I have long nursed a soft spot for ethnographies, which has led me to the false belief that I enjoy anthropology. As an undergrad, I took an introductory anthropology course. From what I recall, there was a lot of talk … Continue reading →
From Text to Context, from symbols to culture
Geertz starts with Balinese cockfight to illustrate local culture in Bali; Darnton takes the story of cat massacre as the epitome of French society in 18th century. I believe they may be the good examples of, in Cronon’s word, “storytelling” as they are vivid and lifelike and keep to be informative. I especially enjoy the […]
Culture Shock and “The Great Cat Massacre”
For historians encountering a past society through the medium of documentary sources there is – or ought to be – the same sense of ‘culture…
Of Cats and Men
As disturbing and horrific as the 1730’s tale of the Paris cat massacre was it highlights a complex mission of the historian – to look…
“Winks upon winks upon winks”
“Once human behavior is seen as…symbolic action—action which, like phonation in speech, pigment in painting, line in writing, or sonance in music…– the question as to whether culture is patterned conduct or a frame of mind, or even the two somehow mixed together loses sense…The thing to ask is what their import is…” (Geertz, “Thick Description,” […]
“Winks upon winks upon winks”
“Once human behavior is seen as…symbolic action—action which, like phonation in speech, pigment in painting, line in writing, or sonance in music…– the question as to whether culture is patterned conduct or a frame of mind, or even the two somehow mixed together loses sense…The thing to ask is what their import is…” (Geertz, “Thick Description,” […]
Culture, Anthropology and Sitting
Last Fall I traveled to South Korea. And when I returned home, I could barely walk…and it wasn’t from the amount of ‘trekking’ around Seoul and Gwang Ju and the Yellow Sea that gave me the pain in my legs … Continue reading →
Thoughts From My Soap Box Pulpit…
I have always viewed myself as somewhat of a material cultures kind of historian with a bit of oral history, public historian thrown in for good measure. I started amassing military items and collectibles from the age of four and began seriously talking to/interviewing veterans from the “Great War” through Vietnam since I was old […]
Getting Cultured
The readings for this week have been especially useful to me by defining (or, giving a variety of definitions) for culture and cultural history. I say this because I am pretty sure after finishing the readings that I never really had a specific idea of what cultural history actually was. I have been lumping this […]
Everybody Wants To Be A Cat (Or Maybe Not…)
When I first read the title of one of this week’s readings, I first gasped in horror then covered little Robert’s eyes as best I could. The Great Cat Massacre: now that sounds like something Robert and I both would enjoy (hmm… not so much). Needless to say, I wasn’t too terribly excited to begin this particular(…)