Re: Interests other than Johnson

William Bangs (wbbangs@U.WASHINGTON.EDU)
Mon, 13 Mar 1995 11:59:03 -0800

Hi, Stephanie. You're right -- we've all forgotten what we're here for!
I myself am interested in linguistic and symbolic anthropology, by which
I mean I look for patterns of socially constructed thought and response
to the world through communication systems and their content. I'm
interested in the mechanics of social decisionmaking and enforcement, as
well as what I'll call folk-epistomology (meaning the culturally
conditioned ways of knowing, deciding and talking about things). My
primary area of geographical interest is Viet-Nam and other areas of
mainland SE Asia, my primary theoretical tools (at this point)
etyomological and discourse analysis. I'm off to Ha-Noi in a couple
weeks, and I'll be looking (while I teach English to support myself) to
engage some questions about what values and worldviews the music
Vietnamese still over there expresses as against the Viet-pop in U.S.
Vietnamese enclaves. By the way, can you tell me (and the list)
something about your department? Given my interests, would it be a good
place to apply?

Ben Bangs

Do what's right, not what's easy!