the discomfort the sentence causes isn’t deliberate, a postmodern gesture to unsettle the relationship of words to reality. Are the complexities and complications in the words or in the world to which they refer, or both? That sort of thing.

It is interesting, too, that the keynote speakers represent three disciplines, sociology, anthropology and history, all of which grapple in different ways with the relationships of quantitative, ethnographic and textual research to the reality it purports to describe. This thought speaks to an issue that I am currently grappling with, in a project that combines social network analysis (quantitative), ethnography (interviewing creatives who occupy central nodes in networks of ad contest winners) and textual research ( the creatives in question are frequently prolific authors). Since the starting point is published collections of ad contest winners, the relationship to the reality of the advertising business as a whole cannot be taken for granted.

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]]> By: LFB http://savageminds.org/2008/02/21/my-so-called-real-life/comment-page-1/#comment-222086 LFB Fri, 22 Feb 2008 06:33:56 +0000 http://savageminds.org/2008/02/21/my-so-called-real-life/#comment-222086 Methinks ya'all doth protest too much. And yet, how relevant is our research for most of our subjects? How many interlocutors read our books? Of those who do, how many feel it is "real" as opposed to just some academic-ese? Is it merely a coincidence that anthropologists were specifically targetted for an NSF funding slash-and-burn because our proposals had "silly titles". But yes, their logo is too abstract, those hippocrits. Clearly, anthropology is only intended for people with PhD's to understand. Methinks ya’all doth protest too much.

And yet, how relevant is our research for most of our subjects? How many interlocutors read our books? Of those who do, how many feel it is “real” as opposed to just some academic-ese? Is it merely a coincidence that anthropologists were specifically targetted for an NSF funding slash-and-burn because our proposals had “silly titles”. But yes, their logo is too abstract, those hippocrits. Clearly, anthropology is only intended for people with PhD’s to understand.

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]]> By: Propaganda4u http://savageminds.org/2008/02/21/my-so-called-real-life/comment-page-1/#comment-222013 Propaganda4u Fri, 22 Feb 2008 05:11:46 +0000 http://savageminds.org/2008/02/21/my-so-called-real-life/#comment-222013 Hmmm, I think that third thing in their logo is a toothbrush with the cap to the toothpaste sitting next to it on the counter. For real... Hmmm, I think that third thing in their logo is a toothbrush with the cap to the toothpaste sitting next to it on the counter. For real…

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]]> By: L.L. Wynn http://savageminds.org/2008/02/21/my-so-called-real-life/comment-page-1/#comment-221977 L.L. Wynn Fri, 22 Feb 2008 04:21:05 +0000 http://savageminds.org/2008/02/21/my-so-called-real-life/#comment-221977 What's really funny is if you click on the link and go to their website. Their logo graphic consists of four circles with little images in them: 1) a crying baby 2) french fries 3) I'm not sure but this may be a floating house with a rainbow roof, flying through the sky and leaving a trail of colored exhaust in its wake, while giant marshmallows float alongside 4) a hand holding a leaf All very vital. Very real. What’s really funny is if you click on the link and go to their website. Their logo graphic consists of four circles with little images in them:
1) a crying baby
2) french fries
3) I’m not sure but this may be a floating house with a rainbow roof, flying through the sky and leaving a trail of colored exhaust in its wake, while giant marshmallows float alongside
4) a hand holding a leaf
All very vital. Very real.

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]]> By: Kerim http://savageminds.org/2008/02/21/my-so-called-real-life/comment-page-1/#comment-221967 Kerim Fri, 22 Feb 2008 04:04:17 +0000 http://savageminds.org/2008/02/21/my-so-called-real-life/#comment-221967 It makes a lot of sense ... if you are aware of the fact that the scholars who put this together are online avatars in Second Life. It makes a lot of sense … if you are aware of the fact that the scholars who put this together are online avatars in Second Life.

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]]> By: ckelty http://savageminds.org/2008/02/21/my-so-called-real-life/comment-page-1/#comment-221891 ckelty Fri, 22 Feb 2008 02:29:33 +0000 http://savageminds.org/2008/02/21/my-so-called-real-life/#comment-221891 I totally thought this was a joke. As in, academics do not study real life... so... reminds me of The Journal of Post-Autistic Economics, which also fooled me into thinking it was fake. I totally thought this was a joke. As in, academics do not study real life… so…

reminds me of The Journal of Post-Autistic Economics, which also fooled me into thinking it was fake.

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