Being an anthropologist of the U.S. means a couple of things: 1) people suspect I'm pulling a fast one since my research looks a heck of a lot like hanging out, albeit often with a note book, 2) other anthropologists give me a hard time about the "luxuries of civilization" (my reply is always the same: I'll trade your year in the jungle for my 2 1/2 years in an American high school doing dissertation research. They usually back off). If people have any sense what anthropology is, they tend to imagine that every anthropologist does their research somewhere in Africa or South America somewhere, hanging out with "native tribes" and learning to eat bugs and coming back home to tell the tale. Truth is, while there may be some corners of the world where people are truly "off-the-grid," the Travel Channel will be there soon enough. Most anthropologists, even the ones who are finding those "off-the-grid" places and learning to eat bugs, are studying interfaces: How do people connect to one another? What do people believe about the world? What happens when our different ideas and ideals and belief systems come into contact with one another? Do we wage war? Do we become trading partners? Do we ignore one another? As it happens, these questions don't always require trips to Africa or South America to answer. After a childhood and youth that criss-crossed the U.S. and included significant stints in Asia and Africa, I realized that some of my most perplexing questions had emerged within the U.S., and when I finally decided on a career in anthropology (the fifth choice, after whole-hearted starts at being a novelist, a nurse, a theatre production specialist, and an education reform activist), I knew I would study Americans and their culture. My culture, if you will. Of course, all anthropologists, if they are honest with themselves, are studying their own cultures. They are seeing their heritages reflected back in the contrasts they draw with the exotic and strange they find out there in the wide world. I just decided to be a little more direct about it.
