Cathy Small

Cathy Small is Professor of Anthropology at Northern Arizona University, and has written under the pen name of Rebekah Nathan. Her contributions to anthropology have focused on understanding long-term social change including the rise and fall of social institutions, the long-term implications of social structures, and the processes by which culture changes. Her work is characterized by a critical empathetic feminism, reflexivity, and a creative re-adaptation of focus: From Tonga to computer simulations of gender in Polynesian hierarchies, to U.S. college life. It was the publication of her ethnography of American university student life under the pen name 'Rebekah Nathan', and the ensuing discussions of ethnographic ethics, for which she has most received attention. Cathy Small is the recipient of several awards and grants, including from the National Science Foundation (U.S.)

Biography

She was born in 1953, and was raised in New York City, New York.

Work

* "Voyages: From Tongan Villages to American Suburbs" (1987, Cornell University Press)
* The Birth and Growth of a Polynesian Women's Exchange Network. Oceania, vol.65(3), 234-256, 1995.
* "TongaSim" A virtual model of a Polynesian society (built using C++).
* Finding an Invisible History: A Computer Simulation Experiment in Virtual Polynesia (1999) [http://jasss.soc.surrey.ac.uk/2/3/6.html 'In: Journal of Artificial Societies and Social Simulation vol. 2, no. 3]
* "My Freshman Year: What a Professor Learned by Becoming a Student" by 'Rebekah Nathan' (2005, Cornell University Press)

Ethnographic Ethics

Small used the anthropological methodology of participant observation to study the contemporary life and practices of American university students. During a leave of absence from teaching, she enrolled as a student at Northern Arizona University, signing up for a standard first year range of courses. So as to more closely understand first year students' emotional, social and academic experiences, she moved into the student dorms and sequestered herself from family and friends. Small attended class, completed homework, and participated in student activities. She also conducted interviews. When asked, she described herself as a writer interested in seeing what university was like. Approximately half of her interlocutors figured out she was a professor of anthropology at NAU. Small obtained informed consents from students she wanted to quote, although in her book she never identified them by name. She used the pseudonyms 'Rebekah Nathan' and 'AnyU', to protect the students and her university. Her intention was to offer enough ambiguity to provide privacy to her interlocutors while they were still in school.

However, New York Sun journalist Jacob Gershman reviewed the book just before it was released, and correctly suggested to which university and professor the pseudonyms referred. The book consequently became the subject of a media frenzy. It sparked numerous debates about the ethics of 'going undercover' in research, and Small's own career motives for writing the book.

Using pen names in anthropology has several precedents, including Eleanor Smith Bowen (Laura Bohannan) and Cesara Manda (Karla Poewe), although it does seem to be a female practice. Equally, ethnographic studies of student life have precedents, the best well known being by Michael Moffatt (1989) and Dorothy C. Holland and Margaret A. Eisenhart. Cathy Small however, was the first anthropologist to attempt to use pseudonyms specifically to protect her interlocutors, while raising the issue of secrecy and ethnographic ethics in an afterward to the same book.

The book also stimulated discussions about the intellectual laziness of university students, and the difficulties of fully engaging in university without adequate financial support. Most students worked while attending school and rather than engaging in political, philosophical social justice or intellectual matters, students prioritized courses that promised to help them repay heavy student loans and spent a lot of time discussing bodily functions. Cathy Small has has written one of the best selling ethnographies of American cultural life.

External Links and References

* Jacob Gershman [http://www.nysun.com/article/18869 'On the Trail of an Undercover Professor']
* Corrie Pikul, [http://dir.salon.com/story/mwt/feature/2005/09/13/freshman_year/index.html 'Back to school at 52']
* Nancy Donovan [http://www.lib.msu.edu/corby/reviews/posted/nathan.htm 'Review of "My Freshman Year"']
* Scott Jaschik [http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2005/07/13/frosh 'Undercover Freshman -review & open forum, including feedback from Cathy Small']
* Jacqueline Wolfert. [http://media.www.thegeorgetownindependent.com/media/storage/paper136/news/2005/08/31/Commentary/Too-Fool.For.School-972590.shtml 'Too Fool for School']
* Robert Lawless [http://wings.buffalo.edu/ARD/cgi/showme.cgi?keycode=2810 'Review of My Freshman Year, Anthropology Review Database. December 19 2005']

Other References

* Michael Moffatt, 1989, "Coming of Age in New Jersey: College and American Culture" New Brunswick, N.J.: Rutgers University Press.
* Dorothy C. Holland and Margaret A. Eisenhart, 1990, [http://www.press.uchicago.edu/cgi-bin/hfs.cgi/00/7110.ctl 'Educated in Romance: Women, Achievement, and College Culture'] University of Chicago Press.
* James Curtis, [http://cstl.syr.edu/CSTL3/Home/Resources/Subscriptions/NTLF/V9n2/anthro.htm 'An Anthropological Pedagogy?']
* Eleanor Smith Bowen (Laura Bohannan), 1964, "Return to Laughter: an Anthropological Novel" New York: Anchor Books.
* Ceasara Manda (Karla Poewe), 1982, "Reflections of a woman anthropologist : no hiding place" New York: Academic Press
* Book Review Forum re: Voyages: From Tongan Villages to American Suburbs, Reviews by Ernest G. Olson, Heather Young-Leslie, Steve (Sitiveni) Francis and a response by Cathy A. Small. Pacific Studies, vol 26 (1&2) 2006.
* American Anthropological Association [http://www.aaanet.org/committees/ethics/ethcode.htm 'Code of Ethics']