Re: Overspecialized Anthropology?

Bjorn Conrad Fry (bear@USNET.US.NET)
Sun, 11 Dec 1994 00:35:37 -0500

Ian,

I don't move among Anthropologists on a daily basis, so your perspective is
appreciated. My words were precipitated by a general impression gained
through reading submissions on this list. So, it appears, I may not totally
have misread the situation. Why would the field of Anthropology be any
different than the rest of society where personal responsibility is
actively discouraged and avoided at every level, especially the
institutional ones. I wonder if the trend that suppresses most of what is
individual in favor of what is collective has anything to do with it?

BCF


Ian Mast wrote:

>Well said.
>
>As a graduate student I am repeatedly amazed at the great many currently
>working Anthropoloigsts that are growing increasingly out of touch with
>the rest of the world. At some point our work must be relevant to reality
>or it is useless. Whatever we think of reality we still live in it.
>
>I am not interested in a career of deconstrcuting a minute aspect of
>culture over and over until I get lost in my own theoretical and
>methodological orientation. I hope, while I am not certain, that I will
>be able to add to the quality of life of at least a few individuals. If
>not. I will not be true to my guiding motivations.
>
>
>
>