Welcome to Episode 16 of Nooks and Crannies!

Reflexive Wellness and Embodied Empathy w/Headhunters

This episode is all about Reflexivity and Wellness, how we can draw on our own experiences to forge relationships based on mutual understanding and by sharing experiences. Fear Not! We will unpack all this in the following ways:

(6:55) Reflexivity is an anthropological methodology and perspective popularized by Renato Rosaldo in the early 90’s. His wife Michelle and he, went off to the Philipines in the 1970’s to conduct fieldwork with a group of Illongot headhunters. Tragedy befell Renato out there and it was this personal experience that inspired the amazing Culture and Truth: the remaking of social analysis. Evan and Matt read passages from this text as a way of unpacking the nuances, Matt of course almost cries, Evan is as smooth as silk as always.

Next episode we will include a discussion on how I applied this concept to my research on post-concussion syndrome in athletes, but for now, consider this a primer and introduction to ol Matty’s favorite anthropologist. Stay tuned to the end of this episode where I share the story of meeting Renato in Chicago at the AAA (American Anthropological Association), no spoilers, but of course Matty started slobber crying (1:00:15).

Next (29:02) we hear from Brian King (MSW), Matty’s personal chronic illness muse we had a rangey conversation that centered on; ADHD, Mindset, how and why Brian shares his illness Publically, the dimensions of parenting with ADHD, why he is such a nice guy and the reasons he formed his own community of the empathetic on the evil platform known as The Facebook!

I included an extra bit of audio leading into this chat (27:50), it’s of him and I checking in on each other. I thought it was interesting to witness reflexive empathy, the vehicle through which individuals with chronic ailments tend to connect: call this, Pragmatic Reflexivity, cuz im a dork

**Side note: Brian needed to have a desk fan on during the conversation and he had some birdies in the background which was a pleasant addition. Plus side: Matty learned how to scrub audio through Audacity thanks to the helpful help of John Bukenas Podcasting Editor EXTRAORDINAIRE! He is a saint, took the time out to answer my super simple question in a very clear and helpful way. I think it sounds decent but as they say in indie podcasting: the sound might not be perfect but the content is gold!

(52:50) Following Brian, we hear from Paul, really needs a better nickname than Movie Person, Combs and we talking Wellness: why and how he got back into running, how he uses technology to help track his results and keep himself motivated and I even demanded that he submit a playlist I titled: Run Paul Run: 4mi, its roughly 50mins long which based on his posts is approximately his 4mile run time. See what we did there? No word on why he is so darn photogenic though…

Let’s wrap this up, hey anyone want to hear about one of the more tragic stories from anthropology that doesn’t involve the perpetuation of colonialism?? Well (1:00:15) hit that timestamp and hear the conclusion of the reflexivity chat in which Renato Rosaldo learned of the Rage that individuals feel through Loss.

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Proud of you Lindsay