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.
