I have always thought that my relationship with anthropology can be best described as a love-hate affair. The more I think about myself as an “anthropologist”, the more futile I find it. I sometimes ask myself why I have spent so much time of my life on this boat. In the end, I agree with Maurice Bloch when he says that the world might as well do without having universities that include anthropological courses in their curricula. Many people are anthropologists without even knowing it, having three letters before their names, or a framed certificate on their walls. So, why am I here?
One of the things that I probably hate the most about anthropology is that it is one of these disciplines which tend over “intellectualise” people, experiences and things. When I was in high school, I was seduced by the image of the “intellectual” world. I somehow used to find it glamorous (!). As soon as I went through the first two years of my university career, I realised how shallow this world can also be. Probably it can be as shallow as the world of people who are on the look for “labels”, but instead of labels people accumulate quotes and books. I realised that, with some exceptions, the world of “academia” is full of people boosting their egos with their ‘rationalisations’; making the simplest things in life the most complicated and difficult to understand. Not surprisingly, this technique works. The worst is that many people praise it and has become the way in which many anthropologists legitimise the quality of their work. Somehow, I have become quite cynical about academia. I have come to conclude that certain part of it allows our major human weakness (false centeredness on “the ego”) to be disguised and exalted.
Luckily, anthropology is much more than that. Despite my many rants about anthropologists and their world; attempts to abandon this career, I eventually decided to take it further. Now, here I am, doing a PhD despite all the odds I had to face beforehand. If I can attribute this decision to anything, it is to fieldwork. Yes, fieldwork: anthropology’s methodological basis, but also the most falsely praised, romanticised and controversial part of it. Fieldwork, the exercise of putting yourself in other people’s shoes, has been the experience that has transformed me the most and made me grow as a person. This is why I love anthropology.
Our class is about to leave for fieldwork, some sooner than others. Probably, for some of us, this will also be the longest fieldwork and the furthest away from home. Personally, I might never become one of the best anthropologists in the world. I might even decide that after this I want to sell peanuts in the market. I no longer care. I cannot feel lucky enough for having the opportunity to take up this adventure one more time!
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Multiplication of unlawful disjunctions
1 year ago
2 comments:
andrew just told me about a book called 'the innocent anthropologist: notes from a mud hut' which apparently is a comical tale about an anthropologist who hasn't yet done fieldwork himself and is constantly battling the ego of more seasoned anthropologists pushing their greater experience upon him..... sounds like a fun read whilst in the field and a propos to what you expressed as some of the problems within our line of work.
Yeah, I have that book. I read it on my first undergrad year.
But aside from that book, I do mean it! There is a part of it that I really hate. The funiest thing is that we seem to repeat these patterns. I wonder if it is like when you are young you say that you will never be like your mum/dad and then you suddenly realise that as you become adult that you became sooo much like her/him, haha, that's why I keep telling myself that I will sell peanuts afterwards ;)
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