Five-hundred-or-so years ago—which, in Oxford, falls under “modern history”—a mob of townspeople were chasing two students (as tended to happen back then). One student was from Lincoln College and the other Brasenose. They reached Lincoln’s gate, at which point the porters—being English and, by extension, sticklers for the rules—permitted the Lincoln student to enter but… Continue reading The Nostalgia Series, Part II: Ascension Day
From the college: “Last night damage was done to the front quad, and as Garden Master I am writing to you to explain what happened and why it is so important. The College’s Garden Committee will have to take up the matter of the disciplinary consequences of this with the Dean, but this note is… Continue reading Crisis in Neverland
During the crux of my punk rock days*, I wondered whether “the kids” would ever revolt. I didn’t put much thought into what would happen if they actually did; after all, as Sham 69 put it, “If the kids are united, they will never be divided.” I’m fascinated by the student protests in the U.K.… Continue reading When the Kids Revolted
This week saw a new addition to the Sachs Scholarship family. We are a small tribe—the scholarship has existed for 40 years, and only one person has been chosen in all years except one—and it is really exciting to have a new member among us. (Seriously, check out Veronica—what a brain wave!) The announcement… Continue reading New Family
Oh hai. If you haven’t heard, there’s a war on higher education going on. As nearly every social service that makes civilization, well, civilized is currently up for debate, it’s not particularly surprising that university funding hasn’t really made it on to most peoples’ radars. But in Britain, the restructuring of higher education that is… Continue reading News from the Front
The dirty secret of my budding* career in the social sciences is that talking to people kind of scares me. It’s a bit difficult to explain why: having spent three years Mohawk-ed in one of the country’s more conservative institutions, I can’t say that I’m too obsessed with what people think of me. Still, though,… Continue reading Cold Calling
There was a time, I imagine, when doing field work in developing countries was legitimately scary. Anthropologists studying remote islands or indigenous tribes might be cut off from contact with their home countries for years. Without the internet or television, their immersion in their place of study was total and non-stop, even in the worst… Continue reading Sink or Swim
For all intents and purposes, I finished my term on Thursday—the day before my final exam—when I gave up on studying, unable to convince myself anymore that learning to do ANOVA statistical tests by hand or to ramble about epistemological approaches to ethnography had anything to do with, well, anything. Paul Willis, a Professor at… Continue reading Adventures Under the Midnight(ish) Sun
As far as I can tell, about three weeks before exams, most Oxford students cease to be human beings. No, really: having an exam within the next month is a universally accepted excuse for abandoning all commitments and getting out of anything, ranging from rowing practice to doing the dishes. Somehow, though, I seem to… Continue reading So, this is learning
This is, most definitely, not the blog post I was hoping to write on this topic. A few weeks ago, the Worcester College MCR—the graduate student government—debated a “Meatless Mondays” resolution, which would urge our dining hall to go vegetarian for one day a week. Initially, the people who drafted our motion couched it in… Continue reading Vegetarian Mumbo Jumbo
Alex V. Barnard - Sociology 