The Anthropologist Under Study
Any intruder to another society bent upon studying the local people, becomes in turn, a subject of interest him or her self. Apart from the curious questions posed by my informants about my far distant and exotic homeland (I have only met two people who have ever been to the US), I and my family found ourselves subjects of more formal inquiries as well.
Rather early on, we were photographed and displayed in an exhibit documenting the diversity of forms of the family in Vilanova. Over the past year, a few people have recognized us from the photo in the exhibit.
More recently I was interviewed by L’Aleta, the magazine of the gang of castellers, els Bordegassos, of which I am an active member. Because most foreigners don’t even realize that Catalans or their language exist, and few international tourists visit Vilanova, my interviewers were curious to know how I had broken this ignorance barrier and why on earth I had chosen the “ordinary” town of Vilanova i la Geltrú as my research site. They also asked about my physical experience in the strenuous activity of making castells. The quote they chose as the title translates: “Within the pinya (base of the human castle), everything is dark and you smell the odors of everyone.”
Last week I was interviewed for El Diari de Vilanova by the culture editor who had been informed of my presence by the chief of the gang of devils. In this interview I was able to briefly outline my analytical interest in the way festival practices condition social dispositions of coexistence in public space and the reception of immigrants in Catalan society. And in both interviews I was asked to compare festival life in Catalunya to that in the US. I imagine Vilanovans pity our holidays, hidden away in homes and churches or professionalized and commercialized with little community participation except as consumers. I thought about this more after the interview and realized that, while some US children get to visit Disneyland and shake hands with Mickey Mouse; in Vilanova during festival, children get to inhabit their own fantasy lands and act the part of magical beings themselves.
Rather early on, we were photographed and displayed in an exhibit documenting the diversity of forms of the family in Vilanova. Over the past year, a few people have recognized us from the photo in the exhibit.
More recently I was interviewed by L’Aleta, the magazine of the gang of castellers, els Bordegassos, of which I am an active member. Because most foreigners don’t even realize that Catalans or their language exist, and few international tourists visit Vilanova, my interviewers were curious to know how I had broken this ignorance barrier and why on earth I had chosen the “ordinary” town of Vilanova i la Geltrú as my research site. They also asked about my physical experience in the strenuous activity of making castells. The quote they chose as the title translates: “Within the pinya (base of the human castle), everything is dark and you smell the odors of everyone.”
Last week I was interviewed for El Diari de Vilanova by the culture editor who had been informed of my presence by the chief of the gang of devils. In this interview I was able to briefly outline my analytical interest in the way festival practices condition social dispositions of coexistence in public space and the reception of immigrants in Catalan society. And in both interviews I was asked to compare festival life in Catalunya to that in the US. I imagine Vilanovans pity our holidays, hidden away in homes and churches or professionalized and commercialized with little community participation except as consumers. I thought about this more after the interview and realized that, while some US children get to visit Disneyland and shake hands with Mickey Mouse; in Vilanova during festival, children get to inhabit their own fantasy lands and act the part of magical beings themselves.
posted by Brad at 2:41 AM
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