Last night [the FP] and I watched the first in the Millenium: Tribal Wisdom and the Modern World anthropology series, The Shock of the Other. She's thinking of using it while she teaches mythology (not this episode, but perhaps others), and I found it useful in thinking about the mentoring project. [the FP] critiqued David Maybury-Lewis for being "a little too self-conscious" - I know that is a huge potential criticism of how I approach my work (taping, Deaf stuff, etc.). The challenge is how to self-reflection/self-awareness during production to enhance the quality of interactions, but let the interactions take center stage in the final product. The utlimate depiction of my role should be peripheral.
Henry (and others, no doubt) would critique the presentation - the music, certain discursive choices - but what drew me in was the attempt by Maybury-Lewis to situate himself as representing only one side of a dialectic relationship with an equal "Other" whose own being is as central to themselves as M-L's is to himself. Also, the document their own ethical struggle with attempting the project and illustrate the risks involved. Although our mentoring project may not be as dramatic, I think the risks of embarking into unknown, somewhat frightening yet exhilarating territory are present.
ps - This book co-edited by M-L looks interesting: The Attraction of Opposites
Thought and Society in the Dualistic Mode.
