Teaching Anthropology

Teaching Tips for Newbies: The Heckler

noreply@blogger.com (Pamthropologist) — Wed, 24 Aug 2011 03:23:00 +0000

I had a lovely email from one of you out there. Its that time of year again...here they come...the student hordes. And for some of you out there, its time to start teaching them. So I was asked for advice in teaching the Cultural class, especially in the conservative areas of the big old U.S. of A. Deep in the heart of Texas, home of Govenor anti-evolution, anti-science, dumber-than-a-box-of-Good-Hair, there is no shortage of teaching trauma.

So, I will tap into my pompous know-it-all streak and attempt to give a series of posts where I pretend I have some answers. Be nice when you correct me, though. No one likes there soft, wibbly bits exposed for public ridicule. And feel free to join in with your tips, show us your wibbly bits.

We will start with general classroom management: worst case scenario. The one difficult student who seems to hate you. (Truthfully for me, its probably a slightly older white guy who arrives suspicious of our entire discipline and with a penchant for listening to Rush is Reich) Do not fight with that one difficult student. You will lose. You are never going to win with the close-minded. Ever. Don't try. Here is why: many of those students sitting in that class are on your side but they aren't going to say anything. They are the "Richard Nixon silent majority". They want to learn. Yes, they do. They don't want to witness a fight. It makes everyone uncomfortable. Heck, it makes you uncomfortable. Try to remember: that one difficult student is just one difficult student. Teach the crowd. Develop a repetoire of useful phrases even if they are dorky (freely admit that they are dorky). Say "we are putting on our anthropology hats when we walk in the door. You don't have to agree but you do have to learn to think like an anthropologist". Then repeat that simple mantra in various forms throughout the semester. "Well, anthropologists say...." Well, that isn't really acceptable in the discipline...." "That interpretation doesn't work for anthropologists...." Use these phrases with that one difficult student rather than allow them to pick a fight about an issue you have not chosen to discuss. Don't be weak. Learn to redirect, instead.

Say for example, that you are discussing languages and the heckler loudly proclaims that it is just fine if all the languages of the world become extinct and we all speak English. Respond with, "well, you do realize that that would be a problem for anthropologists don't you? After all, we study people, and culture, and languages, and we kind of like them, you know." Now, I know you want to intellectually (and maybe literally) rip the heckler's arms off and beat him/her to death with the bloody nubs but really the class doesn't want to witness that. (Despite their alarming propensity to know far more about those Grand Theft Auto games than is healthy for them.)

Keep the class on your side and the heckler will flounder against the rocks of universal disapproval. Pretend that you are Sandra Bullock and take the high road. Pretty soon your ex and his tattooed girlfriend will have their T.V. show cancelled but you will always be rich and beautiful and beloved.....Its a fantasy people, work with me here.

Truth be told, you will probably have many happy classes without ever having to deal with the heckler but you need to be ready, just in case.

Has anyone seen my retirement?

noreply@blogger.com (Pamthropologist) — Mon, 08 Aug 2011 23:29:00 +0000

A couple of quarters, 4 pennies and a linty sourball in a small beaded change purse. Anyone? Anyone?

OMG, its so hot...

noreply@blogger.com (Pamthropologist) — Mon, 08 Aug 2011 23:12:00 +0000

We all died and went to hell, didn't we? Not Dante's hell but the other metaphorical understanding of it. Isn't someone supposed to tell us that we have arrived?

I know I should write something deep and meaningful but I think my brain has exceeded the recommended level on the Scoville Scale.

Advice for Newbies (and some oldies): things not to do in archaeology class

noreply@blogger.com (Pamthropologist) — Fri, 05 Aug 2011 13:17:00 +0000

In the middle of an Archaeology lecture (pardon me, I mean *broadcast*) on seriation, when you are seeking a relevant example in an attempt to be appealing, do not look around the room and seize on what seems to be an obvious example:

(*ssh* tattoos)

Those members of the current generation who have committed to the process and attach great meaning to it do not want to hear that someday they may be on the dying end of a battleship curve. This....does....not...go...over....well. At all.

They will no longer find the work of Deetz and Dethlefsen charming. And you might have, actually, had a chance with that but...nope. Not now. Battleship sunk.

Pedagogy Rant: Part 2

noreply@blogger.com (Pamthropologist) — Thu, 04 Aug 2011 19:03:00 +0000

So, here is part 2 of the rant that I owe you. Its a simple bit: we as academics ought to know better than to create these ridiculous straw men based on some kind of perceived bipolarity. Providing information in lecture/discussion format works very, very well for some subject matters. Group assignments work very, very well for some subject matters. Stop presenting pedagogy as if it is a magic pill in a one size fits all world. Sticking all of us teaching professionals in a metaphorical snuggie (following the one size fits all thought process here?) is not the way to go.

Or thanks to commenter, Tony (of Ethnography.com--I can never tell if I should put that stuff. Yell at me if I shouldn't), we have this one:
"You are not a sage on the stage, but a guide by the side!"
Thanks, Tony. I, totally, snorted.

I will leave you with this thought. A dear friend and colleague of twenty years stopped by to chat. He has embraced the non-"broadcasting" model. I asked: "what, exactly, do you do now?" "Oh, I give them crossword puzzles." "Crossword puzzles?" "Sure, I divide them in groups and they fill them out together to learn the terms. Then I go over them the last ten minutes of class. It is, actually, much easier for me...and, you know, I just don't care anymore."

