I’ve decided to publish some interesting data. There’s this interesting field of research that I’m willing to pursue: self-anthropology. I’ll start by collecting speech acts, and other sorts of behavior, from the social group located in the Northern town of Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA. Here are some brief monologues:
Monologue #1
Subject 1: “Hey Edu (pronounced /i/dú by the native), do you know why Mexico never gets medals in the Olympics?”
Anthropologist: “Because they don’t care about the Olympics?”
Subject 1: “No. Because all the Mexicans that can run and jump have crossed to the US!”
A big laughter from the native and his clan (pronounced /klán/ by the anthropologist) members gives an end to the speech act.
Monologue #2
Subject 2: “ Hey Eduardo (the /r/ sound is eliminated by the native), I’m surprised that you made it all the way here. I mean, coming from a University in Mexico.”
The anthropologist didn’t know how to reply. So he decided to change the topic.
Monologue #3
Anthropologist: “I’m not sure if I want to take the offer from Michigan.”
Subject 3: “Where are you going to go then? To nowhere fucking Mexico?”
The anthropologist naively replies:
Anthropologist: “Well, I also have an offer from Texas, Austin.”
Subject 3: “Oh yeah! Well, Michigan’s better!”
The anthropologist expects, with some supporting evidence, to collect more data as time goes by.
