Comments on: Anthropology is an empty pint carton, and our existential projects are the ice cream

By: marissasjsmith

marissasjsmith — Wed, 19 Apr 2017 23:49:03 +0000

I see no excuse for anthropology as a disciplinary community not working to make room for a variety of “existential projects.” As a body of theory, in the methodologies of participant observation/ethnography/fieldwork, it most certainly does!

By: Rex

Rex — Fri, 07 Apr 2017 22:54:23 +0000

Those are just my paraphrases. Some of them (like the Hurston) are closely adapted from things they’ve said or others have said about them. They are all more or less my glosses tho, and are pretty superficial given how complex some of those thinkers were.

By: Huatse

Huatse — Fri, 07 Apr 2017 19:57:11 +0000

Thanks for this fascinating piece! Quick question: Are you directly quoting those lines by Boas, Levis-Strauss, and others or paraphrasing what these figures said or claimed?

By: John McCreery

John McCreery — Fri, 07 Apr 2017 08:29:49 +0000

One good metaphor deserves another. I remember the ice cream bars in tourist towns in New England, where customers pick up their bowls and are then free to fill them with whatever flavors and toppings they like. A much younger me liked that about anthropology; I could make of it whatever I wanted. The curmudgeon I have become worries that this vision of a field defined by self-indulgent consumerism is out of synch with the world we now inhabit. I respect the note of seriousness introduced by “existential projects. ” Then, however, my cynical imagination asks if this isn’t just a bit of fresh fruit added to the whipped cream, butterscotch sauce and M&Ms to make the sundae look at least a bit healthy.