Mob Scenes

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This grad student certainly appreciates Mr. Jorgenssen's gentle and
honest posting. This feeling of impending difficulty is probably
what drove me, and others I am sure, to consider anthropology as a
background and formation rather than a discipline in itself. I
have come to percieve it as something to be applied later to some
other field. For example, I usually draw historians quite out of
their complacent slumber when I begin asking "anthropological"
questions in their "historical" contexts.

I am sure that I would jump at the chance of making a living
at anthropology, but I just don't see that happening. So in the
meantime I justify the considerable expense in both time and money
by saying that anthropologists are just useful people to have around
in any context. We become professional observers of human behaviour,
and in that sense have a contribution to make in many varied circumstances.
To a point, this has become obvious within the traditional bounds of
anthropology itself, where problem solving and conflict resolution in
international development is slowly becoming a bountiful province for
anthropologists.

As for myself, I have become quite interested in homelessness
in urban centers (Montreal). While not being a "pomo", I can thus do
anthropology (Yes, even fieldwork) without having to fight for much
of the financial and material resources, which, in any case, are nearly
non-existent (as has been observed in this thread).

• Next message: Glenn Stone: "Leakey's legs"
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