#63 Culture Shock, Storytelling, Pungent Masculinity & Rule Based Imagination

The Familiar Strange

For the panel this week we welcome Luke Corbin from Myanmar Musings and Familiar Strange alumnus Jodie Lee Trembath! Simon starts us off [1:31] by discussing his recent culture shock in moving to Germany from Australia. Simon thought that experiences with fieldwork and working with other cultures would have prepared him better for a rapid transition to another culture. The Strangers offered some other perspectives about culture shock and their own experiences. What about you? when you went over for fieldwork or even moving to another country, did you experience culture shock? Jodie then poses a question to the rest of the strangers, “as an anthropologist, what is story to you?” This question stemmed from Jodie’s recent obsession with the book series The Realm of the Elderlings by Robin Hobb. The Strangers debated what even constitutes story and how different disciplines and cultures share knowledge. What do you think constitutes a story? Next, Luke [11:58] discusses the fastest selling cologne in the Australian perfume industry and how smell and masculinity are related in Australian culture. It might surprise you what the cologne is and what it smells like! The Strangers offer some personal anecdotes about masculinity and how it has shifted over time. What do you think? What does masculinity smell like? Finally, Alex [17:30] discusses the bureaucracy of play and games discussed by the late, David Graber’s in his book, The Utopia of Rules. Alex brings up how even a game based in imagination and role playing such as Dugenons and Dragons, there are still rules that people need to follow. To play, you have to participate in bureaucracy. This leads Alex to ask the question “Is imagination built on rules? Should we rethink conceptions of play?” Head over to our website for a full list of links and citations! This anthropology podcast is supported by the Australian Anthropological Society, the ANU’s College of Asia and the Pacific and College of Arts and Social Sciences, and the Australian Centre for the Public Awareness of Science, and is produced in collaboration with the American Anthropological Association. Music by Pete Dabro: dabro1.bandcamp.com Shownotes by Matthew Phung Podcast edited by Alex D’Aloia and Matthew Phung