COMPLEXITY/CHAOS – ZERO ANTHROPOLOGY

The Retreat of Globalization? The Possible Impacts on the Future of Anthropology

Before beginning, more than the usual word of caution to readers: added to the usual grain of salt, one should keep in mind that what follows is speculation based on current trends and news, a scratching of the analytical surface that is not intended to pose as a summary derived from an extensive research project. […]

by Maximilian C. Forte

(Video) Notes from the Indian Diaspora, Part 1: Responding to Modernity and the Tyranny of Tradition

I have to begin by thanking Guanaguanare, one of the Trinidadian bloggers I admire most, for having already done such an excellent job discussing the popular Trinidadian music video below, Sumintra. I will distill some of those notes and add a few comments and sources of my own. So, yes, this is a “derivative” work […]

by Maximilian C. Forte

Disappearing disciplinary borders in the social science library – global studies or sea change?

Conference announcement: International Federation of Library Associations (IFLA) Disappearing disciplinary borders in the social science library – global studies or sea change? University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada 6-7 August 2008 http://ilabs.inquiry.uiuc.edu/ilab/ssls/ Over the past decade, the nature of social science research and scholarship has undergone shifts that have blurred the traditional disciplinary boundaries as research […]

by Maximilian C. Forte

The Changing Self: Fear of Death?

This item was provoked by a student essay in Cyberspace Ethnography, and is meant as an invitation for readers to post their ideas rather than serving as some sort of definitive statement on the issue. Speaking of how the self is presented on Facebook, one informant told the researcher in the course: “The person I […]

by Maximilian C. Forte

More Inconvenient Truths

Having just seen–I am among the last persons I know who can say this–Al Gore’s An Inconvenient Truth and his update–and in spite of some of the criticisms I have head of Gore’s approach, I think there is a great deal to be learned from both his presentation and his overall campaign, in terms of […]

by Maximilian C. Forte

Amorphography? 1

I suggested, under the Ethnography heading for this blog, that ethnography as presently conceived is too limited and limiting–interesting, engaging, stimulating, and a good avenue for developing collaborative networks, all that I still think is true. However, as a means of gaining and producing knowledge, I would not put all my eggs in the basket […]

by Maximilian C. Forte

Introducing the beginnings of the Open Anthropology Project

OPEN ANTHROPOLOGY arises from a dissastisfaction with the state of knowledge in contemporary and classical anthropology, and is meant to significantly restructure and move anthropology beyond its current confines, beyond the constraints of professionalization and institutionalization, transcending the very “disciplinariness” of a discipline that has often foundered on its own shoals since its inception as […]