That sounds very interesting, food-related geekery is fun in my world.
I loved this quote:
For example, in my fourth year—so well into the research phase—I took a digital cartography course because I had the address book of a man I was studying and I wanted to understand his spatial relationships with the people in the book. The course on ArcGIS, a digital cartography software, allowed me to make maps that shaped my close-readings of this man’s letters.
I wonder how large a fraction of the worlds' historians run ArcGIS? No disrespect intended if it's a household name of course, I was just impressed by the application of tools to her field of research. Neat.
I doubt it's most of them, but it's been the "trendy" thing to do for about a decade now. I've pretty constantly seen GIS--and specifically ArcGIS--coming up in all kinds of conference papers over the years and everyone always acts like it's a really novel idea. "You mean, novel since last year when the same thing was presented? Yeah, okay."
In other words, there are people who are doing good work, but a lot of fields are more about gaining a protected position than they are about doing good work.
This is a wonderful blog, highlighting some of the strengths of good fortune and good practice in academic research. The author sought out other disciplines and ideas and was rewarded for them, and isn't afraid to cross the mythical qualitative-quantitative method lines.
Method is what you learn in PhD school if you do it right. Not following the one methods of a narrow advisor, although that's useful to grok politically as well, but to search out other forms and frames and ways of looking at the phenomena that you wish to examine.
There is still a lot of dogma over methodology in schools, even in supposedly interdisciplinary ones like communication schools. The wisest of the academics transcend the political lines of epistemology and examine for themselves what makes sense or not, and end up discovering awesome new things. I'm so glad this one is on her way to more fascinating and unusual insights!
> I strongly urge doctoral candidates in history to seek out non-historical methods in the form of mini-courses and institutes
I wonder how one would make the a similar but opppsite case to techies; to take interest in the world outside of tech such that your work has broader value.
I found this transformation both puzzling and intriguing because Chinese food became popular among Americans during an era of pervasive anti-Chinese sentiment.
Similarly Mexican food is very popular in a period of anti-Mexican sentiment...
There's also a very big difference between having "anti-Mexican sentiment", for example being against any further legal immigration for the foreseeable future, and having sentiment against Jose and his family who run your favorite Mexican restaurant. People who, if you're smart, you get to know, and with enough people doing that, help the "melting pot" metaphor do its magic.
Getting back to Chinese restaurants, for a long while I lived in a small apartment on the same block as the Cambridge, MA Necco factory. Not all that long after moving in, a Chinese restaurant opened up in the building between our apartment and the major thoroughfare. We made a point of getting the owner's phone number so we could call him if we noticed anything happening to the restaurant.
In a certain way one can say the society has not allowed them to participate in the labor pool, to take "jobs" away, but they are tolerated if they are compartmentalized as servers of exotic foods. In other words they can't be seen as equals, they have to be servants making and serving food.
That is not unlike the anti-Mexican sentiment as well.
Also, remember my mother-in-law's comment a while back. She is the typical American, grew up in the 50s, white middle America. She said to me she felt pretty adventurous and liked exotic foods. And I asked what those food are and she said Chinese. I thought it was interesting. It kind of made it seem like Chinese food was this exotic unusual food one ate to be adventurous and feel like they are experiencing other cultures in a way. (Nevermind that the American Chinese food, often doesn't taste like real Chinese food)
There isn't much of an anti-Mexican sentiment but a sentiment against non-American Hispanics plopping down here illegally and telling American people how their immigration policy should be while straining our systems, brazenly breaking laws, etc.
How does one proclaim to be for American citizenship when they can't speak the language? Or know of its history? Or rally for a free American citizenship while waving the flags of their home country while demonizing Americans who disagree with them? Why should America be the only country that should forcibly open up its borders to third world opportunist?
To understand and interact with 99% of Americans, you need to know English. Pretending that English isn't a solid part of the American fabric is silly.
I loved this quote:
For example, in my fourth year—so well into the research phase—I took a digital cartography course because I had the address book of a man I was studying and I wanted to understand his spatial relationships with the people in the book. The course on ArcGIS, a digital cartography software, allowed me to make maps that shaped my close-readings of this man’s letters.
I wonder how large a fraction of the worlds' historians run ArcGIS? No disrespect intended if it's a household name of course, I was just impressed by the application of tools to her field of research. Neat.