I am currently writing a paper on anthropologists, provisionally titled 'Coming of age in Academia: The PhD as rite of passage'.
As an intrepid researcher I of course believe in the kind of ethnography where one completely immerses onself in the subjects' culture. I was therefore excited to meet with cutting edge anthropologist Janine Su, who by a bizarre coincidence turned out to be flatting with Dad's old friend Gen Fujii and brought him along for lunch.
I felt fortunate to have this introduction into anthropological society. I tried to blend in as well as I could in the hope that they would forget they were under observation and carry on with their normal customs. I was lucky - after a minute or two they began to share a ritual pint and engage in a conversation about the torpor induced by the final writing-up of one's research.
When Gen slipped out for a cigarette, I slipped on his anthropologist's hat in the hope of blending in among my subjects still better. I feel I have now been accepted as one of their own and could pass myself off as an athropologist at any of their large tribal gatherings, or 'conferences' as they call them in their own language.
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