This year....

This year has changed my life, I moved to an other city, to the big Santiago. I also moved out from my family home, left behind my little brothers and sisters and started living with my boyfriend and his family, which has been a hole world of challenges, but it has been the best of the world to. I met lots and lots of new people, at the point that the first days I had to ask the name to each person at least three times. And all this because of university, because I entered the Chile University and started studying Anthropology so I could become an Archeologist.
As you can see my year started pretty well academically, and it continued like that, at first it was really relaxed, I didn´t do a thing, just went to class, in part it was funny because we kept having strokes the days that we were supposed to have tests, we even had a bomb warning, and after that we an anthropologist congress, so when we actually started having tests it all became hell, had to read like 300 pages per week, plus essays and stuff like that, so I just wanted the term to come to an end. Finally it did so and I discovered that I had learned so much in such a little time I just couldn´t believe it. But anyway it was awesome to have some free time again.
The holidays went away and we had to go back to class. The subjects weren´t as interesting as the last ones, actually there wasn´t anyone that really drove me crazy, because I don´t like that much social anthropology and the great majority of the subjects had to do with this anthropology´s area. That´s why it was much difficult to read and study all what I had to, although it wasn´t that much. Actually it has been so much relaxed than last term. As I didn´t like the subjects I started to learn Arabic and deaf language besides university, this has been really fun and next year I hope to continue learning this languages.

In conclusion I think that this year has been really productive; I had learned so many things, although in my opinion we shouldn´t have some of the subjects that we´re having right. Anyway I just loved this year and hope the degree continues like this or even better.

Anthorpology´s challenges

Well dear Anthropology I think that you have to face lots and lots of challenges specially here in Chile, because you have been let out of the biggest and important disciplines that´s why you haven´t got all the money and projects that you need to buy all the technology you need, such as better video cameras, and things as that, in archeology you need better laboratories, you need to take advantage from the new technology like infrared rays and things like that, I think that you should try to convince the government to give you special money, each year, so that you don´t have to compete against other projects that hasn´t got nothing to do with you.
About social matters I think you have even bigger challengers because your job is to work with people but at this moment it doesn´t seem so, because you are involve in discussion about your theories, questioning yourself if culture does or doesn´t exist, but you are forgetting about the people about the needs that they have about your real vocation. You have forgotten what is to go out and do fieldwork, which in my opinion is one of the more important works from anthropologist because there is where you are in contact with people. I think that you should improve your social conscience and to realize that now days natives are disappearing and you will have to study other kinds of people but not only study them, you will have to help them.
To do this I think that the first thing you will have to do is to change the education that you are giving to the students, you will have to teach them that all of the persons are equal. Then you will have to teach them how to do field work and take them out to the real world where neither Lévi-Strauss nor Malinowski will be, so they can learn by themselves and practice, so that when they finish their studies they won’t be totals looser on the field work and will know which are the people needs.

I think these are the challenges that you have to face now days!!!

Take care all of you!! C ya!