[Xmca-l] Re: Appeal for help

Andy Blunden ablunden@mira.net
Tue Jul 5 17:50:23 PDT 2016


Thanks Greg. My notebook is filling up!
And Larry.

Andy

------------------------------------------------------------
Andy Blunden
http://home.mira.net/~andy
http://www.brill.com/products/book/origins-collective-decision-making 

On 6/07/2016 8:01 AM, Greg Thompson wrote:
> ​Here are some initial suggestions:
> Amanda Coffey's The Ethnographic Self: Fieldwork and the 
> Representation of the Self
>
> The other big literature that comes to mind is the 
> literature from the 80's and 90's that followed Clifford 
> and Marcus' Writing Culture: The Poetics and Politics of 
> Ethnography.
>
> But I think that that piece (and that movement more 
> generally) tends to fly a bit too high and misses the 
> important issue that you are pointing to with regard to 
> the constitution of selves.
>
> And one that I just found is Vincent Crapanzano's 1977 
> essay On the Writing of Ethnography. More than the others, 
> I think this speaks to the issues that you are talking 
> about - the dialectical constitution of self through 
> fieldwork (although Crapanzano's focus is a bit more on 
> the writing stage than it is on the fieldwork itself).
>
> I think that your issue is addressed indirectly in Tim 
> Ingold's piece about ethnography That's Enough about 
> Ethnography. Which is a response to some of these 
> preoccupations with ethnography. But Ingold addresses your 
> concerns only indirectly.
>
> So this is all to say that while it may be commonplace in 
> anthropology, I don't think that anyone has quite done the 
> work of fully articulating the issue here - and definitely 
> not in terms of a virtue ethical framework. And so, as far 
> as I can see, what you propose would be a useful 
> contribution even for anthropology (although I'm guessing 
> that this would not be your primary audience).
>
> -greg
>
>
>
>
>
>>
> On Tue, Jul 5, 2016 at 10:59 PM, Andy Blunden 
> <ablunden@mira.net <mailto:ablunden@mira.net>> wrote:
>
>     You are right, Greg: "I think it might be considered
>     too commonplace to write about." Maybe I do not need
>     to quote research to make this point?
>
>     Andy
>
>     ------------------------------------------------------------
>     Andy Blunden
>     http://home.mira.net/~andy <http://home.mira.net/%7Eandy>
>     http://www.brill.com/products/book/origins-collective-decision-making
>
>     On 5/07/2016 11:56 PM, Greg Thompson wrote:
>
>         Andy,
>
>         Appropriating Martins list for cognition, how about:
>
>         Situated ethics?
>         Distributed ethics?
>         Extended ethics?
>         Ordinary ethics?
>
>         Speaking of which, Michael Lambek has an edited
>         book out by the name
>         of that last one!
>         Ordinary Ethics: Anthropology, Language, and Action
>         (and here is a link to a review by Michael Lempert
>         that also points to
>         some others who playing around with virtue ethics
>         in various ways:
>         http://www.haujournal.org/index.php/hau/article/view/hau4.1.029/673)
>
>         And speaking of this tradition of anthropology of
>         morality folks who
>         have been thinking about virtue ethics, Webb Keane
>         has a nice new book
>         out called Ethical Life: Its Natural and Social
>         Histories:
>         https://www.amazon.com/Ethical-Life-Natural-Social-Histories/dp/0691167737
>
>         Anthropologists have for a long time been dealing
>         with the general
>         issue that you flag (becoming a different person
>         because of a
>         different context). It is a basic part of doing
>         fieldwork. You go to
>         another culture and do the same thing that you
>         always did but suddenly
>         in this new culture you find that you aren't the
>         same person you were
>         where you came from. Simple enough. The difficulty
>         is finding someone
>         who has written about it! I think it might be
>         considered too
>         commonplace to write about (but if so, I think
>         they are wrong!).
>
>         Anyway, I'd be interested to hear more about your
>         project.
>
>         -greg
>
>
>
>
>         Sent from my iPhone
>
>             On Jul 5, 2016, at 3:36 PM, Andy Blunden
>             <ablunden@mira.net <mailto:ablunden@mira.net>>
>             wrote:
>
>             Well, as is my nature, and given my situation,
>             I am not going to do any of that kind of
>             *investigation*, Michael; I don't really want
>             to explain my larger project because that
>             would lead to confusion of all kinds at this
>             stage. But ... I am just trying to show that
>             the understanding of virtues is enhanced by
>             taking virtues to be attributes of projects,
>             with individuals perhaps acquiring and
>             developing such attributes in and through
>             their participation in, commitment to and
>             place within the project. But it is not my
>             intention to look at participation in projects
>             as a way of individuals acquiring virtues. But
>             simply that the virtuous nature of the project
>             is what is primary, not the prima facie
>             character of the individual participants. The
>             problems I will face in substantiating this
>             are very similar to the issues you raised
>             about cognitive development, but I am
>             confident I can overcome them.
>
>             OK?
>
>             Andy
>
>             ------------------------------------------------------------
>             Andy Blunden
>             http://home.mira.net/~andy
>             <http://home.mira.net/%7Eandy>
>             http://www.brill.com/products/book/origins-collective-decision-making
>
>                 On 5/07/2016 4:21 PM, Glassman, Michael wrote:
>                 Andy,
>
>                 There are two issues here.  Are you
>                 exploring the way individual and group
>                 ethics change based on the current
