To Marathon or not to Marathon?

Yah, there's been a lot of handwringing since the 80s. I can tell you though, that the elders in my field region's villages were damn glad someone was collecting their histories and documenting their dialect before their generation passed away.
That is a ongoing concern on this side of the border. A lot of the old ways and languages are being lost. Each elder that passes away present another loss in knowledge that is lost forever. :(
 
And that is the truth.....recognizing also that your documentation molded by your perspective no matter how much you try to avoid it...if you did ANYTHING, your perspective is involved in even the way that the elders communicated with you.
So you are a linguist?? (sorry I'm a bit behind on meeting my BF brethren)
I'm what you call a linguistic anthropologist. We study the interface between language and culture. And I can attest that once the recorder is on, if you've set the right context, and ask the right questions (mine were created after several years of basic lingusitic work) the folks will talk animatedly amongst themselves and practically forget you're there. I have close to 400 hours' worth of field transcripts.
 
I can guarantee Lee that I do not go to one of those 17... Lol! I'm not knocking academia either, just her. I do really enjoy anthropology though, but just on an interest level, not on an academic level, if you get that. It's something I occasionally like to read about but not something I really want to study in full time in class. I guess that's part of my having many interests and not one big interest.
I'm actually a little sick of anthro myself these days. Can you tell by how much time I spend on this forum?
 
That is a ongoing concern on this side of the border. A lot of the old ways and languages are being lost. Each elder that passes away present another loss in knowledge that is lost forever. :(
Yah, it's much worse in North America. My peeps dialect is being replaced by neighboring dialects, but the language as a whole is quite healthy, for the time being. P.S., I may have found a publisher for my dictionary and grammar . . .
 
Ideally you want to fuse the insider and the outsider's point of view into some kind of intelligible whole, but it takes a lot of technical, semiotic jargon to do so ;) .
yep...and that is an artifact of academia in order to maintain an elite status which preserves the regality (yes I just mad that word up.....I should get published so everyone has to quote me if they want to use it...lol). Having an arsenal of jargon is useful for complex conversations especially within a specific field of study, but at some point it just becomes a tool of power which is wielded over those who do not have access to this language. Don't get me wrong, specific rhetoric and complex jargon has its place but are too often the building blocks of a technocracy which preaches egalitarianism but exercises accumulation of wealth and power.

Woah....I guess its pretty obvious that I am a product of the system because if I really embraced what I just said I could have just written...

Jargon is used to separate the general public from the "elite"

:D
 
I'm what you call a linguistic anthropologist. We study the interface between language and culture.
Cool!
This was not a focus of mine but definitely an integral part of my studies (at least an awareness of this interface).
We definitely need to get together for a good long run now...
 
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yep...and that is an artifact of academia in order to maintain an elite status which preserves the regality (yes I just mad that word up.....I should get published so everyone has to quote me if they want to use it...lol). Having an arsenal of jargon is useful for complex conversations especially within a specific field of study, but at some point it just becomes a tool of power which is wielded over those who do not have access to this language. Don't get me wrong, specific rhetoric and complex jargon has its place but are too often the building blocks of a technocracy which preaches egalitarianism but exercises accumulation of wealth and power.

Woah....I guess its pretty obvious that I am a product of the system because if I really embraced what I just said I could have just written...

Jargon is used to separate the general public from the "elite"

:D
Jargon can be abused, to be sure, but you don't want specialists having to talk to each other all the time in vague terms or using paragraphs when a nice invented word of phrase will do. My dad was an architect, I don't think we want to call him an elitist just because he had a lot of adjectives to describe different kinds of columns, or knew all about the nuances of different materials.
 
OK, now it's my turn: what did/do you study?
International Relations
Comparative Cultures & Politics
with a specialization Latin American and Caribbean Studies
 
OK, now it's my turn: what did/do you study?
Open a new discussion topic for this if you don't mind...I am grumpy today so there!
 
Open a new discussion topic for this if you don't mind...I am grumpy today so there!
wait....Dama, you mean to say that you don't see the connection between this and Marathons???? :D:oops:
 
We definitely need to get together for a good long run now...
In Chicago I ran with an English sociologist on a regular basis. It was great. He was a real natural runner--tall and skinny, and could run much faster and farther, but he'd slow down for our five miles together and then finish the rest of his workout at a faster pace. It'd be great to have another running partner like that again. I'm hoping to move out West somewhere in a year or two, wanna come with?
 
and marathons and stuff and running things..... (I've got you dama :p)

Fine, be that way :p
How's your running going btw? do you thik you could swing the marathon?
 
Fine, be that way :p
How's your running going btw? do you thik you could swing the marathon?
Yah...I think I could, but I'm not going to.
I'm going to stick to the half so that I dont risk any unnecessary injuries.
I want to run for as long as possible and punishing my body because I am in a hurry doesn't seem like the best idea...thanks to the support and advice on this forum I got a bit of perspective when I needed it
 
In Chicago I ran with an English sociologist on a regular basis. It was great. He was a real natural runner--tall and skinny, and could run much faster and farther, but he'd slow down for our five miles together and then finish the rest of his workout at a faster pace. It'd be great to have another running partner like that again. I'm hoping to move out West somewhere in a year or two, wanna come with?
we're checking out Cali right now....
Where abouts are you guys looking....
There seem to be some really great trails out that way!
 

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