For every bad "broadcast" experience of 400 distracted students passively allowing words to wash over their rapidly-texting minds; I can find you a class of 30 students, pushed together in groups, rapidly-texting while one of their kind is forced to fill out a crossword puzzle.

Can we please have a more intelligent discussion than this mess.

I am looking at you Mr. NPR guest, Don Tapscott. (Read the comments.)

Lecture is not "Broadcasting": A rant in two parts

noreply@blogger.com (Pamthropologist) — Mon, 25 Jul 2011 19:12:00 +0000

Monday, Monday.....

I just spent 3 hours responding to Discussion Board posts on my Distance Learning course. I have two 5 week courses running for our Summer II term. One Cultural Anth and one Archy class. I have many lessons fresh in my mind. Yes, they, always, teach me something these classes and students of mine.

At my institution we are being required to undergo 5 separate trainings in a two year window. Somehow, we faculty have become a "problem". That degree-thing that we have? That makes us content-masters and we shouldn't be that. We are to be facilitators. I feel a bit like the intelligentsia under Pol Pot being sent off to the agricultural collectives. That is, of course, a horrendous metaphor but the package of behaviors driving these trainings are remarkably similar and that is worth noting.

This is my understanding of the content of these mandatory trainings. The methods of teaching a standard lecture class have been labeled "broadcasting". Someone, somewhere (I do know who but I choose not to invoke names) has decided that I stand in front of groups of students and deliver information as if "broadcasting" to the multitudes. This is a "bad thing" because it does not engage students nor make them part of their own learning process.

It is a ridiculous and inaccurate straw man. I am not teaching classes of 400. I have a cap of 36 and given that it is a community college, my attendance is likely to be in the twenties at most. I don't stand there droning on, I interact with my students in an educational discussion. However, this is deemed "not good". I am to let them learn themselves through group activities. I don't, necessarily, have a problem with groups activities. In fact, I did a lot of them many years ago when I was at University. This, of course, doesn't fit in with the straw man of the educational consultants and experts of today and, thus, the re-training that I require. They argue that I teach through lecture because that was the method I learned by. I wonder if these folks, in fact went to a University. We learned a lot of different ways. In many science classes we had labs, in my Archaeology classes we did lots and lots of group projects. Steve Plog made me work in a group counting the trees on campus (survey strategy exercise)--thanks for that, Steve. Shocking to think that my professors dovetailed their teaching to the skill/knowledge needing to be learned! Shocking to think that one size fits all wasn't and isn't part of the educational process anywhere that I know--that is, outside of Distance Learning classes. OH, SNAP!

When Groups Go Bad: how about we talk about what groups can't do that an expert can?

Back to my Distantly Learning class. (I did bring that up for a reason, you know.) I have a series of Discussion Boards in which my students discuss important issues in Cultural Anthropology. One of the Boards is on anthropological ethics. I give them a case from the AAA website and ask them to discuss what they might do. (I know this isn't really doing ethnography but I am opposed to allowing survey course level students to conduct any fieldwork for fear of the potential damage they could do to a community. We can debate that at another time.) At the moment, the case I have posted is Case 16: What's in that Bottle, What's in that Pipe. Here. I like it because Vine Deloria has a comment up which, completely and quite beautifully, turns the whole issue on its ear (and makes me chuckle with evil glee.) I ask them to refer to our ethics code in their answer.

I was greeted with a pile of new posts over the weekend which, first of all, excerpted pieces of the ethics code which were completely misunderstood. I have noticed that in recent years that many students feel that just any old quote will do and it really doesn't matter if the quote supports the argument or not. Further than that, however, was the disconcerting trend for the students to engage in their own group think. Each successive post tended more and more to an agreement that it was the job of the anthropologist to inform these "Native Americans" about the dangers of alcohol abuse. Whatever we all think about "students today", I think most of us in the trenches would happily support the notion that they are not reading with any care nor are they very good at critical thinking. And they want to "save" everyone. Who in the group is capable of revealing their own cultural biases? I assure you that it is rare for them to do it for themselves. Who is going to use the very skill set that we anthropologists are taught? Who is going to ask these questions:

1. My brother is a welder. At the end of a hard week of manual labor, he has been known to pick up a six pack of beer and throw some hamburgers on the grill for his family. Do you assume that my brother has an alcohol problem? Why would you assume that a person of Native American descent abuses alcohol because they want to purchase some form of alcohol?

1. If you were writing an article on British music and had the opportunity to interview (the regretfully late) Amy Winehouse on her musical influences, would you take that opportunity to lecture her on the dangers of drug abuse? Would that be individually respectful, as required by the AAA Code? Would it, in fact, "work"?

2. If you were an anthropologist in Peru studying the thought process behind the "guinea pig healing" that you saw, would you communicate to the people you were interviewing all the things that were "wrong" with what they are doing? If you objected to the killing of the guinea pig, do you have the right, as an anthropologist, to share those objections or demand that they stop this practice? Should you tell them they need to go to a "real" doctor?

Who can continue to frame the issues in the terms they need. And, let's be honest, I can't always do that easily. But I know how to try to do it. I know how to push them and push back against them.

While all those people making money and prestige are busy injuring our educational system and forcing me to waste hours in training in an attempt to stop my evil "broadcasting", the reality of my life is that I miss my lecture because I could redirect students when they first go astray rather than waste time forming and reinforcing opinions that aren't very helpful. Because talking is always faster than writing. Three hours later.

