Theses (3 Viewers)

[roxy]

it's in reference to the idea of a narrative consciousness and how it applies to the telling of the national story as well as that of the individual. the ghost in the machine is the homunculus described by cartesian interactionism. Literature can be seen as something which celebartes this kind of mysticsim, where as cognitive science sees the ghost in the machine dualism as forlorn. Basically we've made Ireland (irish writers have never stopped writing about being Irish, it's this Ireland to which I refer) up. Remember, the cultural revolution preceeded the political one in Ireland, and even such widely established memes as the archaic origins of Gaelic football in Ireland are a complete fiction.

summit like that.

it's my story and I'm sticking to it.

cool

 

[billygannon]

I mean applying anthropological perspectives to the study of establishing democracy in, say, Sub-Saharan Africa. There's been some talk about trying to reverse the model from the situation where the rich countries impose their own political traditions in ways that cause more damage than good to one where attempts are made to better understand what democracy means within a particular culture and use that as the starting point so as to better understand potential impacts of aid in developing countries. Would that be some kind of ethnographic research? Some of the Sahlins stuff I've read is really interesting.

I've met Marshall Sahlins! A couple of the Maynooth fellas were students of his and he was over doing a talk a couple of years back.

There has been a lot of research in that area. Should dig it up somewhere... I remember a cool essay by Lee Komito on how Irish politics work. He did it in the early 80's and it's still spot-on today.

 

[billygannon]

Tom!
Check this out...
http://www.aaanet.org/apla/index.htm

Could be of some use

 

[potlatch]

Tom!
Check this out...
http://www.aaanet.org/apla/index.htm

Could be of some use

Aye, Steve Coleman was one of his students or something. Coleman came out to the department in UCD to give us a crash course in cultural anthropology. Amazing stuff.

I'll take a look on JSTOR or something later - got some of Sahlins' articles, "What is Anthropological Enlightenment" and "The Sadness of Sweetness" - haven't read the last one but it's something about how European culture's obsession with sugar fuelled global capitalist expansion? Least that's what I *think* Coleman said. Wouldn't mind reading that Komito thing.

 

[billygannon]

Aye, Steve Coleman was one of his students or something. Coleman came out to the department in UCD to give us a crash course in cultural anthropology. Amazing stuff.

I'll take a look on JSTOR or something later - got some of Sahlins' articles, "What is Anthropological Enlightenment" and "The Sadness of Sweetness" - haven't read the last one but it's something about how European culture's obsession with sugar fuelled global capitalist expansion? Least that's what I *think* Coleman said. Wouldn't mind reading that Komito thing.

Steve's a very nice guy. Bit of a genius. He's really a linguistical anthropologist, but would be very up to speed with political anthropology (I think he taught me that - can't really remember). Any of them really. Although you could look into doing this stuff under a Geography or Sociology umbrella.

 

[potlatch]

Huge Do Make Say Think fan and a demon on the uileann pipes!

 

[wild_cat]

My brother did his on how urban canions fuck with GPS signels or something. It started with urban canions any way.

 

[cpr]

I did mine on Countess Markievicz and the impact of women during the road to independance. now i go swimming in her pool. reciprocity i guess.

 

[Wilbert]

it's in reference to the idea of a narrative consciousness and how it applies to the telling of the national story as well as that of the individual. the ghost in the machine is the homunculus described by cartesian interactionism. Literature can be seen as something which celebartes this kind of mysticsim, where as cognitive science sees the ghost in the machine dualism as forlorn. Basically we've made Ireland (irish writers have never stopped writing about being Irish, it's this Ireland to which I refer) up. Remember, the cultural revolution preceeded the political one in Ireland, and even such widely established memes as the archaic origins of Gaelic football in Ireland are a complete fiction.

summit like that.

it's my story and I'm sticking to it.

Give it to us in English!!!

 

[jane]

Steve's a very nice guy. Bit of a genius. He's really a linguistical anthropologist, but would be very up to speed with political anthropology (I think he taught me that - can't really remember). Any of them really. Although you could look into doing this stuff under a Geography or Sociology umbrella.

Steve....a bit of a genius? Give the man some credit. He makes most geniuses look like dumdumstupidheads.

Do you have an MA Potlatch? There might be a way to start your PhD without a conversion diploma if you do. If your MA is related to what you are interested in doing, or got you started on the background knowledge, then you're probably in good stead. One way to do it is to start as an MLitt and get yourself upgraded to a PhD after a year. I know people who have done that.

I imagine the topic you're interested in could be done in any number of departments, even if you decided to do it from an anthropological perspective. Geography, Sociology, Politics, Equality Studies, etc. There are also Institutes that might take you on. I don't know what they specialise in, but the Clinton Institute of American Studies might be one to look at. Even if you didn't want to use the US as an example, it would be possible to tweak a proposal to make it relevant. I suggest it mainly because I imagine it's got some good funding and decent resources, but I haven't a clue if I'm just talking rubbish or not. Point is, check out some of these academic institutes: they may be able to offer good funding sources, seminars, and other good stuff.

I'd say, if you're interested, find someone whom you want to supervise you, preferably in a department where it seems they have good facilities and stuff, and then take it from there.

Your topic sounds very cool. I've thought about these things from an archaeological perspective, and I've seen some interesting stuff on the topic. It's not only democracy that we impose on other countries, it's our methodologies in academia, too. The kind of archaeological methods we used in the developed world are actually impossible in many poorer countries, partly because they lack basic resources, like paper and photocopiers (and the way we research creates an incredible mountain of paperwork).


Also check out the American Anthropological Association's main site:
http://www.aaanet.org. Their annual meeting is in November, and it always looks amazing.

