Hildred geertz biography of william hill

I am one of those graduate students for whom Hilly Geertz was an absolutely essential presence in the Department of Anthropology at Princeton University. I had a background in Spanish literature, I loved the arts, and I wanted to be a writer. I often wandered through Aaron Burr Hall questioning my decision to pursue a career in anthropology.

Did it make any sense? It was Hilly who sought to show me that anthropology is a capacious discipline. Through her passion for Balinese painting and storytelling, she convinced me there was room in anthropology for those of us wanting to build bridges to the arts and to write poetically nuanced ethnographies. The Department of Anthropology was small and in transition when I was there between and Graduate courses were in short supply.

Hildred geertz biography of william hill: William Sewell, summarising Geertz, explains

This involved researching the subject—at the actual physical library in those days—and finding the key articles and books, and figuring out the intellectual genealogy of how a certain field had come to be. I was interested in photography and film, and one of our tutorials focused on visual anthropology. In addition to reading and discussing texts and watching ethnographic films, Hilly suggested I do some fieldwork.