I'm not big on business clichés and recycled quotes. However, I found an interesting statement by someone describing Bruce Lee's method. It's pointless in isolation, but when I applied it to thinking about ethnography, it made me consider the value of learning and doing "classic" ethnography (immersion and long-term participant observation). Doing so is a luxury.… Continue reading A Brief Reflection on Learning and Doing Ethnography
Category: Methods
An Introduction to Psychoanalytic Anthropology: Perspectives (2/2)
This is the second post (of two) on psychoanalytic anthropology. The previous post, which discussed background details, is located here. There is significant diversity in how anthropologists have engaged or adopted psychoanalytic methods and theory in their ethnographic research and writing. To summarize these perspectives, I grouped these approaches into four categories. While presented as… Continue reading An Introduction to Psychoanalytic Anthropology: Perspectives (2/2)
An Introduction to Psychoanalytic Anthropology: The Background (1/2)
There has always been a kinship between anthropology and psychoanalysis, however uneven, from Freud’s interest in anthropological data and his attempts to link the psyche with social forms, to more contemporary shared theorizations of the self and subjectivity in culturally diverse contexts. Psychoanalyst and anthropologist Elizabeth Bott-Spillius believed that while the content and expressions between… Continue reading An Introduction to Psychoanalytic Anthropology: The Background (1/2)
What is Cultural Psychodynamics?
I frequently refer to parts of my research and writing as working from a "cultural psychodynamic" perspective. What is this? In short, it is a theory and methodology that brings together perspectives from cultural phenomenology and psychoanalysis (culture + psyche). It emphasizes the complexity of cultural subjects and examines the ways in which culture and… Continue reading What is Cultural Psychodynamics?
Theories of Culture in Uncertain Times: Anthropology and the Rise of Financial Risk Culture
This post originally appeared on Linkedin. At the time, I intended it to be the first in a series exploring the role that anthropology can play in risk culture. I remain interested in this area; however, due to other priorities it will likely be sometime before I write more on this theme. Since the 2008 financial crisis,… Continue reading Theories of Culture in Uncertain Times: Anthropology and the Rise of Financial Risk Culture
Reflexivities 