The anthropological information ecosystem
by Alex
On 4 April I posted Tommy’s very smart and funny “Major Anglophone Anthropology Departments as Fashion Brands”:http://alex.golub.name/log/?p=381 table on my website, where it was received with thunderous silence — at least in the comments (I can’t be bothered to check my server logs to see who is reading the blog these days, since this takes time that would be better spent dissertating). Now, eight days later I see that it has been forwarded by the departmental secretary to more or less the entire anthropology department, who says she has received it “from numerous sources” and that it’s great fun. What happened in between? I can’t think of another electronic copy that is circulating. Is this thing floating around the noosphere, or is Chicago (my department) just in some sort of self-appreciating feedback loop? It’s an interesting question because I realized after I posted it perhaps most anthropologists aren’t familiar enough with the different flavors of these departments to actually _get_ the joke. I mean, how many American Anthropologists even know where the ANU is? Or perhaps my intuitions lead me astray? At any rate, this has made me think a bit about what and who and how anthropologists read when they read the intarweb.
Not an anthro myself, so can hardly comment, but can testify to having immediately forwarded it to my anthro (UCL – big on material culture apparently, not sure what the fashion brand is there) friends.
I showed it to two of my colleagues here and they loved it. “Spot-on” was the phrase that they used.
Don’t take thunderous silence as, well, not caring.
I forwarded it to a bunch of folks in my department and on my panel for AAAs, and one woman at emory who would think it was really funny.
I’m at the U of C also. Jean, our current chair, actually made reference to the joke at our annual Fall picnic this year!