We’ve spent much of class talking about stories, and reading stories and the myth that is created there. But I want to dive into the realm of telling stories, orally. In the Innocent Anthroplogist, Nigel Barley talks about the funny thing that occurs when anthropologist retell their fieldwork stories. It is always romanticized. They say they had a wonderful time and it was easy to learn the language, and they just thoroughly enjoyed themselves. But, this of course is after they struggled to get into the country for months, got food poisoning, and other terrible diseases. So, you see people create their own myth out of a truth. By doing this one is able to better understand and appreciate the true story.
These anthropologists change their story, or leave out part of their stories because it helps them to fit into the society constructed view that anthropologists have wonderful, exciting experiences. Even though they know the truth, by not orally portraying their difficulties it reduces the “truthness” of it. As a result, the anthropologists myth is continued and it is only by personal experience does one realize that the experience is not what they had said at all- even though it has those aspects.
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