106 degrees in Houston. Hang in there air conditioner. You can do it. I know you can. Please.

60% of Texas Students Have Issues: How Big Are They?

noreply@blogger.com (Pamthropologist) — Tue, 19 Jul 2011 23:37:00 +0000

I don't often read the local news. After all, our only remaining hometown newspaper is kinda pathetic. But, anyway, I was checking the weather cause we had rain--yes, I walked/danced through it with great joy--and I was checking the temperature and noticed this article which claims that 60 % of Texas students have been either expelled or suspended from school during their middle and high school years with some 15 % of them having been expelled or suspended over 11 times. And 97 % of those punishments were for violations of student conduct codes put in place by local school systems not for violating more serious state standards. Translation: kids are being kicked out of class for violating things like tardiness, dress codes, etc.

Wow.

Wow wow.

I noticed a few years ago that students will jump in and all start talking at once if you ask them about the rules they had to follow in High School. There are just tons and tons of rules about their dress. Shirts tucked in. Belts required, etc. etc. Colors forbidden. Type of t-shirt dictated. I know that many of my students don't have much money and have difficult times with getting basics. Some of my students don't even sleep in the same place every night. I am not making excuses for them. I think that is often a mistake but I do feel that many times they experience quite a bit of frustration with rules that are all about superficiality and control and not much about essentials.

No wonder they all seem so oppositionally defiant.

I think of texting that way. All through High School, their cell phones were forbidden to them (if they are caught with them they may have to pay to get them back, may lose them for the whole semester, etc.). When they show up in my class it may be some of the first months they have been allowed open access to them and you can tell some of them are just going hogwild with the hedonistic pleasure of unfettered access.

I learned from trial and error not to draw lines in the sand with them or it just becomes too knock-this-battery-off-my-shoulder in its epic stupidity. I try hard to redirect them with humor and quicker, more gentle reminders. Most of the time it has worked. I see why now. They are nanoseconds away from a "not this, again" *eye roll*.

This issue must, also, explain why a couple of years ago the student I saw in the hall with the t-shirt emblazoned with

"I have a Ph.D.*"

*Pretty Hugh Dick

(and I was thinking..hey, I do too...um wait. Maybe not)

Who would wear that except someone with a bad case of the rebellions? LMAO.

I see that on the various sites posting the story that posters are having a fun time attacking the kids for not behaving and not being "raised properly", and, of course, there are race and gender issues at play which Joe Public is having fun skewering. There are close to 2,000 posts are Yahoo now on their posting of the article. I won't comment on those posts but I will say, all things considered, I don't have that many discipline issues and at least some of these disciplined kids are ending up in my class. Anyway, something ain't working. For sure.

Haply I think on anthropology...

noreply@blogger.com (Pamthropologist) — Wed, 13 Jul 2011 16:21:00 +0000

Compartmentalization: I have trying not to click on stories about the east African drought. Last week, I saw The Guardian had a photo slideshow up with pictures from Save the Children. I made it about half way through before the pain felt more than I could take. Better to focus on watering my flower bed in my own pathetic drought-y existence and be thankful that my brain is capable of walling off those feelings for a brief period of time. And be reminded of the reasons I teach.

Yet in these thoughts myself almost despising,

Haply I think on thee...

Funny that my "thee" should be teaching. Well, maybe not so funny... the package that is "Africa" is always entwined with teaching for me.

The World's Most Beautiful Sociology Professor and I, recently, went to an all day workshop on social movements. In the days that followed, I found myself wondering why the system of education in our country was never part of the discussion. Anthropology as a social movement. It works for me. And yet some one half of our students in America our in Community Colleges where the discipline of Anthropology barely registers.

Today, I am eternally grateful for that "haply"--whatever it is that gives us humans hope.

Grading, Grading, Grading whip crack (to the tune of Rawhide)

noreply@blogger.com (Pamthropologist) — Tue, 05 Jul 2011 18:57:00 +0000

Gradin', gradin', gradin'
Gradin', gradin', gradin'
Gradin', gradin', gradin'
Gradin', gradin', gradin'
Rawhide!

Keep gradin', gradin', gradin'
Though the posts are pervadin',
Keep 'em from invadin', rawhide.
Through laziness and cheating,
Some deserve a beating
Wishin' they would have some pride.
All the things they're missin',
And really shouldn't be dissin',
Are causing my feelings to subside.

Post 'em up, grade 'em down
Grade 'em up, move 'em on.
Post 'em up, grade 'em down:
Rawhide.
Build 'em up grade 'em down,
Grade 'em up, push 'em on,
Build 'em up, grade 'em down,
Rawhide!

Loved that show.

Summer I: almost down. Next up: Summer II

Throwing Yogurt: what if the only ammo was Greek?

noreply@blogger.com (Pamthropologist) — Fri, 01 Jul 2011 16:11:00 +0000

Here in Texas we are facing yet another severe drought. We went months without a significant rainfall and I have both the crispy, crackly grass and the water bill to prove it. But we are going to be having that most hallowed of American traditions this coming weekend, anyway. Gunpowder explosions will be lighting the skies of Houston this coming Monday, regardless of the very real possibility of fire. I am, seriously, considering manning my garden hose for the night. I think the pressure is sufficient to reach my roof.

