I discovered this book halfway through my studies as an anthropology undergraduate.
I’d spent many hours reading about cultures that seemed so far removed from my everyday life. I was very interested to read that Kate Fox came to study the hidden rules of English behaviour as she couldn’t face “mudhut anthropology”.
Fieldwork sounded like an amazing experience and hell at the same time. I shared a preference for places with indoor plumbing and a low risk of malaria.
The book, like all good English conversations, starts with the topic of the weather. I thought that my love of the shipping forecast was a personal eccentricity.
It turns out that there are millions of other people in the UK who enjoy its soothing mantra. It is an intriguing read as Fox is able to see through the ethnographic dazzle and examine the everyday behaviour that we take for granted.
Chapters are split into two parts, covering conversation codes and behaviour codes. As the chapter on work discusses, the first “guiding principal” is that the English tend to take work seriously, but not too seriously.
It seems to me that museum curators are constantly breaking Fox’s Importance of Not Being Earnest rule. Apparently it’s un-English to appear to be enjoying your job too much!
Amy Dale is the collections curator at the Museum Collections Unit, University of St Andrews
I’d spent many hours reading about cultures that seemed so far removed from my everyday life. I was very interested to read that Kate Fox came to study the hidden rules of English behaviour as she couldn’t face “mudhut anthropology”.
Fieldwork sounded like an amazing experience and hell at the same time. I shared a preference for places with indoor plumbing and a low risk of malaria.
The book, like all good English conversations, starts with the topic of the weather. I thought that my love of the shipping forecast was a personal eccentricity.
It turns out that there are millions of other people in the UK who enjoy its soothing mantra. It is an intriguing read as Fox is able to see through the ethnographic dazzle and examine the everyday behaviour that we take for granted.
Chapters are split into two parts, covering conversation codes and behaviour codes. As the chapter on work discusses, the first “guiding principal” is that the English tend to take work seriously, but not too seriously.
It seems to me that museum curators are constantly breaking Fox’s Importance of Not Being Earnest rule. Apparently it’s un-English to appear to be enjoying your job too much!
Amy Dale is the collections curator at the Museum Collections Unit, University of St Andrews
