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