undreaming.

I haven't written anything.
Because I am not sure if I am really awake.
And there is no point in writing anything, when there is a chance I could wake up and discover I have not written it at all.
Just like I did not drive in a red truck and I did not ring Beth and make plans for running away.

But maybe I did.

Tiny Poem #2

you should write wispy bits
on napkins
and keep them in a box with pretty ribbons

The tutor wouldn't accept this essay, because it was too long..

Applying Anthropology

The Personal, Professional and Global Spheres.

By Shannon Gillespie 13877569

The Oxford Universal Dictionary tells us the definition of anthropology is “the science of man” (1959). With this definition it can be safely asserted that all anthropology can be applied anthropology, used in real world applications instead of simply studied (Moore 2009). The field of social anthropology is particularly useful to the real world application of the discipline. In this essay, I will outline the various ways anthropological awareness has impacted my personal life and how it will prove useful to my professional life in the future. Anthropological learning can be applied to my life in order to discover how I construct my own identity and my sense of place and self within both the immediate society surrounding me, and the wider global stage. As an academic, anthropological awareness allows me to realize and deconstruct personal bias and opinion in research, allowing for a more impartial viewpoint where possible and a realization of my own subjectivity where not. In my chosen profession of teaching, anthropology studies are extremely useful, as they will help me to understand the social forces affecting both my students and myself in a classroom situation, to be more tolerant of difference whether cultural, biological or social and also to assess the reliability of teaching materials available to me. In these ways, I consider anthropological awareness and the application of the discipline to real world situations to be a necessary part of my own life.

When I grow up I would like to be a high school teacher. I find that while anthropology as a subject is not taught in a high school setting, it’s practical application remains entirely relevant and indeed necessary in order for teachers to better understand their students, themselves and the social forces acting on both. In her article Academic Achievement in an Age of Irresponsibility, Anne Dichele points out that “poverty, a broken home, a dangerous neighborhood [sic], a non-English speaking background…” are all social situations used by educators in order to “make excuses for students lack of responsibility and persistence” (2006:31). Anthropological awareness will allow me to recognize these social constraints and allow me to not excuse students lack of learning, but encourage them to overcome these seemingly negative situations. At the same time, the study of anthropology will allow me to recognize the diversity of student’s backgrounds and “see the voices of their [the minority group’s] ancestors as being valuable” (Diaz Soto 2006:114). Recognition of different cultural backgrounds and social forces, and using this to enrich instead of stifle my students educational experience is one way I will use my anthropological knowledge in a practical sense.

One of the most important ways applied anthropology can be used in an education setting is the recognition of bias and subjectivity in the curriculum. I find that accuracy of information is not so much in question here, instead the source of the information and whether the personal bias of the author is acknowledged (Diaz Soto 2006:113). This has relevance to both my future profession and my life in academia. Hendry addresses the effect of personal background in research by admitting that “background, age, gender and theoretical approach… might affect the results of their work” (2008:27). She refers here to ethnographical research, but the idea can be applied to all research and results across many fields. An example of the recognition of personal bias comes in Cynthia Werner’s article Bride Abduction In Post Soviet Central Asia where she explains the influence of her cultural background on both her interpretation of the information available and the responses of the people she studied (2009:327). It is important for both students and educators to not simply ingest information without questioning its validity, the context in which it was produced and the social and ethical concerns of who it was produced by (Moore 2009). This recognition that all information is subjective is important to both my learning ability and my future teaching ability.

Understanding the social forces behind my own decisions regarding what I research in my own academic life is also a way I can apply anthropological awareness in my professional life. In an example that extends Hendry’s examination of personal social factors affecting research (2008:27), Ifi Amadiume’s article in Gendered Fields demonstrates the difficulty in reaching a “common understanding” (1993:182) between anthropologists, people on a certain social group and the world at large. Amadiume tells of the “conflicts relating to the issues of the self and other, or in my own case, the multiple selves; as social subject, a member of an extended family, a daughter and mother and a woman with independent political views” (ibid). It must be recognized that the information available to researchers in the field is also subjective, as the subjects of research may withhold information or give misleading or false information in an effort to please the researcher, hide secrets or give a specific image of their society (Conaway 1989:55-56, Wiliksen 2009:116, Werner 2009:327). Just as academics must realize the subjectivity of the information they access, they must also recognize their own subjectivity in relation to their chosen field of research and the subjectivity of the people they are researching.

