Comments on: Some more FAQs

By: orange.

orange. — Tue, 10 Oct 2006 14:29:04 +0000

Generalized assumptions however aren’t helpful to clarify the subject that is talked about. En ce qui concerne the academic project of Cultural Studies I propose either having a look at its origins (= read Hall) or it’s contemporary representations (= read Grossberg).
I won’t argue with anyone who criticizes what has been conducted under the Cultural Studies label in between.

By: John McCreery

John McCreery — Tue, 10 Oct 2006 08:16:01 +0000

Are we talking, perhaps, about the lack of hands-on experience, like that described by Matthew Crawford in Shopclass as Soulcraft?

By: orange.

orange. — Tue, 10 Oct 2006 05:28:32 +0000

“lack of models within cultural studies”

That is programmatic. Translated to anthro terminology this means Grounded Theory.

By: Rex

Rex — Mon, 09 Oct 2006 16:34:01 +0000

Here here!

By: oneman

oneman — Mon, 09 Oct 2006 15:50:39 +0000

Re: research, along with teaching and the ever-present dissertation, I am currently editing a book on cold war anthropology which is rapidly approaching my publisher’s deadline so should be in press pretty soon. This project grew out of my dissatisfaction with the available literature I was reading for my dissertation — essentially, if I couldn’t find good references, I would “commission” them.

As Strong says, I think SM is an important part of my academic life, keeping me in touch with the larger academic community as well as keeping a non-disciplinary audience ever-present. This is especially important, I think, in terms of the “bleed” between disciplinary and everyday life that Strong mentions. In any discipline, there’s the tendency to only want to discuss Great Important Matters with the luminaries in your field who you know will understand you; being an SM’er, however inactive, means approaching the world not just as an anthropologist but as an anthropologist who may well try their hand at explaining the world to a popular audience.

By: trillwing

trillwing — Sun, 08 Oct 2006 15:47:19 +0000

I’m not super-enthused about cultural studies either, and I have a Ph.D. in it. 🙂 Seriously, though, your characterization of cultural studies is a good one, except that I’d add two common (though certainly not required) characteristics of cultural studies projects: they tend to interrogate power relations and they thus tend to have a political agenda.

I do enjoy many aspects of cultural studies, but as I’ve undertaken my own research projects, I’ve found a decided lack of models within cultural studies. My criticisms of cultural studies–at least as I’ve experienced it in the U.S.–are that it doesn’t focus enough on 18th- and 19th-century culture, that many of its projects could benefit from a broader and deeper sense of history, and it could do more with material culture.

I’m enjoying reading Savage Minds. Keep up the good work.

By: Strong

Strong — Sun, 08 Oct 2006 13:21:11 +0000

I am trying to publish, teach, and stay connected to a scholarly community all the time. SM seems a good forum for that. I feel pretty honored to be included in this group of super-smart, super-serious (but not *too* serious) folks.

As I wrote in an earlier post, anthropological thought often bleeds into the everyday life of anthropologists. We reflect (too much sometimes!) all the time on our lives with the analytic lenses that anthropology sharpens. Wouldn’t a ‘blog’ be a good framework for making those reflections into something more than the paralyzing reflexivity to which we are subject as intellectuals?

By: Rex

Rex — Sat, 07 Oct 2006 22:47:46 +0000

Again, I’ll let other Minds speak up on their own here. IN my case, I try to keep a relatively up-to-date list of representative pieces here:

http://alex.golub.name/log/things-ive-written/

By: SLS

SLS — Sat, 07 Oct 2006 21:25:34 +0000

See “about” sections at right. Personally I am trying to finish writing two books, translate a difficult part of Deuteronomy, and keep my feet warm (these are all true, most urgently the feet!)

By: RLT

RLT — Sat, 07 Oct 2006 19:05:41 +0000

Q: I don’t have time to read all these posts because I am reading and writing scholarly articles and a book; do Savagemind posters publish books and articles, or is this all you do?