such poetic imagery...

[rivendellrose]

Am currently writing an essay on male-male erotic relationships in Tokugawa era Japan, as compared to the later Meiji conceptions of the same, and in reviewing my readings, I'm finding several lovely quotes I'd meant to share with you all.

A character in some novel or the like muses that like the firefly, he makes his living with his butt.

"Pardon me if I tear your ass," reads the caption to some erotic picture or other.

And just so you all know - If... he detected the aroma of boiled prawns and chrysanthemum leaves during intercourse, he would know that he was dealing with a "superior ass."

Incidentally, it is noted that in this case, the member should not be washed for several days, because such an ass serves as "medicine" to the penis. To which I say... umm... fun. But then there's the "poisonous asses." Gotta watch out for those.


Oh, and just because I was checking my readings for the week, let it be known that I will soon be reading a piece subtitled "The Lunch Box as Ideological State Apparatus," and, shortly thereafter, another article entitled "Love Between Beautiful Boys in Women's Comics."

Have I mentioned recently that I love being an anthropology major?

Comments

[reynard52.livejournal.com]

Have you ever watched Samurai Champloo? There's a lot of reference to the homoeroticism of Japan in there, very cleverly done. Anthropology rules! What is your main focus/area of research/interest?

[rivendellrose.livejournal.com]

I haven't - I'm pretty new to serious study in this field, beyond reading a lot of books on geisha and the like, and having a lot of friends who are into Japanese culture. This is my first actual class focusing on Japan.

I'm still an undergraduate (and trying to finish out the degree in a year, since it's my second...), so my focus in scholastics is pretty general. In personal interest, I'm a bit all over the place - comparative religion, mythology, folklore, pre-Christian and medieval Europe, gender issues, and a strong desire to see some serious scholarship done in regards to subjects that university anthropology classes usually don't seem to touch with a ten-foot pole are definitely on my radar. I'm sick of the conception that anthropology is something that happens only in the tropics or Alaska or the like, not in major nations or the history of Western nations. Had a blast with linguistic anthropology, too, but I've only taken one basic class in that.

(Woah... okay, humor me if that made no sense - I've been writing a little too long, I think.)

What do you study/work in/find yourself reading about?

[reynard52.livejournal.com]

I'm with you on the tropics/Alaska thing. People, especially in the west, are often surprised to find out that they reside in a culture worthy of study as much as any tribe on say the Andaman Islands. I think it's that whole world-view thing where people often think everyone else is different but them ^_^ Heck, some of the most facinating cultural studies include Garbologists studying our modern day refuse...not a field I'd want to actually BE in.... I prefer really old garbage :P

Japan has SUCH facinating history and cultures, past and present. And "all-over-the-place" in my eyes means someone who's interested in A LOT of neat stuff! I think you and I could talk nonstop for days. Have studied at UCSD (cult. Anth), ASU(cult anth., bio anth.), UofA (Mayology, archaeoastronomy) and Universtiy of Eastern New Mexico (paleo anth, lithic studies and paleo tool development and engineering). My anthro studies have mainly take me down the Mesoamerican path, specifically the ancient Maya but also including modern Maya and other indigenous people of mainly Mexico. About 15 years of that particular subject, but I'm on hiatus for now to focus on my nonprofit GWoB. Sigh, and at this point it looks like I'll be on hiatus for a while. I'll be finishing up my Masters here at the UofO sometime, there's just no time for heavy duty research these days.

Linguistic antrhopology is TEH COOL! And it's those basic classes that cover the meat of general fields, so I'd hold your opinions on any of these subjects in high regard. My basic The-world-can-go-fuck-itself book of the moment is called "Breaking the Maya Code" by Micheal Coe. I've read and reread it so many times, and I'm STILL floored by the glyph decipherment process involved with the Mayan glyphs. I think you'd love it!!

[rivendellrose.livejournal.com]

My favorite professor/advisor/mentor pegged me after a quick description of my interests by nodding and commenting, "I see - you like things old and dead." It's so true, in so many ways. But I'm starting to get more and more pleasure out of looking sideways at the modern world, trying to interpret it in the same way anthropology teaches us to interpret other cultures. Fun stuff, sometimes.

I have a feeling we could, definitely. Archaeoastronomy sounds totally fascinating - I admit that my recent studies have taken me a lot more in the direction of pre-Christian and saga-era Scandinavia, but Aztec and Mayan civilizations are an old pet subject I'm hoping to unearth again soon. Bio Anth is fascinating, and our main professor here is one of the top in his field, but he's so dry about the whole thing (and his tests are so evil) that I've only taken one of his classes. Anybody who can actually get through to the point of a Masters has my admiration - I'm so stymied as to what field to go into at this point that I can't even figure out what department I'll be applying to for graduate school. I'm guessing I'll eventually settle on anthro (a BA in English left me thinking "why the hell didn't I just read all those books and screw the rest?"), but I really have no idea where I'm going with any of it.

It's so fabulous. I'm hoping to sneak in at least one more class on the subject before I'm out of here, but I'm on such a tight schedule it really depends on what's offered. I'll have to look into that book - I'm always looking for fun reading to slip in between classes and stuff, and that sounds like something I could devour over a long weekend or something. ;)

[differedfrom.livejournal.com]

Anthro is the best. I didn't major in it, but one of my favorite classes in college -- a semester-long simulation of a colony on Mars -- was an Anthro course. Amazing stuff.

Interesting reading you're doing there!

[rivendellrose.livejournal.com]

A semester-long simulation of a colony on Mars.

...People can say whatever they want about the UW, but we are just not cool anymore, for not having that class. Wow. Clearly, I should've gone wherever you went to school.

[differedfrom.livejournal.com]

Northern Arizona University. That was also where we had a course on trans-gendered sexuality for a while, taught by an actual transsexual, as a sociology class. NAU wasn't perfect, but it had its moments.