The examination of how social factors have constructed the ideas of self for each individual is an aspect of applied anthropology. Lourdes Diaz Soto says “to be able to critically analyse our experiences, our lives, our communities and the political decisions of our leaders in crucial” (2009:116) and I believe studying anthropology allows me recognize the affects of social factors on my own identity and on the way I see the world (Moore 2009). At a micro level, I enjoy discovering why I see the world from a particular viewpoint, how my race, religion, gender, age, experience and other factors (Hendry 2008, Moore 2009) have determined that viewpoint and examining “the socially determined dimension of [my] human behaviour” (Nettle 2009:225). A good example of this is my studies into social vs genetic determinism as discussed in the Nettle article (2009:224), into the nature vs nurture argument in regard to intelligence and consciousness (Buzan 2003, Kiverstein 2009:59-74) and my personal examination of the construction of internal forces that drive me. Without studying anthropology, I would fail to see how each aspect of my identity is socially constructed and be unable to deconstruct immoral or inaccurate aspects of my personality and celebrate the tolerant, creative and endlessly curious aspects.

The most important application of anthropological awareness is, to me, the application of ideas of acceptance, open mindedness and tolerance of other cultures both past and present in my own personal life. Globalisation, ‘the constant movement of people, things, ideas and encoded messages around the globe” (Hendry 2008:284), is rapidly increasing the individual’s exposure to many different types of societies and cultural traditions as well as creating new rituals (Christensen 2008:Lecture Notes, Hendry 2008:284, Knight 1994:2). Applied anthropology allows us to view culturally foreign ideas without judgment. An example of this is Hendry’s examination of taboo, where she speaks of ideas regarding pollution and how in one society what it considered clean may be prohibited in another social setting (Hendry 2008:40). Daniel Nettle sums up the argument for broad open mindedness and the call for tolerance in his article Beyond Nature Versus Culture

A central feature of human beings is that they are not the same everywhere. Their ideas, expressed motivations, behaviours and social groupings are strikingly different from society to society and changeable over historical time (Nettle 2009:223).

The acceptance of this cacophony of different social and cultural ideas, habits, taboos, rituals and motivations and the reorganization of the validity of cultural aspects of humanity involves applying anthropological awareness in it’s most necessary form.

By using my own personal experience as an example I hope this essay proves that all anthropology can and should be applied to real world situations. The quest for knowledge, when tempered with an understanding of social expectations and cultural traditions, allows for humanity to develop a bank of knowledge that is infinite, tolerant of difference and accepting of it’s own shortcomings. Although anthropologists and those conducting research contributing to “the study of human beings” (Hendry 2008:1) may be “widely tarred with the idea that they have no morals…that anything goes if it is ‘custom’” (Anderson 2009:1), it is my opinion that the examination of our own culture and society, the examination of foreign cultures and societies, and the examination of the intermingling of the two through globalisation can, if engineered in a positive way, only bring good. Whether on a personal level, an academic level or a professional level, the application of anthropological research and method to real world situations is certainly necessary in order to gain a deeper understanding of the way culture, and mankind, works.

References and Bibliography

Amadiume, I. The Mouth that spoke a falsehood will late speak the truth: going home to the field in Eastern Nigeria in Bell, D, Caplan, P. and Jahan Karim, W. (eds) Gendered Fields : women, men and ethnography. 1993. Routledge; London. P 182 – 198

Anderson, E. N. On Michael Brown: “Cultural Relativism 2.0” in Current Anthropology. 2009 (Volume 50, Issue 2). Online; http://www.journals.uchicago.edu. P 251.

Buzan, T. Brain Child. 2003. Harper Collins; London.

Christensen, W. Lecture Notes – Anthropology in a Globalising World 112. 2008. Curtin University; Perth

Conaway, M.E. The Pretence of the Neutral Observer in McCurdy, D.W. and Spradly, J.P. (eds) Conformity and Conflict : readings in cultural anthropology (7^th ed). 1991. Harper Collins; New York. P 48 - 59

Diaz Soto, L. Border Crossing Identities in Taboo : the journal of culture and education. Spring Summer 2006 (Volume 10 Issue 1). Caddo Gap Press; New York. P 111 – 119. Viewed online June 2009.

