|
|
Re: industry finger up the academic wazoo
John McCreery (jlm@TWICS.COM)
Thu, 17 Oct 1996 00:54:44 +0900
>>How's that for industry finger up the academic wazoo?
>
>I personally find this euphamism to be the most creative phrase for, um,
>well, y'all know, that I've heard in years! Can I borrow it? With all due
>credit of course ;-)
>
>- Adrienne
Credit goes to Wade Tarzia, whose phrase it is.
Seriously, though, I see Wade's remarks as pointing to an issue in academic
self-definitions that could use a little airing. I am not denying the
strength or direction of his feelings, which I suspect are widely shared. I
am wondering, as someone who has read both Mary Douglas and Pierre
Bourdieu, on category violations and the struggle over social capital
respectively, if we couldn't be a little clearer about which boundaries we
are defending and why the industry finger in question is catching such a
lot of shit. What, too, of the role of the university in all this: virginal
aunt appalled at being goosed or aged bugger anticipating something more. I
suspect that I have fallen over the edge of thoroughly offensive here. But
why should the edge be just here? There is a question for a truly reflexive
anthropology.
John McCreery
3-206 Mitsusawa HT, 25-2 Miyagaya, Nishi-ku
Yokohama 220, JAPAN
"And the Lord said unto Cyrus, 'Shall the clay say to him who moldest it,
what makest thou? Let the potsherd of the earth speak to the potsherd of
the earth." --An anthropologist's credo
|