Much ado about Fabian

Judy Sproles (SPROLES@DELPHI.COM)
Fri, 1 Apr 1994 23:16:42 -0500

Well now, this exchange stimulated me to look up this Fabian...

...not the beach movie actor nor the Roman General I guess, but I'm
*waiting* on the Fabian Society for an answer...

Hopefully more than the classical scholars will grok this, this "word play"
as the deconstructed would have it. Where is Foss when we need him?

But seriously folks, I can give Carrier a nod of support in his "left out in
the cold" feeling about some obstuse but not obverse nor obscure theoretical
writing. Near the beginning of graduate studies we were assigned Ulin's
_Understanding Cultures_. By page 17 I realized I needed a text on
understanding Ulin. But after the culture shock of total immersion therapy,
I was able to get a handle on what theorists were saying, even though I
didn't care for some of it. It didn't *feel* real, as soon as I came
near, it slipped away.

I was knee deep in epistemology, don'cha know.

I was wandering in the stacks at the library and found a delightful gem on
understanding anthropology. It's Miles Richardson's _Cry Lonesome and Other
Accounts of the Anthropologist's Project_ (1990, SUNY Press). Richardson
weaves a tale of fact and fiction bridging the anthropologist's experience
and Stephen Tyler's call for the "study of man 'talking'". Since many of
Richardson's tales are from or about the South (deep south, USA) and since I
am a Southerner and intend to do anthropology (ala Carole E. Hill, 1977) "of
and in" the South, I really enjoyed this book. Reading Richardson, I finally
grasped the meaning of "cultural relativism" (being a graduate student and
all, you might think I would have known before now, but I have this feeling
that knowing and *understanding* may be different). Miles Richardson,
highly recommended.

While we are on the subject of the South, if any of you have some extra
time at the meeting this fall in Atlanta and want to help me "deconstruct"
Beauregard County dirt track racing, give me a call..(bulldozers optional).

Just kidding, it is April 1st.

However, I do offer my skills for those needing translation services
while in the South. SouthSpeak can be hard to decipher...sho' am, honey.

Coming to you virtually live from Gainesville, that cosmic nexus of the
universe that Seeker1 cites so well, I remain cordially, Judy Anne.

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