Anthropology: Gender & Language

First of all, I came across a great site, Making Anthropology Public. I actually have been meaning to make a post about the basics and spectrum of anthropology because, quite frankly, most people don't grasp what it is that I study. And by most people, that even includes people that have some basic knowledge of the one or few sub-fields of anthropology [there's four]. It frustrates me when there is a conversation going about and people don't realize that may be directly related to what I study and want to devote the remaining part of my life to. I just think in my mind "Hello?! I know this stuff!" But that post has been drafted since October of last year. Anthropology is, to put simply, broad as fuck, therefore there is just so much to cover if I want to properly introduce you readers to my version of Anthropology 101. It'll happen eventually. In the meantime, if you are interested, a lot of the articles and literature that I link or reference here at Alchemy is a good place to research/look into. This will be one of those posts, in fact.

Currently, I am studying for my upcoming tests and catching up on some readings. I am currently reading a bunch of articles for my Women in Other Cultures class, which actually involves a lot of articles I have read before but am grateful for the repetition because it is fascinating and gives me the opportunity to post it up here. So, a must read is A Cultural Approach to Male-Female Miscommunication. I remember how much this article impacted my life the first time I read it, so please, it will blow your mind [maybe an exaggeration, but it is definitely vital information]. The link will take you to a Google Books site directly to that particular article which is actually 16 pages long [pages 161 through 176]. And next up is Gender Stereotyping in the English Language. This is actually my first time reading it, and it definitely has the same level of impact as the previous text does. I honestly don't know any other way to encourage people to be culturally aware, but to write about this stuff. Furthermore, it saddens me to know that most readers probably don't even read the articles I link. Anyways, this talks about the language use in regards to gender, I particularly pay a lot of attention to this, and not only with gender but with "disabilities" [specifically deafness] and several others. I am doing my part on a micro level of changing stereotypes and terminology used for them. I've had enough of it. This link will bring you to Google Docs of the entire 5 pages of the article. Enjoy the information.