>                 circumstances - separate from culturally
>                 developed "virtues" or are you exploring
>                 the way individual adapt to different sets
>                 of "virtues"  "morals" whatever when they
>                 change culture?
>
>                 Michael
>                 -----Original Message-----
>                 From: xmca-l-bounces@mailman.ucsd.edu
>                 <mailto:xmca-l-bounces@mailman.ucsd.edu>
>                 [mailto:xmca-l-bounces@mailman.ucsd.edu
>                 <mailto:xmca-l-bounces@mailman.ucsd.edu>]
>                 On Behalf Of Andy Blunden
>                 Sent: Tuesday, July 05, 2016 2:15 AM
>                 To: Nektarios Alexi
>                 <NEKTARIOS.ALEXI@cdu.edu.au
>                 <mailto:NEKTARIOS.ALEXI@cdu.edu.au>>;
>                 eXtended Mind, Culture, Activity
>                 <xmca-l@mailman.ucsd.edu
>                 <mailto:xmca-l@mailman.ucsd.edu>>
>                 Subject: [Xmca-l] Re: Appeal for help
>
>                 Perfect Alex! Thank you.
>
>                 Andy
>
>                 ------------------------------------------------------------
>                 Andy Blunden
>                 http://home.mira.net/~andy
>                 <http://home.mira.net/%7Eandy>
>                 http://www.brill.com/products/book/origins-collective-decision-making
>
>                     On 5/07/2016 4:00 PM, Nektarios Alexi
>                     wrote:
>                     For your request on similar
>                     information about changes in a person's
>                     character following their emigration
>                     to another country?  I have used
>                     his theory for my PhD thesis on
>                     acculturation effect for help seeking
>                     intentions for mental ilness.
>
>
>
>                     http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1464-0597.1997.tb01087.x/
>                     abstract;jsessionid=3F23F698365AD798272D11D57C859C71.f04t02
>
>                     Immigration, Acculturation, and
>                     Adaptation - Berry - 2008 ...
>                     <http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1464-0597.1997.tb01087.x
>                     /abstract;jsessionid=3F23F698365AD798272D11D57C859C71.f04t02>
>                     onlinelibrary.wiley.com
>                     <http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com>
>                     How to Cite. Berry, J. W. (1997),
>                     Immigration, Acculturation, and
>                     Adaptation. Applied Psychology:An
>                     International Review, 46: 5-34. doi:
>                     10.1111/j.1464-0597.1997 ...
>
>
>
>                     ------------------------------------------------------------
>                     *From:*
>                     xmca-l-bounces@mailman.ucsd.edu
>                     <mailto:xmca-l-bounces@mailman.ucsd.edu>
>                     <xmca-l-bounces@mailman.ucsd.edu
>                     <mailto:xmca-l-bounces@mailman.ucsd.edu>>
>                     on behalf of Andy Blunden
>                     <ablunden@mira.net
>                     <mailto:ablunden@mira.net>>
>                     *Sent:* Tuesday, 5 July 2016 3:08:22 PM
>                     *To:* eXtended Mind, Culture, Activity
>                     *Subject:* [Xmca-l] Appeal for help
>                     Comrade and friends, I need some help.
>
>                     I am setting about developing a new
>                     approach to virtue ethics. Virtues
>                     are everywhere taken to be deep-seated
>                     attributes of a person's
>                     character; my aim is to make the
>                     starting point instead from virtues
>                     defined as deep-seated attributes of a
>                     project, which you can take to
>                     mean "social context" or "system of
>                     activity" if you wish. I don't
>                     need advice about issues and problems
>                     of ethics, but it is in in the
>                     nature of virtue ethics that it always
>                     has strong implications for
>                     psychology as well as social theory,
>                     to the extent that I think I can
>                     make a great deal of progress by
>                     calling on psychological data.
>
>                     Can people point me to research(ers)
>                     about how a person's character
>                     changes with social context (e.g.
>                     home/work), any evidence of the
>                     well-known phenomenon in which a
>                     person promoted above the ability
>                     suffers a moral degeneration; any
>                     suitable and reliable data about the
>                     differing character (not just
>                     preferences or cognition, but virtues)
>                     of people from one culture or another?
>                     or similar information about
>                     changes in a person's character
>                     following their emigration to another
>                     country?
>
>                     URLs appreciated, or whole books, I
>                     don't have access to a university
>                     library or JSTOR.
>
>                     Thanks
>
>                     Andy
>
>                     --
>                     ------------------------------------------------------------
>                     Andy Blunden
>                     http://home.mira.net/~andy
>                     <http://home.mira.net/%7Eandy>
>                     <http://home.mira.net/%7Eandy>
>                     http://www.brill.com/products/book/origins-collective-decision-making
>
>
>
>
>
>
> -- 
> Gregory A. Thompson, Ph.D.
> Assistant Professor
> Department of Anthropology
> 880 Spencer W. Kimball Tower
> Brigham Young University
> Provo, UT 84602
> http://byu.academia.edu/GregoryThompson



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