I don't know what I am going to do next academic year if the Texas legislature has its way. Because a good chunk of my students are going to be armed. Leave it to the great state of Texas to respond to the shootings in Tucson (and a scare at UT early last year) not by limiting guns on campus but by passing legislation which guarantees the student's rights to carry. I understand we are not even permitted an opt out clause. We have to let them bring it on. For a good number of years, I have been listening to my students go on and on about everyone they would shoot. I think I have mentioned that when I show the First Contact movie in class, very few students feel that Nick was not fully justified for the shootings at Tari. (Even when I bring up the "castle" defense; that Texas tradition of being justified in shooting someone who threatens your domain/castle.) Most, happily, assert their right to shoot someone in the parking lot for attempting to steal their pick-up truck. I've probably mentioned that before because it always amazes me. Anyway, I am a bit concerned about grading people whose solution to life's difficulties is gunpowder--possibly aimed at me. A bullet-proof vest is definitely going to mess up my outfit. And what does one do about one's head. After all, isn't that the bit that Mick blew into tiny pieces? *gulp*

Why couldn't we just throw yogurt? In the anthropology of possibilities, wouldn't we all be better off to emulate the Greeks at their protests earlier this month? I mean we are more than happy to reinvent the gifts of the Greeks in every "Western Civ" class that I have ever encountered. And we loved the hell out of them in "My Big, Fat, Greek Wedding". Plus, I understand that Greek yogurt sales are way up in America over the past two years. The package pictured above was purchased at our new Whole Foods with a dollar off coupon....see, we can get it on sale and it might even be cheaper than that other kind of ammo. And...it washes out.

What would it take us to "go Greek"?

(This one's for you, Tina.)

Edited to add: for a more serious look at the consequences of the invention and use of gunpowder rather than "cultured" milk products, check out the latest blog post at Savage Minds on the real costs: Costs of War: Doing the Numbers.

Teaching Sister Wives: An Exercise in Contextualization

noreply@blogger.com (Pamthropologist) — Wed, 29 Jun 2011 21:21:00 +0000

Look! Pretty, happy, polygynous women! Sisters....belonging to one mister. I don't know how many of you have been dealing with this one in your classes this past year. I guess the show is now in its second or third (?) season on TLC. I know that this past year, as we have covered the kinship/marriage chapter in both my Cultural Anth and General Anth classes that students have been bringing it up in class discussions (and to a lesser extent that Big Love show on HBO). Of course, being as students are all unique and individual they have different takes on it but it does seem that by that point in the semester, most are afraid to be too judgmental because of me snarking at them about that whole cultural relativism thing for a few months. There, also, seems to be a bit of that interpretive drift stuff involved: the more you watch it the more you think that it seems reasonable. Anyway, I have quite a few students who watch the show and find themselves wondering….”wait, is this good or bad?”

Full disclosure: I admit to being more than a little irritated by that smug, self-centered husband Kody the few times I have watched it. (The things I do for my students.) Dude is driving a two-seat Lexus convertible while his wives are making do with broke-down Suburban things. But, except for those gosh-darn pesky feelings that the wives, occasionally, allow themselves to feel but then quickly tamp down; they are all so gosh-darn happy. Get the point?

Anyway, Sister Wives has caused me to speak a bit more about polygyny both in my online and in my face to face classes. What follows in the paragraphs below, more or less, are the issues I try to bring up to explain things. But then I, eventually, realized after explaining all that in those paragraphs below, that it is a good moment to add two additional points to push them beyond a simple view of the role of cultural relativism in our discipline. First, you can't really understand complex issues like polygyny (of for that matter polyandry) by only looking at the emic perceptions of the participants of from only the views of one extended family unit: its is the society-wide perspective that, also, most be understood. Let's all chant: cultural context; cultural context; cultural context. Second, maybe...just maybe...it is okay to judge or, at the very least, it is okay to explore the consequences of some behaviors on that wider group. And then we can all be happy hating on Kody. Works for me.

Here goes (and feel free to correct me when I am wrong. I probably am.)

Polygyny has some interesting consequences for a society. Since male/female ratios tend to be about 50/50 in the world when left to "natural" forces. (Edited for clarification: interesting aside: the full complexities of human sex ratios still have some mysteries to be uncovered.) When one man marries say 4 wives, then three men, theoretically, do without. If this is a repeated pattern in a society this tends to drive up the marriage age for men--they have to wait to get married and drives down the marriage age for women--they are married off young because they are in short supply and, thus, desirable. Society-wide over time you get a pattern of older men with multiple wives and younger men without any wives. This is what you see with the Maasai, for example. And some men will, always do without. Powerful older men end up dominating the society and women (girls) get apportioned to them.

The societal problem that often results (and all societies have problems that they deal with because of their structural organization; one of ours, for example is the race/poverty issue) is a large number of young men who can, potentially, cause trouble for their elders. After all, the women may find them more attractive than their elder husbands. The solution of the Maasai for many years was to send the young men away to do other things; cattle raiding/warfare, for example. This used to work better for them in the past but now that you can't go out to kill a lion because of that whole endangered species thing, there are issues. Thank goodness, there are jobs available for Maasai moran with American Express.

