"Hurston embraced anthropology's belief that rigorous and systematic training provided its practitioners with a unique vision of the world. And her metaphor of anthropology as a "spy-glass," as an illuminating lens, still resonates today. But where she departed from convention was in her choice of subject matter. To study her own people as a "native anthropologist" ran counter to the prevailing intellectual winds. Further, her blurring of literary conventions with ethnographic data was a challenge of which she was keenly aware."
|
- bill 11-15-2004 12:42 am