Differences

This shows you the differences between two versions of the page.

--- the_quest:choosing_a_topic [2020/08/09 20:41] – Ryan Schram (admin)
+++ the_quest:choosing_a_topic [2021/06/29 02:27] (current) – external edit 127.0.0.1
@@ Line 22: / Line 22: @@
 ===== What’s a good topic? =====
-There are many curious things to learn, but we want to go beyond that. We hope to discover new ideas, new reasons and new explanations. That’s interesting! Ultimately your paper will be your attempt to argue for your own answer to the question of why.
+There are many peculiar and interesting things one can learn about, but we want to go beyond collecting trivia and esoterica or becoming subject-matter experts in a specialized area. We hope to discover new ideas, new reasons, and new explanations. That’s interesting! Ultimately your research paper will be your attempt to argue for your own answer to the question of why.
 Anthropology is particularly good at finding interesting topics. We love to look at things that are not just different from what most people know, but also challenge what we assume is normal. That’s important when you think about whether your topic deserves your attention.
@@ Line 28: / Line 28: @@
 In other words, a good topic has a problem. Your investigation will lead to questions that ask why, and when you attempt to answer these question, you get closer to solving the problem.
-A problem, in this sense, is a contradiction, a knot, or a puzzle. It’s one of those things that make you go //hmmm//.... (//[[http://youtu.be/XF2ayWcJfxo|Things that make you go hmmm…!]]//) It is a set of facts or conditions which seem not to fit. They challenge what you expect you will find.
+A problem, in this sense, is a contradiction, a knot, or a puzzle. It’s one of those things that make you go //hmmm//.... (//[[http://youtu.be/XF2ayWcJfxo|Things that make you go hmmm…!]]//) It is a set of facts or conditions which seem not to fit. They challenge what you expect you will find. A problem is an obstacle on the road to greater, and eventually complete knowledge of the reasons for things. We can tell a general story of the causes, purposes, functions, or deeper meaning of the world and special parts of the world. But as we move along the empirical terrain of facts in a specific topic, we will encounter things we do not expect, things that block the passage along the road or interrupt the general explanatory  narrative we want to tell. To remove this obstacle, we must first acknowledge that it is an obstacle, and then ask why it is there. Our answers can add to and improve the general understanding of our topic. Answers to questions about problems are attempts to remove the problem and continue on the path, or perhaps a new and better path.
-This is, frankly, the only reason to come to lecture in my classes. Lectures are presentations of theoretical explanations, master perspectives that tell you why things are the way they are. But in fact many theories raise more problems than solutions, because real cultures and real lives are so complex. In this class we learn theory to become better acquainted with what scholars agree on as explanations, but also to know the terms of debate for all the stuff they don’t agree on. Which is a lot.
+This is, frankly, the only reason to come to lecture in my classes. Lectures are presentations of theoretical explanations, master perspectives that tell you why things are the way they are. But in fact many theories raise more problems than solutions, because real cultures and real lives are so complex. In this class we learn theory to become better acquainted with what scholars agree on as explanations, but also to know the terms of debate for all the stuff they don’t agree on. Which is a lot. These disagreements are, at their root, disputes over different ways to resolve the problem, to clear the obstacle from the path, and continue towards a more complete and more general understanding of the world in the abstract.
 So for instance the historian Rodney Stark studies early Christianity (1997). It’s reasonably clear as a topic: The Roman Mediterranean world. But who cares? Stark is interested in why Christianity spread, but there’s more to it than that. Christianity, in retrospect, was highly similar to many other new cults, both Jewish and Egyptian. They all attracted followers from across the Mediterranean. Why was the Jesus movement so successful as opposed to all the others? That’s a problem. It leads him ultimately to the question of why did people convert to Christianity when it seemed to be so marginal, and often treated as subversive? More on questions later. For now, as you read on new topics, watch yourself when you get surprised. Why are you surprised? Have you found a problem? [[Asking a question|What would you like to ask?]]