Gil Klein, Media General News Service
WASHINGTON – When most anthropologists do field work, they head off to places like Indonesia to study such things as 20th century head-hunting rituals. But when Rebekah Nathan wanted to study a foreign culture, she turned in her faculty parking pass, enrolled at her own university as a freshman and moved into a dorm.
“I had to learn a new language, a new speed of talk,” Nathan said. “Much quicker, much more shorthand. It comes from IM-ing (instant messaging). Even the number of “likes” in a sentence marked my age. I had to put a lot more in … so I talk like I know how he was like …”
Rebekah Nathan is not the anthropologist’s real name. She’s not saying where she teaches and did her research — or even where she was during a telephone interview. Her methods have raised a buzz in the academic community even before the September release of her book, “My Freshman Year: What a Professor Learned by Becoming a Student.” After an article and excerpt appeared in the “Chronicle of Higher Education,” she was criticized for involving students in her research without their “informed consent.” >> continue (Link updated)
SEE ALSO:
Getting Schooled in Student Life. An anthropology professor goes under cover to experience the mysterious life of undergraduates (The Chronicle of Higher Education, 29.7.05)
Rebekah Nathan: An Anthropologist Goes Under Cover (The Chronicle of Higher Education, 29.7.05)
Undercover Freshman (Inside Higher Education, 13.7.05)
An anthropologist’s undercover project raises ethical hackles (The Boston Globe, 7.8.05)
Gil Klein, Media General News Service
WASHINGTON - When most anthropologists do field work, they head off to places like Indonesia to study such things as 20th century head-hunting rituals. But when Rebekah Nathan wanted to study a foreign culture, she…
Read more
