Re: Combat, jobs, and where's it all going?

Danny Yee (danny@STAFF.CS.SU.OZ.AU)
Fri, 3 Jun 1994 12:15:05 +1000

> DO anthropology. BE an anthropologist. You don't have to earn your
> living from anthropology to do it or to be an anthropologist. Do
> what you have to to put bread on the table, because otherwise you
> die--but stick with anthropology, bread or no bread, because if you
> don't you might as well be dead.
>
> And who said that ACADEMIC employment is the only place for an anthro
> to be? (Your professors, that's who--and what the hell do we know
> about any other way to be an anthropologist?) Don't listen to that
> crap! Why do you think that more than half the professional anthros
> in the US earn their livings outside academia?

Well said! While I'm in favour of state funded higher education,
and a major place for anthropology therein, I'm a bit worried by all
these people who seem to feel they are owed a high standard of living
for doing what they want to do. Surely one of the greatest things
about anthropology is that one can do it almost anywhere - even if
it's only watching one's colleagues or the people on the bus - and
that it doesn't require huge amounts of resources. The planet can
afford an awful lot more anthropologists than high energy particle
physicists or astronomers.

And it is really disturbing to see some of the things our society
does devote its resources to, but I'd hardly rank the odd loony
pomo-feminist getting an academic salary as a major waste or danger.

Danny Yee.