In America, there are a few areas where some Mormon sects (not part of the mainstream church) still illegally practice polygyny; like you see on the show Sister Wives. Interestingly enough, those areas end up with a surfeit of young men. These young men tend to be viewed by their small, local groups as "bad"; a convenient view for the elder men to encourage because they threaten those elders. Social workers in Salt Lake City, for example, report that young men from these communities often show up in the city, chased out or dumped off by those older, more powerful men. The guys are a problem because they often have not been educated in a way that employers find attractive. Also, many of the young men have internalized the idea that they are “bad” so they tend to act out. Here is a basic newspaper article published a few years ago from the Denver Post that lays out the issues in terms students can understand. There is even a Wikipedia entry under "Lost Boys" on the subject.

And there is even a recently released film called Sons of Perdition which shows the consequences for children. It was shown this month on Oprah Winfrey's new television network OWN. A basic review of the documentary was published at the beginning of this month at the Washington Post. It is on my list of things to watch this summer so I can't really comment, yet.

After all that, I try to get the students to discuss that "is it good or bad" issue after they realize that the show doesn’t show the full picture of polygyny. Hopefully, while they may realize that anthropology doesn’t necessarily try to answer that question because of the dictate of cultural relativism BUT anthropology doesn’t argue that you don’t have the right as a person or as a society to make judgments. In fact, one of the advantages of anthropology as a discipline is the way it forces you to look at issues not from a personal or individual point of view but from a society-wide perspective. I think we would all agree that polygyny isn’t the “victimless” practice of free individuals making free choices that the show tries to depict.y

So, anyone else facing questions about the show? Are you going with the "its all good" philosophy?

Pushing back against Islamophobia

noreply@blogger.com (Pamthropologist) — Mon, 27 Jun 2011 21:12:00 +0000

My daughter (readers of the blog know that she is a college student at the University of Texas) is in Beirut. She is in an intensive summer Arabic program at American University in Beirut. She has, also, been doing some research for her senior honors thesis in the History department at UT which she will be completing this coming year. I am very proud of her.

Back home, when I share that information, I am greeted with the type of comments and looks that define the world of an anthropologist outnumbered and outgunned in Texas, America, U.S.A....all the way....

Let's tell this one through visual culture, today. Here is what they are thinking:

and here she is in Beirut:

So far, so good. But then the summer is still young. Plenty of time for her to acquire a few labels. /sarcasm.

Seriously, though. I have the care of her car and I was pleased to find that she left behind some of her CD's acquired at UT. My current favorite is by Omar Offendum, a Syrian-American poet and rapper. I am trying to figure out ways to integrate his work into my Cultural class. Here is some of his work courtesy of YouTube. The first is a somewhat personal expression of the bicultural/bilingual realities of being an Arab-American. Some of you may recognize Paul Anka's Destiny being used here as the driving tract. Paul Anka was of Syrian/Lebanese descent:

Here is a clip of one of his live performances of Damascus:

And here he is performing his poetry which allows you to appreciate the beauty and complexity of his lyrical construction:

I speak no Arabic but this Arabic language version of Langston Hughes' The Negro Speaks of Rivers moves me as much as the original poem:

I've known rivers:
I've known rivers ancient as the world and older than the
flow of human blood in human veins.

My soul has grown deep like the rivers.

I bathed in the Euphrates when dawns were young.
I built my hut near the Congo and it lulled me to sleep.
I looked upon the Nile and raised the pyramids above it.
I heard the singing of the Mississippi when Abe Lincoln
went down to New Orleans, and I've seen its muddy
bosom turn all golden in the sunset.

I've known rivers:
Ancient, dusky rivers.

My soul has grown deep like the rivers.

More to come....
Edited 10:20 to replace incomplete video posting with two live performance selections.

Tutaendelea...we will continue...

noreply@blogger.com (Pamthropologist) — Mon, 27 Jun 2011 18:49:00 +0000

I see the viagra sellers have been keeping everyone occupied in my absence. I will be trying to find my way back to my voice in the coming weeks. There have been some rather significant issues at my institution. I made myself a promise when I started the blog that I wouldn't have it become a personal bitch session for me and that I would post out of a sincere desire to share about teaching anthropology. I haven't felt able to do that so... I didn't. I think I can now but I feel a bit rusty so I appreciate your forbearance as I feel my way back. Bas.

Fun Stuff: Have We All Seen This?

noreply@blogger.com (Pamthropologist) — Fri, 17 Sep 2010 18:48:00 +0000

The Beatles and Anthropology

noreply@blogger.com (Pamthropologist) — Tue, 10 Aug 2010 00:06:00 +0000

Thanks to one of our/my readers with the note "best example about assumptions in anthropology". I quite agree. Entitled Beatles 3000. Have a bit of a giggle.

Heaven, Heaven is a Place, a Place Where Nothing, Nothing Ever Happens

noreply@blogger.com (Pamthropologist) — Fri, 30 Jul 2010 15:11:00 +0000

For those of you wondering how its going in the great State of Texas, where we rewrite textbooks to suit our own views of the world and we continue our attack on that evil "theory" of evolution. I can report that we are quite successful at our stated goals: our descent into ignorance is complete.

This morning, in my online Archaeology class, this post showed up:

In the beginning of this class, I thought that it would be a very interesting class due to the fact that I love history & research. I was always fascinated by all the different theories of the human ancestry & our own origins. I have now come to realize that unfortunately for me, it has become nothing more than a graduation requirement. The book is informative & makes me question many things taught in our own history, however I do not agree with this section of the book, as it goes against everything that I believe in & study in my religious preferences.

