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Permalink Reply by Paul Wren on October 23, 2009 at 5:41pm

This is the hardest part for some of us-- deciding upon a single topic for your focus. There are a few ways to approach this logically, although in the end, you need to make a decision that you can be excited about for a long time to come.

1. Think about the best professor you had during your undergrad work-- the one who got you excited about the subject, the class you made sure you never missed. You should consider a thesis topic from that subject, and possibly approach that professor for assistance.

2. When you see anthropology-related news stories in mainstream media or in science news, which ones make you drop what you are doing and read them? These might represent the subjects that get you excited.

3. What's the best anthropology book you ever read? Can you find a topic related to it?


The real answer is that no one else can tell you what to specialize in... you need to find that answer yourself.

Good luck!

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Permalink Reply by John McCreery on October 23, 2009 at 6:46pm

Robbie's advice is sound, but I like Paul's better. Why? I recall a conversation with Jack Roberts. I had met him at a summer workshop, and he was the only faculty member at Cornell with whom I, a new graduate student, had any personal connection. "What should I take this semester," I asked. He replied with the following advice: "The whole point of being a graduate student is to stop being a student." He was pointing to the difference between a student, who does what a teacher demands or suggests, and a colleague, who is expected to know what interests them and to be self-directed in deciding how to pursue their interests.

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Permalink Reply by Ainslee Hooper on October 24, 2009 at 2:06am

Thanks so much for the advice everyone :) I think that's what the difference is with undergrad and postgrad. In undergrad we've been given a set of essay topics and asked to choose one to write on, whereas in postgrad, it'll all be our own decision along with discussions from our supervisor. I'm assuming we'll be expected to have made the decision before hand though.

I think i'll be going back through my unit guides to see if anything jumps out at me and see if I can find anything from there. I have to admit I was disappointed with the lack of discussion about the internet in our major and how that's affected culture. We briefly touched on Facebook and what the gift giving aspect on it represented (in combination with the legend of Sisyphus (sp?) I think it was. I know I have 2 years to decide on this, but now that I have finished my Anthropology major, I figure I should be spending the next two years doing some background work to prepare myself.

Thanks so much everyone, any further comments/advice appreciated. I'll keep you posted with any further questions/ideas I might have.

Actually one last question. We haven't touched on the Honours stuff yet. I've just been geekily reading ahead. Does it matter if someone else has covered the same topic that I'm interested in? These probably sound like extremely newbie questions, but that's what I am at this stage!

Cheers, Ainslee

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Permalink Reply by Keith Hart on October 24, 2009 at 12:20pm

Hi Ainslee, One thing to bear in mind, however you select a topic is that you will be expected to combine theoretical reading with empirical research. You can't do much of the latter in the time available and your results are bound to be a bit disappointing. So it is important to pick a topic that will allow you to read some great stuff that you already wanted to. Then the thesis or essay itself can be shaped to reflect the balance of what you have achieved. If the empirical material is thin, you can compensate with a solid theory review. If by some chance you come up with great material, you can chose the emphasis that suits you. But I can tell you, the greatest anxiety you will feel when writing up is that your own research isn't good enough (how could it be?). So make sure you read background material of high quality and that alone will make the exercise worthwhile. Above all, don't pick a topic that hardly anyone has written about, because you will then depend heavily on your own findings and that could be tricky.

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Permalink Reply by Ainslee Hooper on October 25, 2009 at 2:55am

Thanks Keith :) That also helps! I was worried about doing something to death that has already been done, but then like you say, it'll be easier to research and my thesis will look better as a result.

I've printed out all the info about the 8 subjects I did and am going to thoroughly go over it and see if anything jumps out at me.

Cheers, Ainslee

Keith Hart said:

Hi Ainslee, One thing to bear in mind, however you select a topic is that you will be expected to combine theoretical reading with empirical research. You can't do much of the latter in the time available and your results are bound to be a bit disappointing. So it is important to pick a topic that will allow you to read some great stuff that you already wanted to. Then the thesis or essay itself can be shaped to reflect the balance of what you have achieved. If the empirical material is thin, you can compensate with a solid theory review. If by some chance you come up with great material, you can chose the emphasis that suits you. But I can tell you, the greatest anxiety you will feel when writing up is that your own research isn't good enough (how could it be?). So make sure you read background material of high quality and that alone will make the exercise worthwhile. Above all, don't pick a topic that hardly anyone has written about, because you will then depend heavily on your own findings and that could be tricky.

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Permalink Reply by Birkha B Pun on October 25, 2009 at 9:31am

hello Ainslee,
im birkha pun from nepal currently final year student of BA Anthropology in NEpal as u do. Im fascinated with this network too and with the zeal in you to be an anthropologist. my ambition is also is to be an anthropologist- a super man in new world. actually nepal lacks anthrplogists as lots of foreigner scholar are serving here.

it was nice to be in ur network. please let me know while u find some nice guidelines about where to pursue further education.

best regards,
birkha.pun@gmail.com

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Permalink Reply by Ainslee Hooper on October 27, 2009 at 11:34am

Hi all, so i've gone through my major and worked out what we studied. My two favourite subjects were Poverty and Development and also Medical Anthropology. However, when going through the units, there were aspects of the other units I enjoyed.

