“I think you’d be crazy to go into something like anthropology if you want to learn how to say whatever other people tell you to say – you know, maybe you should become a lawyer!”

This week we bring you a special treat – an interview between our good friend Zoe Hatten and her PhD supervisor Professor Andrew Kipnis.

Andrew Kipnis, distinguished anthropologist of China, Professor at the Chinese University of Hong Kong and author of multiple books, most recently From Village to City: Social Transformation in a Chinese Country Sect, spoke with Zoe at the AAA Conference in San Jose last year. They spoke about the way academics speak at conferences and the divide between younger and older generation anthropologists, about funeral ceremonies in China and how to navigate the intricacies of social relationships when doing fieldwork, and discussed the evolution of methods and ideas in action, reflecting on Andrew’s career.

If you would like to produce an interview for TFS, send us a pitch of your idea to submissions@thefamiliarstrange.com

QUOTES

 “The parts of anthropology that are growing are the most applied aspects, and so I hear about things like workshops and design anthropology … But I guess what I really notice is that often I see these panels with older anthropologists, and they speak a very academic language and they’re the only ones I see speaking that way. And it worries me a little bit, not too much, but it makes me feel that maybe a certain way of thinking and speaking is dying out.”

“I’m not a terribly religious person myself, and so, especially when I was young, I felt it awkward to be doing research on religion when I didn’t consider myself to be religious.”

When picking topics to research: “It has to be a combination of things coming together, and we’re looking for an intersection. So first of all it has to be your own interest, because I think you’d be crazy to go into something like anthropology if you want to learn how to say whatever other people tell you to say – you know, maybe you should become a lawyer [*soft chuckles*]”

 “I think there’s something on everybody’s mind – this, sort of, the rise of populism around the world… and then somehow the links to social media and also links to ideas about truth… truth making, and vernacular forms of truth; so, how do whatever people from various walks of life make sense of what they see on social media and decide what is true.”

LINKS AND CITATIONS

You can find a list of all of Professor Kipnis’ publications here: https://researchers.anu.edu.au/researchers/kipnis-ab#publications

Or here: http://arts.cuhk.edu.hk/~ant/en/profile_andrewkipnis.php

And information about the 2018 AAA Annual Meeting – themed Resistance, Resilience, Adaptation – here: https://www.americananthro.org/AttendEvents/Content.aspx?ItemNumber=22345

And if you haven’t already checked it out, head over to our Facebook group The Familiar Strange Chats. We’d like to keep our discussions going from this podcast episode, so let us know your thoughts: what was most interesting? What was most surprising? Did the episode remind you of something else you’ve read, seen, or heard lately – if so, what is it? Let’s keep talking strange, together.

Our Patreon can be found at https://www.patreon.com/thefamiliarstrange

This anthropology podcast is supported by the Australian Anthropological Society, the ANU’s College of Asia and the Pacific and College of Arts and Social Sciences, and the Australian Centre for the Public Awareness of Science, and is produced in collaboration with the American Anthropological Association.

Music by Pete Dabro: dabro1.bandcamp.com
Shownotes by Deanna Catto
Podcast edited by Ian Pollock and Matthew Phung

[Feature image ‘Reflection’ by Kevin Dooley sourced from Flickr:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/pagedooley/2577006675/]

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