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Week 9: 25 February – 3 March 2019

March 3, 2019 By Karl Andersson Leave a Comment

I was very focused on the machinima for Digital Anthropology this week. On Wednesday night I went to a Japanese Stammtisch for the first time to try and find some Japanese voices for the interviews. I connected with one person who I met again at a café on Thursday, to explain my project in more detail. We were supposed to meet again on Friday, but they cancelled.

I also hired a voice actor on Fiverr, but was not happy with the results, despite a quite elaborate retake. Next week I’ll meet my old Japanese tutor to see if he can help me. And K can probably contribute with a real recording too, rather than the sketches he did last week. If the Stammtisch person agrees I have the three voices I need, without having to use the Fiverr voice.

In addition I contacted a Japanese music producer and got permission to use his music in my machinima. He would have contributed a voice too if he was in town, he said.

But the most important thing was that I came to a sort of crisis where I questioned this whole research project. I filmed myself as I elaborated on it, because I want to include my doubts in the machinima. Not sure about the results, but I’ll have a new chance next week when me and my classmate R in New York will discuss our projects in a Zoom meeting.

For Theory & History Unit 8 next week I read Zora Neale Hurston’s text on “negro expression”, which felt very dated. But I think that just by substituting “racial group” for “culture” it becomes a valid (auto-)ethnographic study.

Finished Donald L. Donham’s The Erotics of History, which fits so well into my upcoming essay in Theory & History. Excellent analysis of the fetish. Brilliant critique of the notion of sexuality/ies. And when he referenced Marcel Mauss’ The Gift I could say that I had read that text – only last week! The joy it brings to get the references. It shows how well our lecturer in Theory & History has curated the readings. And how well I’ve curated my own. 😉

Friday I went to a bike shop with S. He now rides a smashing Fuji Track 2019.

Study

Theory and History of Social and Cultural Anthropology

Unit 8: Culture-Personality (Benedict), Auto-Ethnography (Hurston), Early Women Anthropologists

  • Hurston, Zora Neale (1934): Characteristics of Negro Expression. In Negro: An Anthology, edited by Nancy Cunard, 1934.

Extra – readings related to my research

Theory & History essay

  • Donham, Donald L. (2018): The Erotics of History: an Atlantic African Example – the rest of the book, pp. 18-100 (excluding notes, etc). 👊

Digital Anthropology essay and machinima

  • Boellstorff, Tom, Bonnie Nardi, Cecilia Pearce, and T.L. Taylor (2012): Ethnography and Virtual Worlds. Handbook of methods:
    • 7: Interviews and virtual worlds research (pp. 113-128)

Other

Articles

  • The Economist: After a day of drama, a stalemate over aid to Venezuela
  • The Economist: How far will Pope Francis go in rooting out sexual abuse?
  • Sveriges Radio/Cecilia Uddén, Kairo: Igår hängdes nio unga män

Film and TV

  • Hair (1979, 121 min)
  • Vasaloppet 2019

Podcast

  • Money talks: How companies change when white men don’t run the show (21 min)
  • Influencerpodden/Anton Granlund: 68. Alexander Bard (69 min, non-https link)
  • Sveriges Radio Snedtänkt/Kalle Lind: Om Cia Berg (72 min)

Filed Under: Study diary

About Karl Andersson

Karl Andersson is attending the MA Visual and Media Anthropology programme at Freie Universität Berlin. He has a background in journalism and is currently researching Japanese subcultures. 日本語で話せます!

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