Revised draft sent, Erkan will soon be in Houston…

 

Now that draft sent, Erkan can enjoy Saturday night derby between Beşiktaş and Fenerbahçe. It is an away game for Beşitaş. Photo, from Beşiktaş-Eskişehir game, credit goes to Milliyet daily. 

 

I have just sent the 10th (last) chapter.  This means I have just sent the revised draft.

I will be arriving Houston on Monday at noon and I will have 22 days before I fly back to Istanbul. I hope this gives me enough time for any possible editing etc my readers suggest. 

My defense day (8 December) happens to be the first day of Feast of Sacrifice (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Feast_of_Sacrifice). Although I have lost much of beliefs, it is still a social phenomenon and you are supposed to be happy when there is a feast. Hopefully, this might be the best Feast I will have in near times. 

Current list of chapters:

001 – An Intro

002 – A snapshot: Yol vs. Kapı: Journalistic Metaphors in Understanding EU-Turkey Relations

003 – Methodological issues

004 – Blogging as a research tool for ethnographic fieldwork

005 – An outline of Turkish press

006 – Ways of Production

007 – Internet Urban Legends on the EU

008 – The EU process; an assemblage of ideas, events and agents

009 – Conceptual Wars

010- Turkish Journalists: Independent political actors? 

“Europe’s Answer to Google Book Search Crashes on Day 1

Just one more chapter to go…

From the Beşiktaş-Eskişehir game last Sunday. Yes, I could not keep my promise, I am back to the games.

A week later, Erkan feels fine. I had gone through three major chapters. Created a new synopsis in which I believe I have a real argument and I am getting ready to send my revised chapters. I sent the synopsis yesterday. Chapter 009 took much of my time and it seems that my final and most conclusive Chapter 010 needs more work. Today I will send 2 of them and will be working on the final chapter and maybe I can send it by midnight.In the mean time, some of my theoretical claims go hand in hand with most recent observations such yesterday’s NYT piece. Of course, all my writings may be too abstract since I do not share any of them yet. Please wait a little bit more. I have to be sure about what I am doing first:)

It is a sunny autumn day and I felt like a loser staying indoors, all windows and curtains closed when I went out for grocery store.  I will probably get to campus now after I see the weather and of course I may spend some time with chitchatting. But well I need air.

“Reform Stalls, and Liberals Can No Longer Hold Their Fire

“EU warns Turkey DTP to make certain distinction from PKK

“Anthropological Engagement, for Good and for Bad?

SAN FRANCISCO – At the American Anthropological Association’s annual meeting, which ended Sunday, the official theme was “Inclusion, Collaboration and Engagement.” That final word – “engagement” – inspired lively and at times prickly debates and discussions, with sessions and meetings focused on the Human Terrain System and other controversial forms of collaboration with the U.S. military, secret research, and a planned comprehensive review of the association’s decade-old Code of Ethics.

Other forms of engagement discussed were less controversial and included the need for anthropologists to apply their talents in real-world settings and to better interact with the publics that support their research.

Among these discussions and others, questions of what it means to be a public intellectual, what it means to be an engaged scholar – and which forms of “engagement” are to be encouraged and which might be flat-out unethical – dominated………….

“Facebook is a weapon of mass construction

the Battle of Chapter 009

So now with hope and more confidence I am working on the draft. I can now think there is more or less coherence in most of the chapters and with a better introduction, I can provide a more organized draft. There is one chapter left that is the most chaotic but theoretically the most colorful one. I now start on that one, Chapter 009 – Conceptual Wars, and let me see what I can manage today…

This year’s AAA in San Fransisco

I am missing again. But I have a good excuse:)

AAA Annual Meeting
The 107th AAA Annual Meeting is presently being held at the San Francisco Hilton and Towers, to continue from November 19 through November 23.

Ethics and Militarization Dominate Anthropology Meeting

By Elizabeth Redden

SAN FRANCISCO – The American Anthropological Association’s annual business meeting was far less fiery this year than last, although issues of militarization and secret research, and tensions between anthropologists who work in academe and those who work in business or government settings, remained at the forefront Thursday night.

The association has been embroiled in debates over the ethics of secret research, such as when research findings are shared with sponsors but not with subjects or the public at large. The current debate is rooted in concerns about the Pentagon’s use of social scientists, most notably through the Human Terrain System, which embeds anthropologists with the U.S. military in Iraq and Afghanistan. However, while the debate on secrecy is rooted in military matters, it has broader implications for proprietary uses of anthropology research, such as for anthropologists employed by corporations.

 

Galip and Erkan

Since Tuesday, Galip hoca took me under his wings, and so I am not all lost. I woke up to start a better day and I am now working on draft with a clearer mind. I am gratefull to all my colleagues here and my friends all over the world. They all do their best to keep me going.