The SolSysSim (Solar System Simulation) was taught by Dr. Reed Riner...looks like he's still doing it, too. Here's last year's summary (warning, scary '90's web design): http://www2.nau.edu/~rdr/SolSys/

[rivendellrose.livejournal.com]

Wow, I love the scenario write-up. Alas, yes, the web design is scary... but the content is awesome. What a fun project!

[miss-arel.livejournal.com]

Duuuude... I wanna take that class so damn much. ;-;

[rivendellrose.livejournal.com]

I'm sure Professor Madge will offer it again. It's SISEA 490/590 and ANTH 469, and I don't recall it having too many prerequisites. It's a lot of reading and the midterm assignment is a bit evil, but you'd totally love it!

[rivendellrose.livejournal.com]

Whoops - okay, after looking at the time schedule I realize that you'll have to be a bit more delicate than that. The course numbers actually just go to "special topics" in either of those departments, but if you keep your eyes open for the specific title (Gender and Sexuality in Japan) I'd guess it'll come up again. Or, if nothing else, you can have dibs on my course packs as soon as I'm done with them and Terra and Dora have had their chances to poke through them. ;)

[ciara-belle.livejournal.com]

Hee, I'm taking anthro senior year because I need another division II class.

And slashiness in research is always good times. I giggled so much reading certain bits of Antonia Fraser's Gunpowder Plot book.

[rivendellrose.livejournal.com]

That should be fun. Hopefully you'll end up studying some of the really interesting stuff, not just the classic Margaret Mead folderol. Nothing wrong with the earlier work, but there's so much interesting stuff going on nowadays.

Heck yes. Anything vaguely salacious or unusual cheers me up immensely. ;)

[diea.livejournal.com]

If... he detected the aroma of boiled prawns and chrysanthemum leaves during intercourse, he would know that he was dealing with a "superior ass."

Don't chrysanthemum's mean death? Or am I confusing them with a different flower? Or is it only the white ones?

I wanted to be an anthropologist when I was in Jr. High but my family told me that it was an impossible career to get into and a waste of time etc. I wish sometimes that I hadn't listened to them. I was really into Greek Mythology and mythologies in general back then.

[rivendellrose.livejournal.com]

I'm not sure about chrysanthemums under different situations, but in the context I'm looking at chrysanthemums are a symbolic reference to the anus.

Anthropology's not really a practical career path, no, but since none of my interests really are, I didn't figure it would make a lot of difference. Most people (especially in the humanities, it seems) don't end up working in their major, anyway.

It's kind of sad, though - mythologies don't come up much at all in anthropological study, at least in my department. You have to do some weird combination of Classics and Scandinavian studies to even get close to that, as near as I can tell.

[lovelies.livejournal.com]

Hee. I wrote an essay on homoeroticism in Japanese aesthetics last June, focusing tangentially on how it's been portrayed in the arts, and I think it was one I had the most fun writing.

[rivendellrose.livejournal.com]

Nothing quite like writing about sex to perk up the endless academic schedule. ;)

[gin2001.livejournal.com]

*blink* Slash. In history. Woah... That suddenly made history somewhat interesting. LOL

That's odd to me, coming from Japan cause didn't some prude emperor ban vibrators/sextoys from looking real and most phallic stuff? Although, I bet this is way before all that, huh?

[rivendellrose.livejournal.com]

Hey, history's fascinating if you know where to look... and there's a hell of a lot that's just totally out of what people expect from earlier cultures.

That sounds like it would've been the Meiji era or later (post 1900, would be my guess) - Japan was a totally different place before Perry and his buddies turned up.

[narsilion.livejournal.com]

I' like to read that book when everyone is done with it. It sounds so interesting!

[rivendellrose.livejournal.com]

No problem - it's a copy-packet rather than a real book, but there's definitely some interesting stuff in it!

[zinjadu.livejournal.com]

XDDDD Wow. Well, at least your readings are interesting. And funny. And informative about asses. Really, can't have too much information about asses. *falls down laughing*

[rivendellrose.livejournal.com]

Exactly. Asses are such an under-considered subject in university scholastics... or something. XD

[zinjadu.livejournal.com]

Indeed they are. In fact, we should petition for a whole course about the ass. Like proper care and all that. Though the boiled prawn bill might be a bit steep for most students. XD

[rivendellrose.livejournal.com]

And here I believe we've gone past the point that I can really joke about. I have this awful image of the Time Schedule entry - "Care of the Ass," cross-listed between... hell, biology and medecine? Social Work Sciences? I don't even want to know, I don't think.

[wanderingbeyond.livejournal.com]

*cough cough* Cap'n Tightpants ... *cough cough* ;)

[rivendellrose.livejournal.com]

*Snickers* I'm sorry, Mal will totally be making a joke of some sort about fireflies and butts and all that the next time I write a fic. It's just too good to resist. ;)

[capnexposition.livejournal.com]

Now I want to cry....XD

[rivendellrose.livejournal.com]

But it's just so funny!

Oh, the icon. Poor Simon - he's surrounded by crazy.

[sigelphoenix.livejournal.com]

Wow ... bodily orifices having strangely pleasant odors that aren't biologically accurate, and flowery descriptions of sex -- this is strangely familiar.

Historical fiction or bad fanfic? You decide. :P

[rivendellrose.livejournal.com]

I've yet to read in fanfic of an ass smelling like boiled prawns... and yet, apparently, it's possible. Clearly the slash writers are missing out on all sorts of potential for flowery smut!

[coralia13.livejournal.com]

...
This must be what going mad feels like?

[rivendellrose.livejournal.com]

Yes. *g* But, hey, as long as it's entertaining me while I write my essays, I'm fine!