Holiday Happenings

Hello all that don't read this blog!

Remember that topic list I posted quite a long time ago (as in around September)?  Well, get ready for it to be finally acted upon!  Expect revisions, changes, etc, etc... really whatever fits my mood and I want to talk about.

There might be a revision of this blog's purpose later on... or maybe a clearer explanation of what I'm trying to do with it.  Anthropology is definitely the base, but the issues I want to vent about are not just related to Anthropology, but social sciences, philosophy, and maybe even science as a whole.

After retaking the History of Anthropological Theory class offered at UK (it's not an easy class, even if it's listed as a 300-level course), I've realized a few things:

• Man I really didn't internalize a lot of the concepts when I first took the class
• Anthropology really, really, really frustrates me
• Anthropology really, really, really fascinates me
• Anthropology has so many things related to it that I want to read about

And a whole bunch of other stuff that I'll probably remember later and say to myself "hey dummy! why didn't you think of that, then?" and so forth.

Don't expect a post a day or something like that.  I'll have something more manageable and structured.

So, after this finals week is over, expect to actually see some real content.

A Little Blurb About the 2010 Midterm Elections

So, I said I wouldn't get overtly political on this blog.  Well, too bad suckers, because here it comes!


Yes, I am liberal.  Yes, I believe in progressive policies.  And yes, I do believe in fiscal conservatism.  And yeah, I have (Jim) Gray Pride at the moment.


As far as Rand Paul... well he wants to cut monetary support for educational institutions.  Investing in education is the best thing you can do for yourself, bar none.  And in the short term, giving money away to students looks stupid.  Well, get your head out of your ass.  If we can invest heavily in the future (by ways of education), it'll pay itself back in spades.  If you give the next generation a future, well, guess what!  We'll be able to pay for you when you're old and can't pay for everything.  Not everyone is super rich, asshole.


You want perspective?  I've borrowed nearly $25,000 in just federal unsubsidized loans.  I've got to pay that back with interest.  The United States government will make money by giving me money to pay for a good education.


I just don't understand how people can't see these... dare I say, self-evident truths?


And for just a little perspective... students in the UK are protesting a tuition rate hike that would raise the cap to near £9,000.  Which universities are seeing this cap?  The top universities in the UK which at the moment can only charge £3,290 for a three-year program.  Know how much that is? The current three year fee changed into dollars based on the current exchange rate is roughly $5,300.  And raising it to the proposed fee ceiling? $14,500.


Man, they have it nice.  I wish students here at UK would protest the 9% tuition increase that happens yearly because the State Legislature doesn't deem education an investment worthy of budget cut immunity.

Academic History and Paradigms

Finally, a proper update!  I had this grand vision of this blog being a weekly thing, something that I could vent my frustrations about academics into and whatnot.  That's still the purpose of this blog, but the posting schedule is going to be much more erratic than that; I'm just swamped by stuff. 

Anyways, in order for the readers reader of this blog to understand the way I see things in academic anthropology (and by extension, everything else), I should detail my academic background.

I'm currently a 5th-year undergraduate student at the University of Kentucky pursuing two Bachelor of Arts degrees.  One is in Anthropology and the other is in International Studies, with a minor in Japan Studies.  Throughout elementary school, I was one of the "smart" kids.  While I didn't exactly breeze through my studies, nothing presented itself as a serious challenge.  In high school, it became apparent that I had a much higher affinity for social sciences and humanities, rather than natural sciences and math.  While it's not to say I'm bad in math (I'm not), I gravitate towards social sciences because making mistakes in those classes is more forgiving than making mistakes in math and its related disciplines (especially chemistry and physics).


When I entered into my freshman year at the University of Kentucky, I had no concrete plans for what I wanted to study, aside from Psychology and Japanese.  I quickly became bored with Psychology as an academic pursuit, and due to my inability to fully adjust to the academic lifestyle and atmosphere of college, nearly failed Japanese.  So, I drifted for a semester.  I took care of the University Studies requirements and tried to reinvigorate my Spanish (I took it all 4 years in high school), and I applied to go abroad to Akita International University's new Summer Program in Intensive Japanese.


I knew I wanted to go abroad.  I knew I wanted to keep learning.  And the experience I had in Japan that summer of 2007 cemented that idea of making a life out of studying and going abroad, learning about different cultures.  And I discovered Anthropology.


I am a Cultural Anthropologist through and through.  Recently my faculty adviser, Dr. Udvardy, said as much.  The Anthropology department at UK utilizes a four-field approach to Anthropology: Physical/Biological, Cultural, Archaeology, and Linguistic Anthropology.  The department specializes in mostly archaeology and cultural anthropology; the faculty affiliated with these approaches far outnumber other specializations.  They do have a biological anthropologist, and the studies of Linguistics is delegated to UK's own Linguistics department.  And really, the university's anthropology department specializes in Applied Anthropology.


My academic ambitions at this point (fall 2007) included anthropology, Japanese, and linguistics.  I quickly adopted the major of Anthropology and the minor of Japan Studies, and heavily considered a minor in Linguistics (and eventually confirmed it).  This continued into the spring semester, and the next fall.  And then something amazing happened.


