Topic idea and such

I've actually been thinking about what I'd like to research for a while now, and have a pretty good idea of what it'll be (though I'll definitely have to fine-tune it a lot as the semester goes on).

I was raised in the Church of Christ, and over the past few years I've noticed (both first hand and through the conversations of older generations) that the church has recently been under a lot of stress and we're coming to a breaking point of sorts. Modern movements in religion and ways of thinking have influenced my generation so much that the church is under quite a bit of pressure to maintain the "loyalty" of the up-and-coming members of the church that are needed to keep it alive. There are a lot of dynamics that go into why this is an issue, mainly due to the extremely conservative practices and doctrines of the church. But more on that later.

I'm interested in two main topics: both how the elders of the church (pretty much our parents and older) are handling this, because they're in a pretty crucial position right now, and also where the church of Christ as we know it is headed. For the sake of this project, I'll probably focus more on the former, but both are topics I'd love to explore in depth later, if given the opportunity.

Hope all of that made sense, feel free to ask for clarification. I'm still figuring it out myself :)

derby

For my project, I was thinking of doing an ethnograph on women's flat-track roller derby. I have been skating with the recreational division of the Texas Rollergirls for almost two years now and during this time I have become really interested in the dynamics of this particular team sport. When I think back on these past few years, I can definitely see how being a part of this league has shaped and influenced my personal character. Therefore, I was thinking about focusing my topic on questions of female identity - such as what drew the skater to roller derby in the first place, how joining the sport changes the way she sees herself, and how it affects her day-to-day persona/character. In this ethnograph, I would like to incorporate issues of gender and discussion of what it means to be a real "woman" in roller derby culture.

I luckily have a pretty wide array of contacts from my league and multiple interviews should be relatively simple to schedule. I have practice twice a week at Playland Skate Center in North Austin as well as various other derby events from time to time. Quick question - I will be interviewing adults but my site is off campus - do I need any sort of approval from the university?

Thanks for reading and I would love to hear any feedback/suggestions!

Haiti and the culture of poverty explanation

There are many recent interesting pieces of writing on Haiti out there, in particular on how there is no such thing as "natural disaster," but human-made vulnerability to natural events (poverty, lack of infrastructure, deforestation). Here's another one. The one that really drew my attention was also the one that made me the angriest, an op-ed piece by the conservative commentator David Brooks in the NYT. I encourage you to read it and identify the culture of poverty explanation (for those of you who took intro with me), and then reflect onto how similar explanations are employed to explain away global poverty in other situations. Arghh.

Tangled up in topics

I must admit that I am a bit befuddled by my thoughts. I cannot seem to narrow what I would like to study. I am definitely daunted by logistics and the time crunch. My solution? To put all my thoughts on the screen. Forgive me the minutia!

Here are some of my ideas (all of which somehow tie into the medical field):

-Interaction of healthcare professionals (nurse, doctor, assistant) in a clinical setting

-Do the interactions differ if the institutions are non-profit or for-profit?

-Does gender impact any "hierarchy" that might form?

-Women's health counseling

-Impact of gender/age/race (of the counselor and of the counseled) on substance, tone of discussion

-The health of health professionals

-Does it vary by status?

-How do people who work to heal others' bodies take care of their own?

-If working in a women's health clinic, do employees come to perceive the female body

differently? With greater or less respect?

-Health professionals and health policy

-How do people who work in the healthcare industry perceive of the healthcare bill? What do they know? What do they care about? What controversial issues might affect them?

Honestly, I wonder if I am framing my ideas correctly, in a proper anthropological light. Any suggestions to narrow my choices or my object of study?

Globalization and mental health

Every now and then I will post something interesting that I found on the web and I would like to share with y'all. This time is an article in the New York Times about the social and cultural construction of mental disease, and the spread of American conceptions of mental health, not just in terms of standards of diagnosis and use of medication, but also in terms of the repertoires of outer manifestations, implications for the sense of self, etc. It is based mostly on the work of cross-cultural psychologists, but it resonates nevertheless with similar conversations in anthropology. What I found most interesting was their question of whether locating disease in the brain (giving it a biological definition) reduced the social stigma associated with mental health problems. The answer, surprisingly, was no!

I would like you to think about the practical implications of these findings. Should, for example, anti-depressive medication be made available to the rest of the world? What about medication-based treatments to schizophrenia?

Anyway, I just wanted you to have the opportunity to read this, esp. those who took my globalization class and still remember Larkin's article of the global "liquidity" of DNA information linked to mental disease. (I can email the article to whoever hasn't read it and is interested in reading it.)

Research Topic Idea

So I'm considering looking at identity--possibly working with how identity and ability are intertwined. Maybe something along the lines of how people work to recreate their image after becoming disabled in some way? It's a topic that interests me and I feel could be potentially relevant.

Hope this is along the lines of what the blogging ordeal for ethno methods is all about. Any feedback would be appreciated. Thanks for your time.