What a beautiful and poignant video about ongoing social problems in Africa…
I think this really tests the assumptions we have about what is and can be done with artifacts of popular culture. Even though this is on MTV, whose audience teems with burgeoning consumerists, this is not fluff or light in any way.
Perhaps this can also give us social scientists who would like to reach larger audiences some ideas about how we might do so, especially the way that the video uses romance as a central narrative.
Went to Murphy’s for lunch with Anthony, Constancio, and Christobal.
Went to a globalization presentation. One presenter talked about this guy Sami Yusef who sings in three different languages and lets an eldery woman take his seat on a bus in his video to represent the pan-Islamic ideal of a good Muslim boy.
Homework, The Office, and started working on a zine.
Morality presentation in the atheist group, but I couldn’t get into it, and chatted through the meeting.
I talked to Ricky and Aaron at Murphy’s about pleasure theory to explain why I didn’t like the morality presentation. They seemed to buy it for the most part.
We had an interesting discussion in methods about Bourdieu and his interviewing techniques, based on his transcripts in Weight of the World. Some of the students thought he was leading his interviewees on.
I met up with Teresa in the coffee shop where she was studying, then we went to get Chinese food, and I talked to her for a long time about pleasure theory. At the end of my rant I thought, “My God, I haven’t written any of this down.”
We talked about Zaloom’s Out of the Pits, which I loved, in contemporary ethnography. I was surprised at who ended up liking it, but others were so committed to their critique that we didn’t have a very deep discussion. I mentioned how much a familiarity with Foucault added to the book, and raised the question of how we, as ethnographers, should handle issues like this.
I got up super early, and Nathan took me to the airport. They confiscated my hot sauce. I didn’t even think about it.
It took a long time to get home, and I didn’t get to finish my reading notes before class.
In prosem we talked about the difficulty of getting at ethnicity in the archaeological record, and I wondered if I am part NDN and what that might mean.
I was really tired, and eventually finished my reading notes.
I called Hubert, upset about life, and we had a long conversation about relationships, pleasure, and shared aesthetics.
Chris got married. We were right on the water, and the sun came out while they were both standing there.
In a conversation with Steve’s girlfriend she said that she is trying to figure out “which parts of the wedding they have to keep, and which parts they can ignore.” It was interesting to see someone be so explicit about navigating meaning, and shaping its reproduction. I was reminded of Bourdieu.
The reception was great. I only danced once, but I talked to Nathan about atheism and pleasure theory. Chris gave everyone hot sauce with their names on it. Overall, I really liked the way the wedding and reception were set up, and was amazed at how seamless everything was.
It was so late, but I still did some reading before going to bed, after I found a connection outside the hotel.
Had a donut I bought at the airport and some complimentary coffee, then walked around. Ended up at Dunkin’ Donuts and found a wifi connection.
Went to the rehearsal dinner with Chris’s brother. Met up with Steve and Nathan, and their girlfriends. It was this crazy lodge place, with stuffed animals everywhere. We chatted about this and that, and then I told everyone about pleasure theory. No one had a problem with it. There was so much food. We started with crawfish, and followed it up with clams.
After dinner we went to a bar near the place where Chris’s wedding was going to happen. It was a really interesting experience being near the water like that, especially the smell of the sea.
I forgot to take my little knife off my keychain before I got on the shuttle to the airport, and left it at a payphone.
The flight out of Indy was delayed, and I missed my connection by fifteen minutes. The 11:35 a.m. flight was too full. So now I’m going to get on the 1:35 p.m. flight. This big guy with a cane got out of the customer service line when I showed up behind him – I assumed that he didn’t have the strength to wait in line. When I got to the front I asked if he wanted to go next, but he said he would go ahead and wait. The guy behind me patted me on the back and said there was a need for more people like me. It made me happy and sad at the same time.
I eventually made it to Providence, Chris, his dad, and his soon to be father-in-law picked me up, and we went to get our tuxes. They took me to the hotel, and I wandered around, ending up at the Old Grist Mill Tavern in Seekonk, MA, for dinner — I had salmon and it was great. I stopped at a convenience store on the way back to my room, and there was something really magical about hearing everyone’s accents and dialogue. I felt like I was eavesdropping on an entirely different world from my own. Someone joked about someone else looking at the Phoenix, a local free paper with concerts and such, and I wondered what it meant — is it rooted in a response to the college kids?
Genevieve showed me the building on campus where music students practice. I have no idea what piece we were listening to – it was hard to place – but it was so incredibly amazing and beautiful.
Dinner at Cheddar’s.
I lay down around midnight, then got up at 3 a.m. to drive to the airport.