The university added a new major and new department: International Studies.  This is exactly what I was looking for.  Something that combined world knowledge, language, and academics.  However, anthropology had ensnared me and refused to let go.  Eventually, I began to seek a double major in both International Studies and Anthropology.  It then became two degrees, not just two majors on one degree.  I would later drop the minor in linguistics due to perceived difficulties in linguistics and for prudent reasons: I needed to take less classes.


This brings me to the present.  I am close to graduating, and I believe I've discovered the path I would like to take.  For my degree in Anthropology, I am specializing in cultural anthropology, with a strong background in linguistics.  For my degree in International Studies, I am specializing in International Relations and concerned with east, south, and southeast Asia, and a minor in Japanese language and culture.


I am interested in contemporary societies with a political organization at the state level.  I am also interested in international relations and the various paradigms and theories concerned with it.  And Asia.  Specifically Japan; I've been fascinated with Japan for as long as I can remember.  However, my interests are slowly becoming more generalized to the "big three" of Asia: China, Japan, and (South) Korea.


I'm interested in combing my study of international relations theory, political violence, political economy, Asian cultures, cultural anthropology and linguistics.  To that end, I see myself specializing in the anthropology of globalization, urban anthropology, and political anthropology.


And that's a pretty good overview of my academic interests.  Here's a quick look at my classes for the fall semester:

• ANT 301 - History of Anthropological Theory
• HIS 595 - Special Topics in History: Japan at War
• JPN 405 - Semester in Asian Studies: Japanese Linguistics and Society
• PS 436G - International Organization

Schedule of Posts

Quick notice for all you reading (yes, all 1 of you):

Here's what's on my mind, and what will probably come out in respective order:

1. Academic introduction: a short explanation of how exactly I'll be writing about and in what manners I'll write in.
2. Empirical research and Anthropology
3. Objectivity and Anthropology
4. Questions of holistic research
5. Anthropology and Technology: Or How Technology is Making Us Stupid
6. Disconnect of personal/public/academic life
7. Religion and Science: Dogma/Theory and the underlying similarity

So yeah, there you have it.  Expect stuff to come during the weekends; I have enough stuff to do during the week.

Additionally, I'll be filling out the information sections of the blog and adding links to other Anthropological blogs and whatnot.

Welcome to the Angry Anthropologist

Welcome one and all to this little experiment in shared ranting.

Allow me to introduce myself.  I am currently a 5th year undergraduate student at the University of Kentucky aiming for a B.A. in Anthropology and a second B.A. in International Studies with a minor in Japan Studies.  I like my music as my music, and you can check out my post-rock show on WRFL (http://www.wrfl.fm).

The idea for this blog came to me after I took a class taught by a certain Dr. Coutain in International Organization.  I was required to keep up with the daily news and so I happened upon the wonderful and dangerous world of news blogs.  I read quite a few daily and eventually this nagging feeling burst forth into what you're reading now.

Now, these are my rants about what I'm frustrated with in life.  Specifically, I'm going to try and keep this blog from being overtly political and more focused on what I am trying to study: culture.  Anthropology (and by extension the humanities and social sciences) is a wonderful thing to study.  It's very deep and it encourages you to not just timidly test the waters out with your foot, but to say "fuck it" and jump in and immerse yourself in it.  Social sciences are by their nature multi-faceted beasts, each one displaying a different face to all and the same to none.  It's what I find so fascinating--and so frustrating--about them.  There are no clear lines, as there are no clear lines to the human experience.  After all, Anthropology, and specifically social/cultural anthropology is about trying to document and make sense of what it means to be human.  What it means to actually experience this thing called life, as a human.  I mean, it's in the name for [insert deity here]'s sake.

Now, a few formalities on this blog:
1) I do not shy away from the language of the commoner.  I swear worse than a sailor, and well damnit, sometimes a good swear word goes miles in emphasizing a certain point.  If you can't handle it, well grow up kiddo; there are much worse things in the world.

2) As I said before, I will try and keep specific politics out of this blog.  That's going to be hard, because I believe that humans are an overtly political species.  And if I could have a dime for each and every time politics is trying to give someone a reach-around whilst stabbing them in the back, well I could solve the world's financial crisis.  Politics is part of my life, whether I like it or not, and it will come out through this blog.

3) This is MY blog.  These are MY opinions.  Don't like them, don't read them.  Simple.  I do welcome debate and criticism, but I can and will delete comments that I find stupid, racist, etc.  Don't give me that free speech bullshit; I control this little space of digital life (as much as Google will let me), and you'll play by my rules.

4) To give you a perspective of where I come from, I'll give you a short profile of my life.  I'm an American, middle-class, and had a relatively lucky (stable) adolescent life.  That means I had awesome parents and siblings, though we were not without conflict.  I think way too fast to talk, so I tend to ramble.  And I think a lot.

5) Guest bloggers will be people who I respect.  That means they'll usually have similar outlooks to me, but I'm not above having someone that disagrees with me completely post here.  It just won't happen as much.

I think this post is getting too long, so I'll leave you with a quote I discovered in reading for one of my Anthropology classes.  It reiterates something I feel is recurring throughout my life, and in my generation.  That growing up is somehow giving up.

"By then I had come face to face with the painful realities of knowledge. One who understands is freer in the head but sadder in the heart."
- Tepilit Ole Saitoti, The Worlds of a Maasai Warrior: An Autobiography