In the book on page 39 it shows what is perceived as our own human ancestry family tree. It shows that we started out as ancestors of great apes & slowly evolved over time. As the text states, "there are controversies over what to call these first hominin forms & how to identify them," the concept that humans came from apes is what their so-called science classifies it as, but there are so many other factors that are not mentioned. I agree that there are a lot of similarities but there is so much that is left unsaid. This portion of the sections was very hard for me to read let alone write about. I disagree with the book in every aspect on this particular subject & find it rather offensive for people to even such a thing & call it human origins....

In modern times most people are ignorant of our own origin of existence & there are so many different versions of the story I sometimes find it hard to keep track. This section did nothing more than give me yet another version of the story, & I personally don't believe a word of it. However, it did bring up some interesting points that made me question our know history about the Native Americans being the first inhabitants of this land. If we supposively evolved from apes based on their theory than how do they know that the original bone fossils were not Native Americans before they too evolved to what is known as a modern Native American? I believe that this is all based upon their own assumptions. I believe that what they found was real, but they assume what is true & hold no facts as to what really happened & how it all really started. I don't believe that we will ever know the real truth.

As I go through this book I find many different scientific discoveries that are amazing but they hold no truth, we know only what the fact tell us and they don't tell us how it all began or why only that something did in fact exist. You can't argue with science & facts obviously, but I will argue they assume our origins based on finding that prove nothing more than an existence with no proof of whether it was human existence or not.

Check, please.

Since this is making the rounds, I am posting it up. It makes me feel better:

Keep fighting the good fight, we in the trenches applaud you.

The Extra Credit Question: No Stupid in Anthropology

noreply@blogger.com (Pamthropologist) — Mon, 26 Jul 2010 17:24:00 +0000

Anybody tired of this one? I am teaching only online this summer. We just started Summer II--one semester in 5 weeks. Used to be that meant lecturing for two+ hours a day, now it just means fielding emails and discussion board posts for a couple of hours every day. Given the amount of time required to type a response to a simple question, I find myself wondering if this is truly an advantageous trade-off. Its just so much easier to answer a question in person than in writing. Not only is all the tone gone from writing--it requires a more careful response to get the tone right--but their questions often require more than just a factual answer, they require some kind of perspective and advice about their learning processes.

The sad part is that they never ask about anthropology. Its always some other issue they contact you about. Case in point, is the extra credit question; like the one I just got. The student took the first chapter quiz--one of many quizzes and one of many assignments, including discussion board posts-- and didn't do as well as she/he wanted. Rather than arrive at the conclusion that they needed to prepare better/work harder/study more, he/she fires off the inevitable "do you offer extra credit" email.

Kill me now. Not willing to commit murder to put me out of my misery? *Looks around*. Anybody, anybody? Didn't think so. So, now I have to answer this thing, *shudder*, and in such a way that I don't reveal my frustration and irritation. Its there, trust me. And, in such a way that I encourage she/he to succeed without enabling. And, honestly, I can't tell if she/he needs reassurance that he/she can succeed or a good swift kick in the pants so they will get off his/her ass and get to work.

And back to my rant....what is wrong with these students, today.......etc, etc, etc. Lead-based paint. The World's Most Beautiful Sociology Professor just yelled at me: "They're stupid, Pam. They are just stupid." I hate being an anthropologist because I am pretty sure we aren't even allowed to believe that. We are supposed to respect and value each one of them, aren't we? Aren't we? Somebody remind me of that because I am leaning the sociology way: they are soooooo stupid. Apologies to all you sociologists out there. I needed a label and, today, you are it.

Twenty Minutes Not Wasted: How to Teach the Big Picture

noreply@blogger.com (Pamthropologist) — Tue, 08 Jun 2010 16:49:00 +0000

Super great TED talk just up:

Now, I know you are going to think I am excited at the technological possibilities mentioned at the end--the ones for integrating many peoples into an Open Education experience. Or maybe you think I am worked up about the continuing relevance and power of LECTURE, even in the largest of groups. And, yes, that did totally work me up. BUT more hot than that was the wonderful teachable moment which shows to our students the relevance (that word again) of anthropology. It is so easy to add Anthropology into the mix here. Or add this into a course on Anthropology. Fundamentally, we want students to understand that the people's of the world are our window into viewing the different possibilities of the essence of an idea. What is marriage? How are differing views of its essence reckoned by the full spectrum of humanity? Way cool and, totally, usable for Distantly Learning.

Oh, and check out Michael Sandel's website at www.justiceharvard.org. He has a talk on cannibalism http://www.justiceharvard.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=11&Itemid=8which I am off to watch. You know how we Anthropologists love a good cannibalism lecture (stereotype alert).

Score One for Our Side

noreply@blogger.com (Pamthropologist) — Sun, 23 May 2010 02:22:00 +0000

James Franco reprimanded for texting in class. Juicy details here.
Guess, his spidey-sense failed him. Okay, I thought that was pretty funny. (Although, truthfully, I had no idea who James Franco is, good thing the article told me.)

Babies: The Film

noreply@blogger.com (Pamthropologist) — Sun, 09 May 2010 16:04:00 +0000

For Mother's Day, my daughter and I went to see the new French movie, Babies, made by well-known international filmmaker, Thomas Balmes.

