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Exploration and discovery (and interpretation?)

As an anthropologist, I like to think I am an expert (or at least experienced) in exploring the world and being open to discovering all it has to offer and seeing the different angles. Isn't that what we are trained to do?

But watching Julian (who is 8 months old today) makes me think we are in fact trained out of exploration. He has been crawling for about 2 weeks, and it is interesting to watch him disover the world that has suddenly opened up to him. Everything is fascinating--some things more than others of course--but it is all an opportunity to look, touch, taste, and do it all again. This morning he kept coming back to the same block, picking it up and turning it around, each time there was something new for him. At what point do we start to assume we "know" the basics of the world around us?

I think what my training and experience really give me is a perspective. Presumably I do notice "more," or at least different things in the field than my non-anthropologist coworkers. But I hope the value I bring is in my interpretation of those observations--be it holistic or comparitive or theory based or whatever catch phrase I wish to apply to it. And of course my experience and knowledge of the world and workpractice figure into those interpretations, and provide additional value.

But wouldn't it be nice to still be able to find a whole universe to explore in a simple block?

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