Author: eli

Pre-made objects

I’ve been thinking lately about how, in ethnography, some objects of inquiry seem to come ready-made, almost pre-packaged, while others are so unclear, blurry, flou (in French), that it’s…

The end of class

I’ve taken to writing little end-of-class reflections, which I read to my students on the last day. Here’s my reflection on my last day teaching at Whittier College. (The class was about…

Why deviate?

One time a friend of mine, Mike Bishop, asked me an interesting question about the ethics of deviating from norms: “In what sense is deviance important for its…