About me-
I am an anthropologist interested in media and communications and the impact technological innovation can have on everyday life. I am also interested in the themes of ‘action‘ and ‘creativity‘ and theorise the will of the actor against/with the structures of society. Along these lines I am especially interested in liminal crises in contemporary society.
The places within which I explore these themes are China, specifically urban China and Ireland. I am also interested an Irish-Sino relations and to see further information on current and past projects please check out my other pages.
This website is generally for my own use as an alternative to keeping random thoughts on tiny pieces of paper that get lost and are never seen again, and it is the ones that are never seen again that are always the most valuable of thoughts….
So here I bring together my scraps of thoughts that are (mostly) related to research for my PhD. Although more for myself than for a public audience I appreciate any and all comments.
Enjoy, but please be wary of poorly constructed posts. For further info on my phd work please look at my first post here
About the 3 guys on top-
On the left is Democritus, the laughing philosopher, in the middle is Heraclitus who became known as the weeping philosopher and on the right is Timmy the man-hater or more correctly Timon of Athens. I have them up there as the very early intellectual ancestors of Anthropology.
Democritus was known for always seeing the humourous side of things which has been read as him laughing with disinterest at the foillies of humanity. He was also known as The Mocker to his contempories. Heraclitus, called the weeping philosopher for his melancholy was also called The Riddler for his intentionally obscure writing making it difficult for people to understand his works. Timon of Athens became known as the man-hater due to his so-called friends disappearing when he became poor only to return and flatter him when he became rich again. Although he renounced mankind apparently he had no qualms with regard to women folk.