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Do we read what we write?
John McCreery (JLM@TWICS.COM)
Sun, 28 Jan 1996 21:37:48 +0900
Mike Cahill writes,
"We just can't seem to leave accounts of others or
ourselves alone. We keep picking. Turning them this
way and that, adding the pieces up and together,
shuffling and fanning them, suturing and resuturing
them. These activities ward off that nagging sense of
doubt for a while."
And Levi-Strauss thought bricolage is the habit of
"savage" minds. :-)
"But somehow it always returns. Maybe we're as
likely to get to know Mexico as we are to get to know
ourselves. The more frightening thought might be that
we would ever be fully successful in either endeavor."
It was, I seem to recall, Edward Said who remarked
that an academic discipline remains alive only so long
as scholars continue to debate its perennial questions.
Having all the answers? What a horrifying prospect.
Great comment, Mike. Thanks for sharing your
responses to the article. Has anything else impressed
you recently?
John McCreery.
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