Dichele, A. Academic Achievement in an Age of Irresponsibility in Taboo : the journal of culture and education. Spring Summer 2006 (Volume 10 Issue 1). Caddo Gap Press; New York. P 29 – 33. Viewed online June 2009.

Galley, A. City of Plague?: Toronto, SARS, and the Anxieties of Globalisation in vis-à-vis Exploration in Anthropology. 2009 (Volume 9, issue 1). Online; http://vav.library.utoronto.ca. P 133 – 142. Viewed June 2009

Hendry, J An introduction to social anthropology : sharing our worlds (2^nd ed). 2008. Palgrave Macmillan; Hampshire.

Hirsch, E. Colony, Connection, Nationalism in Focus Anthropology. 2009 (Volume VIII). Online; http://www.focusanthro.org. Viewed June 2009

Kiverstein, J. Minimal sense of self, temporality and the brain in Psyche 2009 (Volume 15 Issue 1). Online; http://journalpsyche.org. P 59 - 74. Viewed June 2009

Knight, C. Why Ritual? in Knight, C. and Power, C. (eds) Ritual and the Origins of Symbolism. 1994. University of East London Sociology Department; London.

Moore, P. Lecture Notes – Introduction to Anthropology 111. 2009. Curtin University; Perth.

Nettle, D. Beyond Nature versus Culture : cultural variation as an evolved characteristic in Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute. 2009 (Volume 15, Issue 2). Wiley-Blackwell; Online. P 223 – 240. Viewed online June 2009.

Onions, C.T. (ed.) Oxford Universal Dictionary Illustrated A – M (rev.) 1959. Oxford University Press; London.

Werner, C. Bride Abduction In Post Soviet Central Asia : marking a shift towards patriarchy through local discourses of shame and tradition in Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute. June 2009 (Volume 15 Issue 2). Wiley – Blackwell; Online. P 314 – 331. Viewed online June 2009.

Wiliksen, S. Moods behind the Silences in Ethnography : Tales from the field. 2009 (Volume 10, Issue 1). Online; http://www.sagepub.com. P 115 – 127. Viewed online April 2009.

Morphia

A Child's Nightmare by Robert Frost

Through long nursery nights he stood
By my bed unwearying,
Loomed gigantic, formless, queer,
Purring in my haunted ear
That same hideous nightmare thing,
Talking, as he lapped my blood,
In a voice cruel and flat,
Saying for ever, "Cat! ... Cat! ... Cat!..."

That one word was all he said,
That one word through all my sleep,
In monotonous mock despair.
Nonsense may be light as air,
But there's Nonsense that can keep
Horror bristling round the head,
When a voice cruel and flat
Says for ever, "Cat! ... Cat! ... Cat!..."

He had faded, he was gone
Years ago with Nursery Land,
When he leapt on me again
From the clank of a night train,
Overpowered me foot and head,
Lapped my blood, while on and on
The old voice cruel and flat
Says for ever, "Cat! ... Cat! ... Cat!..."

Morphia drowsed, again I lay
In a crater by High Wood:
He was there with straddling legs,
Staring eyes as big as eggs,
Purring as he lapped my blood,
His black bulk darkening the day,
With a voice cruel and flat,
"Cat! ... Cat! ... Cat! ... Cat!..." he said, "Cat! ... Cat!..."

When I'm shot through heart and head,
And there's no choice but to die,
The last word I'll hear, no doubt,
Won't be "Charge!" or "Bomb them out!"
Nor the stretcher-bearer's cry,
"Let that body be, he's dead!"
But a voice cruel and flat
Saying for ever, "Cat! ... Cat! ... Cat!"

My heart still belongs to you;

I found this. Near the library. It had sauce on the top half, so I ripped it off before I stuck it in my pocket.*

I think this is a draft copy. I wish I had a boy (?) who had writing this neat, drafted love letters before he sent them and who includes sentences like "I've spend every minute of everyday at the caff replaying the images of our first encounter over and over" even if he (?) did get 'spend' wrong.

By the by, the caff is at the local junior college, so Link and Louise (or Gale?), whoever they are, are between 15 and 18.

*Yes, gross enough to pick up someone's trash because it had writing on it, but not THAT gross.