I fear therefore I am/Korkuyorum oyleyse varim

I will sure sometimes later write about how academic life kills (creative) writing. Before that let me lift the curtain for the marvelous topic "fear."

Midwestern Americans do fear, as any member of any other culture does. And their reason for fear also consists of the fear of being/feeling stranded because of transgressing/not-fully-fulfilling social norms/expectations. One of these transgressions, a grand topic of anthropology of course, is not to reciprocate enough.However, there appears a problem here: Americans neither do have ascetic/aesthetic rituals accompanying the act of reciprocity, nor have crafted an object materializing the act of reciprocity (not money, but something like Kula shells), instead everyday life of the midwesterner is full of secular rituals that comprises the realm of reciprocity -- not to mention reciprocity (gift giving) is life itself.

This lack of ascetic/aesthetic rituals causes an excess attribution of importance to secular rituals and one can see its sheer example, again, in the reciprocal exchange practices. This example is nothing but the card giving/sending culture.  Midwesterners are socially concerned if they do not respond to a favor (that could be a gift or a simple celebration) with a card of gratitude. Or to a card of gratitude with a subsequent card of gratitude. The cycle of reciprocity should never end, we are all aware of this universal fact, yet what is striking here is the fear of postponing the act of (card) giving to an uncertain time, and of not suspending the cycle immediately. With the withering away fear thus one gets rid off the feel of responsibility and interdependence -- or to put in better terms, one suppresses the fear of being in constant (reciprocal) debt. 

What is the best place in the west to suppress one's fear? Grocery store? Is it a pure coincide that one can find cards of gratitude next to detergents there? They both wash away...

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Akademik hayatin (yaratici) yazimi nasil katlettigine sonra bir ara tabi ki deginecegim. Ama simdi perde muthis mevzu "korku" icin kalksin.

Ortabati Amerikalilar da herhangi kulturun herhangi bir uyesi gibi korkarlar. Ve korkularina dair sebeblerden birisi de sosyal normlari/beklentileri ihlal etmek ya da tam yerine getirememek kaynakli arada kalmislik hissidir. Antropolojinin buyuk mezularindan biri de olan karsilikliliga yeteri kadar karsilik verememek bu ihlallerden biridir.

why sexual life, why savages/neden cinsel hayat, neden vahsiler

I am misanthropic, I have mistrust in and fear of humans. Should I had the opportunity, I would have been a vicious and ruthless dictator. Instead, I have preferred studying anthropology, the so-called science of humans, or cultures if put it better.

A life in north midwestern US, and suggestions from famous anthropologists and anglo-american friends initiated this blog. Indeed, it is a life of constant fieldwork for me, everyday, all the time.

One would rightfully ask why the blog is called sexual life of savages. The answer is easy: it's the title of the world famous work by Bronislaw Malinowski -- the founding father of social anthropology and participant observation, which is the observation of other cultures by living with peoples of those cultures. I will only write vignettes that I participantly observe by simply following the steps of the very classics of my emerging profession: Malinowski, Boas, Evans-Pritchard, Mary Douglas, Ruth Benedict and more.

Sexual, because I strictly follow Lacan's primary notion of sexuation, that's, there is no sexual relationship. What is sexual is antagonistic -- with the self. Moreover I supplement it with Zizek's argument that "if there is nothing sexual between two things, there is no relationship between them."

Savages, because our most savage, animal like drives, violence and sex, are the ones that make us humans. There is nothing derogatory against anglo-americans here. Maybe there is... but it comprises all humanity equally.

One final thing: this is gonna be a bilingual stack of fieldnotes without being literal translations. you better enjoy it!

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Ben misantropigim, bende insanlara yonelik guvensizlik ve korku var. Imkanim olsa eli kanli ve acimasiz bir diktator olurdum. Ama bunun yerine antropoloji calismayi tercih ettim. Hani su "insan-bilim" ya da daha dogrusu kultur-bilim.

Amerika'nin ortabatisinin kuzeyindeki yasamim ve bir kac unlu anthropolog ile amerikali arkadaslarin onerileri bu bloga vesile oldu. Yasadigim hayat saha calismasi yapmaktan farksiz, her gun, her an.