I'm a recent graduate of the University of Alberta with very diverse interests. I’m dedicating this blog mainly to my interests in anthropology and history, particularly the off-beat variety. I feel that a strong sense of exceptionalism permeates cultures with long traditions of cultural observation and analysis, and that this exceptionalism leads to a sometimes aggressive and usually irrational opposition to applying the same standards of observation that any observer would readily apply to populations anywhere else.
All manifestations of this exceptionalism, from the overt to the seemingly benign, are harmful to the pursuit of knowledge, so I hope to provide a perspective on these societies that stems from their own traditions but isn’t blind to the history and cultural context of those traditions. Thus I hope to provide the sometimes odd and always fascinating cultural histories of the daily customs and ritual taken for granted by those in Europe and North-America and the subtly powerful places they play in our unexamined daily lives, and in doing so provide a small ounce of the reflection need to understand what makes us unique in the world. I also have a strong interest in the Muslim world as well as Pre-Columbian Latin America, and hope to provide the same sense of reasoned analysis to those unfamiliar with these long and fascinating cultural traditions.
My anthropological interests aren’t limited to that however, and I hope to provide some basic thoughts and insights into other cultural traditions and cross-culturally common customs as well. Entire histories can be contained in the music and art of a people, and this is an especially strong interest of mine, and certainly more fun than my fairly dry approach to writing.
All manifestations of this exceptionalism, from the overt to the seemingly benign, are harmful to the pursuit of knowledge, so I hope to provide a perspective on these societies that stems from their own traditions but isn’t blind to the history and cultural context of those traditions. Thus I hope to provide the sometimes odd and always fascinating cultural histories of the daily customs and ritual taken for granted by those in Europe and North-America and the subtly powerful places they play in our unexamined daily lives, and in doing so provide a small ounce of the reflection need to understand what makes us unique in the world. I also have a strong interest in the Muslim world as well as Pre-Columbian Latin America, and hope to provide the same sense of reasoned analysis to those unfamiliar with these long and fascinating cultural traditions.
My anthropological interests aren’t limited to that however, and I hope to provide some basic thoughts and insights into other cultural traditions and cross-culturally common customs as well. Entire histories can be contained in the music and art of a people, and this is an especially strong interest of mine, and certainly more fun than my fairly dry approach to writing.
I also have a strong interest in physics and general science, which will drive the basis of a portion of my thoughts and posts. Bad Religion is also the best band ever, and so I’ll probably end referencing them fairly regularly. Don’t let my dry writing fool you, there’s some interest to be had. Hope to hear from you all in the comments!
