Comments on: Ethnography as a solution to #AAAfail

By: Better Anthropology « How to be an Anthropologist

Better Anthropology « How to be an Anthropologist — Thu, 24 Nov 2011 04:36:06 +0000

[…] issues externally. After last year’s #AAAFail, Alex Golub over at Savage Minds argued for ethnography as a solution to the science debate and PR meltdown. However, in this case, I argue not for ethnography of anthropology, but for ethnography of bias in […]

By: paul

paul — Thu, 16 Dec 2010 01:35:44 +0000

An Ethnography of the AAA? Ha ha ha! How delightfully old-fashioned and not updated to the “needs of the membership”.

Too bad the Executive Board also saw fit to excise the word “ethnology” from the LRP as well. The word “Ethnography” has now been officially ceded to Social Work and Business School Marketing programs (who use it happily). Look it up.

Things everyone missed while looking at the “science” war:

By: Science and the Sacred: A Comment from Mary Douglas | Savage Minds

Science and the Sacred: A Comment from Mary Douglas | Savage Minds — Mon, 13 Dec 2010 13:51:33 +0000

[…] themselves as scientists and everyone else as blasphemers” (emphasis added). He further called for empirical description and analysis of the social and cultural dynamics structuring this […]

By: Anthropology Is… | Savage Minds

Anthropology Is… | Savage Minds — Mon, 13 Dec 2010 05:41:17 +0000

[…] recently asked for “anthropology creeds” but for the life of me I can’t write one. So instead I’ll write about why I […]

By: Jamie

Jamie — Sun, 12 Dec 2010 03:46:54 +0000

I’ll play, though this is a tough task for a paragraph! What are the ground rules and where do we put our material?

By: Rick

Rick — Sat, 11 Dec 2010 14:54:28 +0000

Well you know what they say, “academic debates are so intense, because the stakes are so low.”

By: Digging Digitally » Anthropology not a science?

Digging Digitally » Anthropology not a science? — Fri, 10 Dec 2010 23:25:08 +0000

[…] relevant: “Why anthropology is ‘true’ even if it is not ‘science’” and “Ethnography as a solution to #AAAfail.” … we don’t have to go that far afield to recognize forms of knowledge that are […]

By: carter

carter — Fri, 10 Dec 2010 22:45:55 +0000

OK, so the popular website Gawker has now picked up the science story. It’s a snarky and brutal dismissal of anthropology, but what’s fascinating is the comments sections in which anthro majors, minors, PhDs and random people who once upon a time took a single class generally bash anthropology and those who teach it while a handful of people defend it (by just blaming cultural anthro). While no doubt infuriating to some, it’s fascinating to see how people respond when the AAA gets coverage from a major blog.

http://gawker.com/5711545/anthropology-is-not-a-science-like-sociology

By: Owen Wiltshire

Owen Wiltshire — Fri, 10 Dec 2010 18:49:14 +0000

Want a really long drawn out answer? Sweet.
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Iijp9CvSbE2vIkEQVZxhWu_RxonyRIP2ji4hjCaCVmY/edit?hl=en#

[feel free to help edit.. its a long dry thesis, and chapter 2 is an attempt to define anthropology. I challenge you all to contest my arguments!]

And yes, it’s incomplete atm… almost there though!!!

By: Strong

Strong — Thu, 09 Dec 2010 23:35:44 +0000

“What do most anthropologists think anthropology does? What do the terms they use to evaluate it mean to them? To the best of my knowledge, we simply have no answer to this question…” Isn’t this in fact what anthropology journals publish on a regular basis, viz., statements by anthropologists about what they think anthropology does? Isn’t this what books like ‘Designs for an Anthropology of the Contemporary’ are about? Isn’t this what the whole History of Anthropology book series has been about? In fact, I think anthropology is extremely attentive to its own concepts — their histories, institutional framings, and so on. ‘Unwrapping the Sacred Bundle’ anybody? I don’t think we actually lack this information. But rather than actually looking at what we know about ourselves, we let polemics by Dreger et al, fan the flames of a conflict that is simply over-blown.

By: michael-

michael- — Wed, 08 Dec 2010 22:49:07 +0000

Four Stone Hearth #107:

http://conflictions5.blogspot.com/2010/12/four-stone-hearth-107.html

By: Matt

Matt — Tue, 07 Dec 2010 16:06:50 +0000

Thanks Chip. Good Catch.

Best,
Matt

By: Chip

Chip — Tue, 07 Dec 2010 14:44:38 +0000

Just to clarify, the text that Matt cited was edited by Gleach and “Regna Darnell.”

By: Rick

Rick — Tue, 07 Dec 2010 13:14:39 +0000

Brilliant Idea. It would be fascinating for the discipline to gather data on the community in order to analyze and come to conclusions, while negating false beliefs. Sounds like something social scientists would and should do. ;^) But seriously, that is a really good idea.
Now the problem is to figure out who is, and find the anthros. that are not easily found inside the academy. The AAA has never really represented those outside the academy, which is a large part of the problem.

By: Matt

Matt — Mon, 06 Dec 2010 20:42:48 +0000

Hi Rex and others,

This is not the first time an ethnography of the AAA has been proposed.
While not a traditional ethnography I set out at the 2009 meeting to get some opinions of older anthropologists. I was interested in how the meetings and discipline has changed, and where they thought the profession was headed. I received some very frank and honest answers that are relevant to the recent discussions of the change in the long-range plans.

I have put the project on hiatus, but have large plans for the future of this project. These plans may or may not involve myself, for I could see the project being a very nice organic element that finds its way into the AAA meeting itself or perhaps as a series of blog posts from anthropologists at any stage in their life. Almost like an NPR “This I believe Segment.” Addressing three broad topics. The first, History of Attendance, 2nd change since first attendance, and 3rd future of discipline/meetings. While these are largely open-ended questions, I feel they lend themselves nicely to a short video.

However, this is not to say that the AAA or the discipline would not benefit from a traditional ethnographic study. Herbert Lewis has put together a very detailed history of the meetings in his lifetime. Entitled “The Radical Transformation of Anthropology: History seen through the annual meetings of the AAA, 1955-2005” published in Histories of Anthropology Annual Volume 5. Regna Darnale & Fred Gleach (eds.). University of Nebraska Press, 2009.

If anyone is interested I have uploaded a small sample of what I recorded in 2009 to youtube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iY98IKOyn68

Best,
Matt