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truth vs stories?
Daniel A. Foss (U28550@UICVM.BITNET)
Wed, 13 Jul 1994 13:27:35 CDT
I'm sure that Hugh Jarvis had his tongue firmly embedded in his cheek when he
composed a subject header for the post about writing for multiple audiences.
Mike Lewis is doing what I'd like to see every practicing anthropologist do:
using the inherently interesting aspects of his work to inform a
non-professional public about what a terrific thing anthropology is and what
neat things anthropologists do. Margaret Mead spent her life doing this, much
to the chagrin of her elitist colleagues. She also did superb ethnography and
some very important ethnographic and theoretical work, but she advanced our
discipline and gave it the stamp (and the grant possibilities) of a science
far more than any of her colleagues through making anthropology and its
findings accessible to a larger public. She was called a popularizer. That's
sour grapes--she simply had a commitment to a far wider universe of people than
the narrow confines of her academic discipline and the career management
strategies that make disciplinary findings inaccessible to all but the
ordained. Kudos Mike! You're in the best of company.
Mike Lieber
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