Allison

Ariel is an anthropologist!

I was looking for inspiration for my blog post this week while listening to Volume II of Disney’s Sing-a-Long broadcast on ABC, when the song, “Part of Your World” came on with scenes from The Little Mermaid. I was promptly flooded with memories of a tumblr post claiming Ariel, sixteen-year-old and dad-defying mermaid, was indeedContinue reading “Ariel is an anthropologist!”

Where the heck have I been?! And a tribute…

I haven’t posted in a couple weeks…its been looming over my head but I haven’t done anything about it. It the words of my grandfather, my “get up an go” got up and left! I have had no will, focus or motivation to do anything the past couple weeks. I’ve been drudging through homework orContinue reading “Where the heck have I been?! And a tribute…”

Community Arts Relief: A Positive Story in a Trying Time

It’s been a pretty tough week for Iowa. Our governor won’t issue a stay-at-home order, she criticized the national medical advisor, and Iowa has been pointed out on various platforms from not making the same choices as other states. Fortunately, I live in the middle of nowhere part of Iowa and not in some ofContinue reading “Community Arts Relief: A Positive Story in a Trying Time”

If your life was a movie: what would be your background music playlist?

This is one of my favorite questions to ask my students when I teach music courses. It’s relatable to most people, if they enjoy music. So for this blog post, I am going to create a series of questions to ask people that ends up in a “life” playlist. It’s really a kind of interviewContinue reading “If your life was a movie: what would be your background music playlist?”

HERbeat: an ethnographic reflection

Mindfulness, Perseverance, Community, Support, and “Space and Place.” These are the main things that stuck with me throughout my weekend at HERbeat. I attended the HERbeat concert, which I covered a little bit of in my previous post. Sunday, however, was even more HERbeat centered meetings. I went to a 3 hour community building eventContinue reading “HERbeat: an ethnographic reflection”

#OURbeat

Greetings from Minneapolis, Minnesota! I had the amazing opportunity this weekend to see an all-women taiko performance at the Ordway Center for Performing Arts. An event like this has never happened before today and I have been looking forward to it for months! See, my goal is to do my master’s thesis on this groupContinue reading “#OURbeat”

The Ten Lies of Ethnography

This week we have been talking A LOT about ethics in my Field Methods class. In fact, there are two weeks just spent on ethics. We have also had to submit to the IRB (Institutional Review Board) for our research projects in this class, which are going to be our final. While all of thisContinue reading “The Ten Lies of Ethnography”

Can History Channel’s Ancient Aliens teach us to be better ethnographers?!

Okay, okay before you judge me for watching the show Ancient Aliens, I guess I should share my background with it and answer some basic questions. Do I believe in everything they say? Heck no!!! Do I think it is good scholarship (if it even counts as scholarship sometimes?) Also definitely a no. Do IContinue reading “Can History Channel’s Ancient Aliens teach us to be better ethnographers?!”

What Even is Culture Anyway?

We deem many aspects of life as some part of a “culture.” Mental Health Culture. Black Culture. Pop Culture. But what does culture even mean in those cases? Oxford Dictionary says, when you google the definition of culture, that culture is: “the customs, arts, social institutions, and achievements of a particular nation, people, or otherContinue reading “What Even is Culture Anyway?”