Ethnography of a Stone

Abstract

SummaryA recent graduate of Kenyon College, I completed theses for both my Anthropology and English majors. In this excerpt from my English capstone project, I explored the idea of ethnography in relation to a subject (anxiety) that cannot speak but is embodied through someone's experiences. The “stone” is the metaphorical iteration of that anxiety, and the “anthropologist” (myself) is interviewing the person most closely linked to the stone (also myself). I also play with the idea of ethnographic research, combining “real” ethnography with lyrical “fake ethnography,” resulting in both an exploration of actor‐network theory and the creation of the “somnoquilogue” method. The piece is both a love letter to anthropology and an attempt to breathe life, empathy, and a bit of humor into my life‐long relationship with an anxiety disorder, and I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it.