Human Terrain & Anthropology (merged thread)

[Tom Odom]

Welcome and keep posting. Obvoiusly you are --like me--a fan of Nagl's book. Tell us more about yourself at Tell Us About You #2...

I will leave commenting on whether "going native" means that in the world of Anthropology to Marc T. But in the world of the FAO, "going native" means losing your perspective and your usefulness.

Best

Tom

[SoupWithAKnife]

Tom,

Thanks for the welcome. I briefly wrote about myself a couple of months ago here. It's a lightweight bio (given my lack of experience in the "real world") compared to the others, so I hardly blame you for missing it!

I am indeed a fan of LTC Nagl's book, but I regret my choice of username. Rather than a tribute to a great book, it comes off like some kind of rip-off...

Regarding the use of the expression "going native," I'm also interested to see how it hits Marc T. given its negative connotation in the military.

Regards
Cullen

[Tom Odom]

Cullen

Sorry I missed the intro, But also thanks for the bolg contact. I am interested in the subject as are many here,

Best

Tom

[marct]

Hi Cullen and Tom,

I've been reading Marcus' blog and I'm really impressed by it. One the whole I find it quite good and I'm looking forward to more. Of course the fact that Hugh Gusterson is engaging in little snipes at Marcus' posts is another sign, to me at least, that it is good !

As far as "going native" is concerned, Marcus is describing it quite accurately. If you want a more formalized description, it would be building a "persona" (sort of like a split personality) that is "native", but retaining the ability to come out of that persona.

I think it is this final point, being able to come out of that persona, that marks the difference between what Anthropologists and the military mean by "going native". In the MPD (Multiple Personality Disorder) literature, this is called "switching", and it's pretty much what good fieldworkers do with the vital exception that we have control over which persona we are using. Think of it as a mental "trick".

Marc