Comments on: Savage Minds Around the Web

By: mauraweb!» archive » wherever you think you are

mauraweb!» archive » wherever you think you are — Wed, 01 Apr 2009 02:30:54 +0000

[...] speaking of pirates, they’re apparently the subject of one of the most popular courses taught in the Anthropology department of my alma mater these days. Course content includes both [...]

By: Boinkie

Boinkie — Tue, 31 Mar 2009 23:50:35 +0000

The City Journal has it wrong.
The story of the hero goes back at least to Gilgamesh.
Science fiction superheros are merely another chapter in that genre.
But his biggest error is saying that Lord of the Rings is not religious…any Christian would know that the “failure” of Frodo is an archtype for the “meek shall inherit the earth” strain in Christianity..

By: Richard Irvine

Richard Irvine — Sat, 28 Mar 2009 16:17:17 +0000

I am extremely disappointed to hear news of Chris Knight’s suspension. I can’t say I share his political creed, but I think he deserves to be far better treated than this. His work on the evolutionary origins of language packs a punch, and having attended one of his evening classes in Camden Town, I was impressed and excited to see the way in which he had people engaging with anthropology. It was great to see the subject taught in a way that shows how anthropology matters, and how the issues anthropology deals with are fundamental to all our lives. Chris Knight and his students deserve a great deal of credit for making this happen. I am sorry to see that he is being mistreated just because he sticks his head above the parapet and doesn’t behave like a nice boy who only concerns himself with research funding and university strategic targets. We could do with more people like him in my department. Vice-chancellors are always going on about how they wish their academics got more press visibility. I guess this isn’t the kind of thing they wanted? Well, tough.

By: Tim

Tim — Fri, 27 Mar 2009 00:53:32 +0000

Chris Knight has “just been suspended”:http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/7967096.stm

By: Carl

Carl — Wed, 25 Mar 2009 18:17:49 +0000

Re: laptops in the classroom, it may be worth checking out SpEdChange’s many posts on the issue from the standpoint of disability and access, for example this recent one on the Technology and Persons with Disabilities conference:

http://speedchange.blogspot.com/2009/03/csun-2009-freetech-ubiquitous-universal.html

His point is generally that technologies often seen as mere distractions by thoughtlessly abled types actually provide decisive support for students with a range of learning complications, and that all students can benefit from the strategies developed by these pioneers.

From this standpoint, the discussion at the CHE is downright primitive.

By: L.L. Wynn

L.L. Wynn — Wed, 25 Mar 2009 05:41:54 +0000

Jay, you are funny. Love this column of yours.

By: Camille Israel

Camille Israel — Mon, 23 Mar 2009 22:27:19 +0000

That UChicago course sounds great, I would definitely take it if I had the chance.

Re: Wade Davis, I think the reason he’s portrayed as a rock star anthropologist is because he’s a really compelling speaker. I saw him earlier this year at UBC and I was blown away. And he travels all over the place! He’s definitely not a big academic or anything but I think that’s why people like him, he’s not super obscure.
By the way, I always saw him as more of a photographer than anything.

By: Barbara Piper

Barbara Piper — Mon, 23 Mar 2009 21:38:24 +0000

It’s not a comment about this post, specifically, but more about anthropology around the radio. Did anyone else hear the interview with Wade Davis (of Haitian zombie fame) on NPR last week, talking about Australian Aboriginal DreamTime? He was introduced with the comment that ‘if anthropology has anything like a rock star, it’s Wade Davis’ — which struck me as odd, since I always thought of him as a botanist, and hardly rock star status even within botany. Davis offered a fairly simple description of the dreamtime, most of which seemed drawn from other sources, or at least identical to what anthropologists have been saying for decades. At least Steven Pinker actually has an academic job as a psychologist!