Anthropology: The tantilizing, the titillating, the shocking...the mundane

“People are as fascinated by anthropology as anthropologists are fascinated by people. The anthropologist makes us take a new look at ourselves; he shows us the alternatives to our own secure and petty lives—or insecure and grandiose lives, for that matter.”
--Robin Fox, Encounter with Anthropology

I have not written much in the realm of anthropological theory lately, and I thought that it may be time to briefly go back to academics for a bit. The reason being is that I received an email a few days ago telling me that this blog was included in a list of the Top 100 Anthropology Blogs by Online Universities.com. Click here for the complete list. I am extremely flattered to be included on this list, and I bring it up for two reasons. First, because there are some really great and fascinating blogs included on there that you should really check out. Second, because being included on this list of anthropology blogs makes me think about what this blog actually is…is it an “anthropology blog,” or is it a “food blog”? I don’t really know how to answer that question, but the more I think about it, I think that it is a good thing that I cannot easily categorize this blog.

I have a love/hate relationship with the field of anthropology. Well, maybe “hate” is a bit too strong of a word. I should say that I have a love/skeptical relationship with anthropology. However, the more I think about the discipline, I realize that my skeptical feelings are not necessarily toward anthropology, but rather are toward anthropology in academia. The quote at the beginning of this post is by Robin Fox, one of my favorite anthropologists—Mr. Fox sums up the discipline perfectly. Anthropology, by definition, is the study of man. It makes us take a deeper look at who we are as a living species—our physical nature, our social behavior, our culture, our psychology. Mr. Fox also states that, “Anthropologists are the custodians of the unconscious of the human race…making the familiar seem exotic amusing.” To me, human beings are fascinating, and I think that we deserve an entire discipline devoted to studying the complexities of our physical, social, and cultural nature.

However, the problem with anthropology in academia is that it stays in academia. The research of anthropologists is so diverse and so fascinating, but too often it remains confined within the walls of universities. Like I said, this is not a problem with anthropology per say; rather it is a problem with the nature of academia. The best and the brightest anthropologists too often write only for an academic audience. They assume that their readers already have a somewhat extensive background in the field, and thus their writing is drenched in anthropological nomenclature and abstract academic theory. This is all fine and well if you do indeed have the background to understand this writing, but this also means that all the innovative research and insight only speaks to a very small population. However, anthropology is the study of humans…ALL humans! If we want to make our world a better place to live in, isn’t taking a critical look at ourselves a key part of the equation? And this means that anthropological insight should be reported not just to academics, but to everyone in hopes of educating all people about the nature of our societies.

Basically, this conundrum comes down to the age-old binary of theory vs. practice. My belief is that anthropological theory and insight should be put into everyday practice. But the only way this will happen is if everyone has access to the knowledge that is being generated in academia. This means that we need a bridge between academia and the “real world” (I hate using that term, but I think that is the best way express what I mean for the time being). That bridge is where I hope to carve my niche.

I am not an anthropologist. I studied anthropology for a bit, and I continue to maintain an interest in the field. I continue to read anthropological writing. Because I have some background in academic anthropology, I do understand a great deal of the nomenclature and the theory. But like I said, I am not an anthropologist. I have not devoted decades of my life to reading and research and fieldwork. At one point, I thought that I would, but upon realizing the rickety-ness of that bridge connecting academia to the “real world,” I changed my mind. My goal now is to make that bridge stronger. Thus, my “ethnography” is mundane—it is simply a critical eye on the everyday behavior I see around me. I aim to write in hopes of inspiring everyday people to think about themselves and the world around them, and to connect people outside of the academy with the ideas that are happening within academia—specifically regarding food.

Food. This forays into my second question. Is this a “food blog”? Well, no. Not really. I am not an anthropologist, and I am not a chef. Sometimes I may post a non-cerebral rambling about the food I cooked or tried, but I don’t post recipes here. I love, love, love to cook. But there are FAR better cooks than me in the world. And there are thousands of wonderful food blogs out there—this is certainly not one of them.

Food, however, has the wonderful ability to capture almost everyone’s interest. This is simply because everyone eats. Because eating is an activity that every human partakes in, it is one of those “mundane” events that most people do not give a second thought to. We too often take eating for granted. And that statement has multiple and layered meanings. I hope to inspire thought in regards to these layers and meanings.

So, this blog is in a grey area somewhere between an anthropology blog and a food blog. It is a work in progress. I am not an expert. I just hope to get a discussion rolling. To me, the “mundane” aspects of life are often the most interesting—so, the mundane is my starting point, and we’ll see where it will take me.