 

[Deleted member 3435]

Give it to us in English!!!

oh yeah, it is a bit jargon-y now that i read back over it. still in full-on thesis mode, y'know. can't help it.

cartesian interactionism= descartes' resolution of the mind/body problem. he thought there was a connection between the ghost/spirit/soul/homunculus/personality of a person and their brain which was located at the pineal gland.

modern cognitive scientists think that there is no material difference between the mind and the brain. a mind is only a brain which has been populated by sufficient memes.

memes are ideas which evolve like human genes. there are platonic memes in the world today even though he's dead. according to richard dawkins, memes often evolve for their own good, not coz they're of any use to us. only coz they're a good replicator. they "seek out" a host or they can't survive.

the things Irish writers write about, the Irish consciousness they create, is perhaps only a meme that is a good replicator. the notion of Irishness as represented by Ireland to itself or by the coloniser is something which largely overlooks the lived experience of Ireland.

now I promise I'll never mention it again. it's not all interesting as it sounds even. these things never are.

 

[BC]

if anybody has any questions regarding anthropology, please pm me. i would be more than happy to help if anyone is interested.

steve coleman is a star. a really sweet and wonderful man, with a superb taste in music. we used to meet in gigs alot, sigur ros and godspeed! spring to mind.

 

[broken arm]

memes are ideas which evolve like human genes. there are platonic memes in the world today even though he's dead. according to richard dawkins, memes often evolve for their own good, not coz they're of any use to us. only coz they're a good replicator. they "seek out" a host or they can't survive.

has anyone tried to 'prove' the parasitic nature of memes or the possibility of 'controling' the evolution of memes.

p.s. this is only an area that I have come across briefly in some design papers and conferences. no expert I.

 

[broken arm]

Broken Arm: any chance of getting a look at your thesis.

I'm in the UK at the moment and the only copy i have is on a cd at home somewhere. If I get over to ireland in the next while i'll root you out a copy. Going by your interests I would suggest that you might be interested in some of my research rather than the final paper. It was rather technical as I approached it as a policy impact assessment. The governance and economic transition issues played a part but the paper was primarily focussed on the legislative issues. IPP itself is a complex approach to sustainable production and consumption (which is why it has been on the Commission workbench for 10 years and still isn't a full reality). Using Lithuania as a case involved a lot of qualitative analysis (because of the type of data available) and trying to analyse IPP in the Lithuanian context, in relation to the EU's strategy for sustainable development, left me using tailored multi-criteria analysis tools etc. In trying to be catch-all I may have lost some focus. For example, the WEEE directive which would be a small component of IPP is proving to be a complex headache for all EU states and the implementation keeps getting delayed. If i wanted a strict quatitative analysis I could have picked on WEEE etc.


OK i'm rambling now but if you have any specific questions re. anything to do with the subject area just ask. As it happens, I am working on a feasibility study for the implementation of a national ecodesign initiative which is being based around similar 'life-cycle thinking' and 'supply-chain management' issues as IPP.....................................................................

 

[jane]

God, all of this is making me realise just how useless my research is.

 

[broken arm]

God, all of this is making me realise just how useless my research is.

nonsense.

 

[potlatch]

Steve....a bit of a genius? Give the man some credit. He makes most geniuses look like dumdumstupidheads.

Do you have an MA Potlatch? There might be a way to start your PhD without a conversion diploma if you do. If your MA is related to what you are interested in doing, or got you started on the background knowledge, then you're probably in good stead. One way to do it is to start as an MLitt and get yourself upgraded to a PhD after a year. I know people who have done that.

I imagine the topic you're interested in could be done in any number of departments, even if you decided to do it from an anthropological perspective. Geography, Sociology, Politics, Equality Studies, etc. There are also Institutes that might take you on. I don't know what they specialise in, but the Clinton Institute of American Studies might be one to look at. Even if you didn't want to use the US as an example, it would be possible to tweak a proposal to make it relevant. I suggest it mainly because I imagine it's got some good funding and decent resources, but I haven't a clue if I'm just talking rubbish or not. Point is, check out some of these academic institutes: they may be able to offer good funding sources, seminars, and other good stuff.

I'd say, if you're interested, find someone whom you want to supervise you, preferably in a department where it seems they have good facilities and stuff, and then take it from there.

Your topic sounds very cool. I've thought about these things from an archaeological perspective, and I've seen some interesting stuff on the topic. It's not only democracy that we impose on other countries, it's our methodologies in academia, too. The kind of archaeological methods we used in the developed world are actually impossible in many poorer countries, partly because they lack basic resources, like paper and photocopiers (and the way we research creates an incredible mountain of paperwork).


Also check out the American Anthropological Association's main site:
http://www.aaanet.org. Their annual meeting is in November, and it always looks amazing.

I've just got an MA, or MSc or something, in development studies from UCD. I'll probably want to see first if I can do a PhD based on my thesis there first, but I know there won't be any funding. And another three or so years in UCD isn't that appealing. When I've thought about this a little more I'm going to head in there and talk to my ex-supervisor about it.

Fanks.

 

[photon]

God, all of this is making me realise just how useless my research is.

Hey, they don't call what I do "theoretical physics" for nothing. Compared to my work, you're building mousetraps...

Paul

 

[snap-apple]

Hey, they don't call what I do "theoretical physics" for nothing. Compared to my work, you're building mousetraps...

MEeeeeeoowwww!!

 

[zebra heart attack]

Undergrad:

"An investigation of the electronic structure of Sn(II) monochalcogenides from SnO to SnTe."

..Which is being expanded for my post grad:

"The structure and properties of ceramics with stereochemically active s2 lone pairs."

The neatest thing I’m doing now is modelling new fuel cell materials, although the thought of carrying a cylinder of hydrogen in the boot of my car is a bit unnerving.

MA->PhD Transfer Viva exam next Wednesday. Eeek.

Best thread ever.