This is a list of my major

Culture and Imagination
Culture and Communication
Anthropology of Poverty and Development
Medical Anthropology
Myth & Ritual
Anthropology and Ecological Order
Australian People: Anthropological Insights
Anthropology of Crime and Violence

Still feel like i'm no closer to deciding!

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Permalink Reply by Ainslee Hooper on November 21, 2009 at 10:34am

Hi all, i've made a lot of progress on what to do my thesis on. I found and awesome book by Rowena Murray called "How to Write a Thesis" and the exercises in it (only on my second) helps you articulate your interests and ideas. So i've narrowed it down to three possible ones and was hoping on some more feedback as to those with more experience thought.

1) Discuss the affect the internet has had on culture, be it memes, internet speak infiltrating "normal" life, relationships and friendship development and the sub-cultures that have been created as a result of the internet.

2) Since i wrote last time, i've found myself in hospital and have noticed that being in hospital as a young adult is quite adifferent experience to that of a child. Not old enough to be treated like a geriatric (like most of them are here, i seem to be the youngest) and too old to be treated like a child. I've had some things said to me that were inappropriate assumptions solely because I'm in a wheelchair, so am thinking that services to my age group seem to be lacking. As if people my age who are in hospital are morons, not just sick. I'm also interested in the inadequate health services available to those from multicultural backgrounds. An assignment I did last year found that people from other backgrounds did not access services due to fear of not being treated culturally appropriately.

3) the third idea i have is about overcoming poverty, and that there should be guidelines in place for all people involved in the process to ensure that solutions are sustainable and not just a one size fits all approach.

What do others think? The second one interests me, but i've never been one to make my disability a part of my life, so i'm a bit wary at this stage. Interested in ideas, cheers, Ainslee

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Permalink Reply by Josué Villegas on November 26, 2009 at 5:49pm

Hi Ainslee !

If you want to make a research about "how internet has influenced culture", check this:
http://www.media-anthropology.net/

Tak tu láa k'in

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Permalink Reply by Keith Hart on November 26, 2009 at 6:38pm

Ainslee, I like the hospital one. I had a life-threatening illness when I was 49. I couldn't move for a number of days. This gave me plenty of opportunity to watch. I noticed how rhythmic, indeed beautiful were the movements of the nurses as they changed the beds or whatever and how democratic their spirit was compared with the doctors and their toady students, all hierarchy, pomposity and deference. It's probably the only time in my life when I really observed, took it in and reflected on the sociology of what I was seeing.

I recalled an amazing essay by Marcel Mauss called "Techniques of the body" (1935) which was triggered by being ill in a New York hospital. He was fascinated by how the nurses walked. Well, who wouldn't be? He was sure he had seen that walk before and at last it came to him, the young women in the streets of Paris now walked that way too. He concluded it had to be the influence of Hollywood movies on them both.

So it may be you have done your fieldwork already. By all means consider the sociological issues you raise here, but think also about how it was expressed in what you observed.



Ainslee Hooper said:

Hi all, i've made a lot of progress on what to do my thesis on. I found and awesome book by Rowena Murray called "How to Write a Thesis" and the exercises in it (only on my second) helps you articulate your interests and ideas. So i've narrowed it down to three possible ones and was hoping on some more feedback as to those with more experience thought.
1) Discuss the affect the internet has had on culture, be it memes, internet speak infiltrating "normal" life, relationships and friendship development and the sub-cultures that have been created as a result of the internet.
2) Since i wrote last time, i've found myself in hospital and have noticed that being in hospital as a young adult is quite adifferent experience to that of a child. Not old enough to be treated like a geriatric (like most of them are here, i seem to be the youngest) and too old to be treated like a child. I've had some things said to me that were inappropriate assumptions solely because I'm in a wheelchair, so am thinking that services to my age group seem to be lacking. As if people my age who are in hospital are morons, not just sick. I'm also interested in the inadequate health services available to those from multicultural backgrounds. An assignment I did last year found that people from other backgrounds did not access services due to fear of not being treated culturally appropriately.

3) the third idea i have is about overcoming poverty, and that there should be guidelines in place for all people involved in the process to ensure that solutions are sustainable and not just a one size fits all approach.

What do others think? The second one interests me, but i've never been one to make my disability a part of my life, so i'm a bit wary at this stage. Interested in ideas, cheers, Ainslee

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Permalink Reply by Daniel Mietchen on December 5, 2009 at 6:14pm

Yesterday, I came across this "Letter to Young Scientists", and now I've placed my comments here.

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