While the Zero Series of essays was (and still is) intended to be the mode by which this blog comes to a close (so that I can move on to other projects, more below), it seems that will take much longer than expected. Though the series is based on lecture notes and readings assigned for a graduate course that I taught, writing the materials up into essay form can take up to three days in some cases, usually lengthier than most conference papers, and time is lacking right now. It is more likely that the closing series will be resumed in May.
Between now and then, a number of posts will appear dealing with the Human Terrain System (HTS), and doubtfully anything else in terms of subject matter. A special “gift” is also being prepared for readers interested in the relations between anthropology and the military and intelligence agencies, HTS, and the Minerva Research Initiative. Otherwise, there is an abundance of current developments, from news of the war in Afghanistan, to the militarization of American aid to Haiti, that under ideal circumstances numerous posts would have already been published by now.
At present I am devoting my energies to related areas that in some ways were shaped by experience with this blog, and knowledge gained in part from preparing its various postings. One is a new course I am currently teaching, The New Imperialism, and another course, Political Activism and the Internet. All of these will come together in some new writing projects that I am to begin this summer, or as soon as my current publishing backlog has been overcome.
After this blog I am planning a very different, and perhaps more ambitious online project that is more in line with the two courses identified above, and more in line with my next research and writing goals. That will have to wait until August. (That project will be very different especially in the sense of no longer orienting itself toward anthropology, or forming an unmistakable part of an online anthropology ‘community’.)
In the meantime, I am very much engaged in the “same thing” as here, just in different arenas and with different participants and interlocutors.
ryan a
17 January 2010
Good to hear about the updates and what you have on tap. I hear you about being short on time. I took some time off from posting anything on my site…mostly because I am a little tired of the same old blog shit. As with anthropology, my feeling is that something more needs to be done, so I am looking into some ways of either changing it around or ditching it in favor of something else.
I am also trying to keep writing in other venues so that the academic style does not completely destroy my ability to state an opinion and write in a somewhat interesting way.
Lately I have been reading through more of the public anthropology work by people like Hugh Gusterson & Catherine Besteman, who I think are on to something in a certain way. Presentation of information matters. And I think that the current model of information dissemination–books, journal articles, and conferences–is going to go the way of the Commodore 64. At least I hope it does.
Anyway, good luck with the new classes and the upcoming semester.
Eric
17 January 2010
Best wishes for the New Imperialism. The comprehensive readings and list of questions in your syllabus should make for some very illuminating discussions. It looks really good and makes me wish I was a student at Concordia.
Maximilian Forte
17 January 2010
Many thanks to both of you for your comments. This blog has been quiet for so long, that I suspected absolutely no one would even notice this post. It should be going quiet again, at least for another couple of weeks.
(My apologies if I am late in approving comments. Unfortunately some porn spammers have found a way to successfully defeat Akismet, and I had to turn on moderation.)