Posted by TJResearcher on March 25, 2001 at 19:27:58:
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I’m willing to continue to defend myself, answer questions, and/or participate in discussions. Sometimes it takes me a while to calm down, be professional, and answer things in a way that will make sense to those who are asking/commenting about/dismissing me or my work out of hand. Raiders: I’m still working on a response to your last lengthy post. Even though some of your possible conclusions are really over the top :) I think you missed your calling (unless you are already a career counselor or shrink) !! El_Cabrio: “anti-thetical” means contrary to someone’s goals; so when I said some women feel that “appearing sexually confident and experienced is seen as anti-thetical to establishing a good foundation with a guy” I mean they worry that being sexually experienced will scare him off, cause him to distrust her, and in general undermine the relationship because he sees and treats her as a ‘slut’, etc. you are female? As to my inability to listen to people’s experiences, look for patterns, see how their experiences compare with others, including those others that other researchers have studied, and then translate that information into a dissertation, a paper for a conference, or a book, well… I disagree. Sometimes actual participants have an advantage in understanding what they do, how and why they do it, and what it means when they do it, and sometimes they DON’T. There is such a thing as being too committed, too involved with your OWN point of view. As an insider you can take things for granted, you may not compare yourself to others, you may not even see the value in it, you may be less willing to represent viewpoints of fellow participants, you may have a stake in how you share (or choose to not share) your findings… Try to imagine, if you will, how YOUR study would look should you want to do your dissertation in Tijuana. Probably very different from mine. Now, imagine a relevant, sexy, interesting project being completed as a COLLABORATION between outsiders and insiders. This is the kind of thing I’m trying to do on my own small scare. Your concerns, however, are not exactly new – in the sense that universities are concerned about such things whenever they hire faculty to teach almost ANY historical or social subject. An advantage the anthropological method has over other methods is that is forces you to be closer to the material and people you write about; it often forces you to be held more accountable for what you do (just look at the ethical concerns/questions the participants of this board have already raised; imagine being a researcher and trying to both appeal to and write responsibly about all the stakeholders involved in your field site) I’m going to the Yucatan for a week for a conference in a 6 star hotel. (sigh) The things you have to put up with in my line of work…. If I don’t respond, its because I’m playing. :) |
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