I'm kind of disappointed because I actually thought the author was going to somehow cleverly draw connections between modern objects and historical evI'm kind of disappointed because I actually thought the author was going to somehow cleverly draw connections between modern objects and historical events or personages and I was planning to enjoy the crap out of that. It doesn't really matter what I say because I feel sure the author will be able to be snarky about me. For me that was the problem, universal snark just gets boring very quickly (some of it seemed clever to me, but probably only because I always had it in for Sophie the giraffe).
It's more an anthropology than a history and to be fair to Hornak, she initially wrote it as a column to be digested one episode at a time not as a book (probably if I read it that way I would like it more), it's clearly meant as comedy- and it mostly succeds at that. I tried to be fair about the fact that comedy is still good even if it's not what I was expecting or hoping for.
I think my main objection and what made me tire of this book so quickly is that it accepts the premise that the modern person is nothing but a consumer and that we all semi-consciously brand ourselves to express some "Real self". Which I think is partially true (and unfortunate) but this book excessively bought into that. So like parenting is about products and sex is about products and even god help us climate activism is about having a moon-cup and living with someone who eats freekeh (which on the surface on it is actually true, but Hornak seems to assume that all these people are performatively playing these roles, she does not atribute sincerity to ANY of them).
I think this would have helped me laugh at myself if it was slightly more nuanced (but maybe I am joyless and can't laugh at myself). And I am very conscious that no matter how I hedge and try to be reflexive I am still coming across as a stereotype (perhaps a funnier one for trying not to).
I actually really hate shopping, I feel anxious how many shitty things my friends buy (my shitty thing addiction is books and bottles of wine so I know I am not innocent either). I hated this reduction of person to "product", "style", "image" and just a fucking consumer, basically the same in endless pretentious flavours. Mabe I'd relate better if I didn't have bogan roots.
That said her eye is pretty spot on. And looking at artefacts does give you SOME sense of a culture. And words like "deliverables" deserve to be mocked....more
I am going to update this to say I have just learned that it is a fiction. There are elements of anthropological writings and ideas incorporated (someI am going to update this to say I have just learned that it is a fiction. There are elements of anthropological writings and ideas incorporated (some say "plagiarised") into it. Nothing about this book should be considered "fact" which makes the latent racism all the more disturbing.
There seems to be an exploitative parasitical relationship at the heart of this sort of anthropology. There are white supremacist assumptions about meaning and who gets to make it- like misogynist men writing novels about women.
The protagonist/author is a white woman. It seems she does not get named in the book. She has no label she is always "I". She brings nothing to the Indians except her curiosity. They explicitly tell her "live with us but don't make us into anthropology- this is early in the book and is presented as one of the first valuable things she learns. Yet here we are... She takes no role with them, performs only what labour takes her interest (mainly children's work) and eats their valuable food while writing down how exotic and fascinating these "other" people, these "savages" are. The fact she becomes one of them in a way is not really the point. She is always "special" in every episode of the story but remember who gets to tell it to us, and who does not.
I felt uncomfortable reading this. I don't see anywhere on the book any permissions from Yanomama leaders for her to profit from their stories and their knowledges. To be honest this shocked me, people in the 80s were still doing projects like this?? It does show the effects of colonisation quite well although not in detail....more
DNF which is rare for me. I gave up around 175. I suffered. I tried. I was trying to force myself 5 pages a day but I don't need to add to my anger anDNF which is rare for me. I gave up around 175. I suffered. I tried. I was trying to force myself 5 pages a day but I don't need to add to my anger and my chores this way.
Surprisingly poor scholarship and very old-fashioned ideology to the point that I kept checking and rechecking the date of publication because it sounds like the sort of anthropology that was done before feminism or critical race perspectives etc. I do realise that all texts carry bias and that it's not always good to follow the fashion of the day but given the extent and shamelessness of the bias (in some places quoting newspaper articles to back up a factual point) I would at least expect some reflexivity ie: "I am a white boomer male who never met a woman or child". It's not so much that I don't agree with some of Lancy's conclusions it is the way he does not even engage with the most likely explanations for things and objectifies women (especially mothers) and children throughout his rant that seems to have an agenda of blaming modern mothers for a whole host of real and imagined social ills and modern US children as runing rampant.
I wanted to partially agree with him on some of the stuff about consumer lifestyles but he made that very difficult with his faulty premises and lack of logic or insight in drawing conclusions. It's also interesting that all his references are so old. I feel like maybe he bagan writing this in the 60s or 70s and then waited until he was retired to finish it off. Why a university press published it is unclear to me apart from perhaps the fact that too few people still write about the child.
If this colonialising, objectifying thing is anthropology you can keep it....more
Loading...