It was a rather remarkable and engaging "nature" film about the first year in the life of four infants from Namibia, Japan, the United States, and Mongolia. I say "nature" film because there is no narration in the film and the focus is at baby/subject-level. The focus means that you spend so much more time "seeing" the babies as unique and different personalities, even though the cultural content of their development is so radically different. The least ethnocentric of viewers will, probably, walk away with glimpses of Hattie's (U.S) calm, quiet self; Mari's (Japan) drive and determination and resultant frustration(my daughter shared this: the blowing of fuses when motor skills don't match internal desires?);Ponijao's (Namibia)languid curiosity, and Bayar's (Mongolia) limitless happiness and charm.

There is ample fodder for judgement and I imagine the less anthropologically-initiated will be shocked at the visible dirt which is the Namibian existence, the casual breast-feeding of Ponijao's mother, and the human/animal intimacies of life amongst pastoralists (both Namibia and Mongolia).

I have to admit to being less than pleased with one aspect of the film. Balmes has stated in interviews that he sought to show different societies in an almost hierarchy of relationships with nature from the stark existence of Namibia to the crowded quarters of Japan. He succeeds in that vision but the cost is a depiction of "Africa" which is going to be strongly re-enforcing the "primitive". The bleak Namibian desert landscape, the pastoral life, and remote location coupled with images of Ponijao casually picking a discarded bone from a pile of dirt and refuse and chewing on it in her first few months of life is really reinforcing the "savage" and not exactly a representational picture of life in Africa.

But the nice bit: pay close attention for you shall see that Ponijao is never alone. Surrounded constantly by her extended "family" it is impossible to determine the relations of the women and children who love and care for her. (Side note: no father is ever seen.) That resonates Africa for me. I was grateful for the short time my own daughter got (at the age of 4) to run with a pack and be cared for as one of many.

And then, I comforted, myself on the stereotype front, with a giggle: "we", the collective American generic, must suffer the vision of little Hattie struggling to escape baby sing-along with weird mother-nature-earth chant. While the group's sing-along earth mother offers a chant to the Earth and Dad follows obediently along, Hattie flees the circle and pulls determinedly at the door. My sentiments, exactly, Hattie. San Francisco: need I say more. You won't find that stuff in Texas or New Jersey. LOL.

Unlike, Ponijao, Hattie spends much time alone with one parent. Not for her the touch--loving and abusive--of an older sibling or playmate. Nor for Mari either. Our "developed" babies interact in carefully structured worlds isolated in strollers, distracted by toys, lectured at with books with titles like "No Hitting", rather than rolling in the earth and pulling the penis of our older brother.

I am uncertain what students might take away from the film but I can see some rather extensive discussions revolving around all this issues. One way to "get into" them is probably to approach the discussion of concepts of safety and danger. I imagine most students will be instantly struck with the different standards of supervision the different babies experience. The film maker has commented on his own role in the process; having been asked the inevitable "when would you have interfered" when faced with toddlers tangled in between the legs of goats and cattle.

There is a rather extensive support site for the film here. And go see it. Its a really nice change of pace in a hostile and unhappy world.

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Need your help. Resignation advice: Got it?

noreply@blogger.com (Pamthropologist) — Wed, 27 Jan 2010 03:32:00 +0000

So, gentle readers....I need your advice. What do you do in lower higher education to resign from an extra-contractual position when you have come to the conclusion that you are getting hosed?

I mean none of the promises that were made to you by your President have come true even when you have worked your butt off and showed all manner of success. Actually, it isn't just a matter of promises not being kept its the realization that you are out there in horrible circumstances with no support and the job you have to fulfill can't really be done because all your hands and feet are tied and failure is looming large. You are left alone under the power of the one person you stated from the beginning you could NOT work under. "You don't have to. You will answer to me". NOT!

Situation normal. All fucked up. Students hurt. Taxpayers getting screwed. No R-E-S-P-E-C-T. I need out.

So, friends...how and when do you resign? Do you finish out the Spring semester and tell them then. Do you tell them now and offer to finish up? Do you do it short and sweet and how much of your hand do you show?

Give me all you got. I need it.

Unteaching: its what we do

noreply@blogger.com (Pamthropologist) — Sun, 10 Jan 2010 15:50:00 +0000

Its always nice to be reading along and find a reference to anthropology which not only seems to understand us but to promote the best of us.

So, here I was sipping the morning coffee with my laptop open to the Sunday papers (look Ma, no ink-stained fingers) and I ran across one of those same-ole/same ole articles. You can read it at the Saturday (okay, I was working my way up to the Sunday one-sheesh) New York Times here, in an article entitled "Multicultural Critical Theory. At B-School?". Condensed version: business schools are "rediscovering" the value of a liberal arts education for creative and critical thinking skills. I am not sure what is new about this. I worked for a year in the admissions office at Northwestern--waaaaay back then and we tittered at all the clueless students who would come to interview and express an interest in undergraduate business degrees (no, next please). Northwestern didn't have an undergraduate business degree (I assume they still don't). The Kellogg Graduate School of Management wanted students with good grounded liberals arts degrees for their MBA program. I always advise my students that IF they want to do the corporate path, they should get the best, cheapest, all-A liberal arts degree they can (something they like well enough to kick-butt at) and then borrow to the hilt for the best MBA they can get. (Funny to think of little ole me giving advice about how to succeed in the world of corporate capitalism--but I aim to please.)

Anyway, keep reading along and deep into page 3, you will find this lovely quote:

Instead of presenting existing problems to analyze or solve, design-thinking classes send students to do something akin to anthropological field work to find the problems. Then they field-test solutions, refining as they go.

