If one wants to be a writer and is trying to decide what to study in college (because college degrees are good things to have), and one doesn't want to pursue the popular B.A. in English, Anthropology is a fine option. And, believe it or not, there are lots of jobs for a young punk with a B.A. in Anthropology. One just has to be creative and resourceful, just as they would if they had a B.A. in English, perhaps even less so.

As an undergrad anthrogeek, one is taught how to observe, understand people from numerous angles, think critically and creatively, research, and how to write, among a wide variety of other things, depending on what branch of anthropology you pursue, where you study, etc. One is also taught how to research and cite one's sources appropriately. (This is also a skill one can get from other majors, but anthros deal with this all this time since most of our work is so dependent on work that has come before.)

I have been following the Edwards situation over the past several days, but haven't devoted a lot of time to it. It seems like sort of a no duh situation to me, in a lot of ways. However, via Sarah Monette, I have read some responses to the situation, and they must be shared.

First, I give you Paul Tolme, who, in addition to his witty and lovely article, offers some fine advice: "When the teepee flaps are rocking, don't come a-knocking." This includes tents your colleagues and/or informants are sleeping in while you're out in the field.

Secondly, we have a fabulous biographical list of those who were plagiarized.

This list had me tearing up. It includes a group of anthropologists who feel more like old friends than they do a bunch of old dead people. I studied their work as a budding young anthrogeek. But then there's the family connections. My elders spent a great deal of time with the Lakota, living and running the general store at Wounded Knee for a very long time. Some of these names occur in family stories. Dr. Eastman helped my great uncle Wilbur recuperate after being paralyzed during a baseball game at the Haskall boarding school. My grandmother (Ojibwe) and grandfather worked for the Bureau of Indian Affairs out of Rapid City for a time. (They met at Wounded Knee.)

Also included in this list is Mari Sandoz. I've been reading Sandoz since I was a young girl. Her books were given to me primarily because, in part, she was chronicling my family's history. And she also wrote fine stuff.

These writers (because even if you call yourself an ethnographer, you are a writer) sacrificed and worked hard to obtain and chronicle the information used by Edwards. I fully agree that Edwards is sincere when she says she was ignorant of such practices as referencing and citing your sources, but at the same time I'm a bit sad, too. I'm sad for her because the whole situation probably sucks for her and I have an empathetic heart, but at the same time I'm sad that she inappropriately used the resources she did. My heavens, if you're interested in America Indian studies then wouldn't it be nice to know where you could go to learn more? It's not like any of the cribbed writers are going to lose something because of what happened (except for the delightful Tolme), but there's something to be said for respecting others' work. At the same time, the thought that these people's work ended up in hawt romance novels potentially as post-coital conversation makes me feel a leetle bit eepy. And then there's the possibility that some of these folks appropriated information from their Native American sources for their own gain, and didn't necessarily give appropriate credit or compensation where it was due. At that point I guess one says, "What goes around comes around."

It's truly a muddled mess, but if nothing else, please go read the Dear Author and Paul Tolme links.