Leaving aside my confusion with the difference between analyzing an existing problem and discovering a new problem--isn't a new problem still an existing problem and doesn't someone, somewhere "know" about it or it wouldn't be a "problem"--its nice to see we still have relevance as a frame of reference. We still retain that undercover, investigative, hanging out in the "real" world feel.

It makes me all wibbly inside. Its what we do--that part of us that can't be measured but easily translates to a classroom--not to be measured--can't be measured but it is transformative. Its Old School.

I always tease my students. Anthropology asks all those questions you asked in grade school and were told to shut up for asking. And then they tried to stuff all that crap into you that really seemed to beggar the question: why don't I have sex with my mother if dogs do? Does Santa Claus do a fly-over on Africa because they were all bad? Does God not like poor people? Do humans taste like chicken? Do human societies piss down their own legs? Do my genitals look like everyone else's? Does everyone else have a bigger penis? Did the Twilight Bark really work; I mean when the dogs were all barking at each other did they really say "quick, hide the puppies because Cruella deVille is after then to turn them all into coats". Is "evil" always angular? What is the meaning of skinny bitch? Does she just need a sandwich? Are we Americans really better than everyone else? Can we save the whole world or just some bits? If we kill all the bad people and only the good ones are left standing do we win? What is going on behind that curtain? If I think bad thoughts about someone else can shit happen? Why does shit happen?

And so you spend time unteaching. I think I spend most of my time unteaching--I suppose that gets labeled as "critical thinking" or the "reexamination of our own cultural biases". In many respects, a good cultural anthropology class just provides the safe environment to ask those questions and rethink how to find the answers. But first, students need to find their way back to those questions and like Walmart, we have to roll back those preconceived notions.

Its nice that when the New York Times is searching for condensed explanations, we still stand for that process: throw off your shackled thinking and go find the answer--in reality not your notions of it.

Now, its on to the actual Sunday paper with its articles about dumping unsold clothing or giving it away (does Africa really need H&M pleather miniskirts?) and exporting the DSM IV (God bless those crazy-ass psych people).

Things White People Love: Avatar

noreply@blogger.com (Pamthropologist) — Tue, 05 Jan 2010 17:06:00 +0000

No, I haven't seen it. I probably won't. I always hate it when Hollywood drives the bus--especially for two hours and forty minutes. Besides being an Avatar virgin means I don't become overly invested in my own opinions of it and I am interested in the opinions of my students this coming semester.

I noticed a very interesting Russian doll discussion about it at Savage Minds. I guess by Russian doll I mean it became more and more about "us" anthropologists and our analyses and seemed to become smaller and smaller somehow.

And then at New Year's my neighbours were enthusiastically discussing our loss of noble innocence in the modern era and I felt curmudgeonly superior with my internal snorting, ass that I am. So I am no less small, it seems.

Goodness, so much analysis: "dances with smurfs in space", Pocahontas redux, etc, etc.

Still, I remember walking by a movie theater on my first trip to Tanzania in 1985. It was really the only one I can recall seeing. On the main street in Dar, close to the American library of USIS (as it was at that time). Walking by it one day I heard huge waves of laughter spilling out the door. Using the power of my whiteness, I walked up and peered in. There was one of those low-budget Asian karate movies on the screen--no translations, no sub-titles. Those few Tanzanian (mostly) men who could afford the shillings that day were sitting there laughing hilariously at the shirtless Asian men kicking each other on the screen.

Maybe we anthropologists should be more concerned with the meaning Tanzanians attach to the movie. Third world not second life? Shakespeare in the bush, anyone? Or Sundiata a la Disney, yet again? Sad to be reminded that the myths of history are written (and analyzed ad nauseaum) by the conquerors.

But, hey, it isn't easy being blue.

Measuring Success

noreply@blogger.com (Pamthropologist) — Mon, 21 Dec 2009 16:07:00 +0000

Tomorrow is my baby girl's twentieth birthday. In the artificial construct of American age, it is the last year I can refer to her as a baby girl. Next year, she will be an adult.

There has been a lively discussion on the SACC listserv about measuring educational success. Of course, I think it is all bullshit. I hate when people try to apply scientific standards to human behavior. It can't be done. Anthropology has taught me that. And then to take it one step further and tell me I need to be able to demonstrate my effectiveness to the public? Please. Get your cultural hegemony out of my classroom.

Anthropology has taught me that humans are too much fun to waste time trying to control them. Let us relish the process. Celebrate the experience.

Like parenting. Or should the public have the right to measure my effectiveness in that regard? Should I make transparent and explicit my parenting plan? Should we devise models of my effectiveness? (Did I mention she got straight A's at UT this semester?)

Oh well, time to prepare for the annual Dim Sum birthday party. We are having it one day early this year. I don't know how it came to be that she celebrated in this fashion. One year, she just wanted to do it and so we do. And have continued to do so. I don't know what it means to her personal growth but it makes me happy and I relish the process.

Empire Zits: Pow, Zap

noreply@blogger.com (Pamthropologist) — Sat, 28 Nov 2009 19:24:00 +0000

So, I saw this on the Huffington Post and it was just so way cool that I had to share.

Seems that empires are like zits. First they grow, then they explode, then, eventually, they just disappear.

My favorite part is in 1960 when African independence kicks in. I so knew that was coming. Pow. Zap. Too bad so sad.

Visualizing empires decline from Pedro M Cruz on Vimeo.