hantoo

Hey There!
I would say if you can be a little more specific than "postmodernism"  in terms of theoretical frameworks in which you frame your research, go for it, but I don't think there's any need to come up with something super complex. For example, in broadly discussing my cultural anthro research approach I would say something along the lines of "I'm very interested in using political ecology to explore questions of x y z." 
But, unless you have a good foundation in the theory you hope to use and they ask you about it directly, I wouldn't stress a lot over it. I think interviewers will be much more interested in your research questions and why their program is the best place for you to go to address them. 
As a side note, when I had my interview for the program I now attend, theory was not something that came up. For me, and I'm sure for a lot of students entering an advanced program in anthropology, I basically had 0 background in anthro history and theory because it just wasn't something my undergraduate courses ever covered. I think interviewers know you're coming back to school to get that specialized training so they're not going to expect you to be incredibly well-versed in theory from the start. Also as you go through a grad program it can be very likely that your theoretical approaches will change or you will add to them, so that's also something to keep in mind. 
Hope that helps!

As someone who did a post doc, they are really only helpful if you intend to stay in academia or want to pursue a research position outside of academia.  And even if you want a research position outside of academia - I would just recommend you seek out and apply for those type of positions.  At least in my field, post docs don't tend to pay as well as a PhD-level research positions outside of academia.
I would definitely try to do an internship as this would get you familiar with the organizational norms as well as hopefully you can secure good references.  You also will get to work on projects that you can talk about in your future interviews.

Hey there!
So there is a good amount of literature on this, and I would recommend doing some research on digital ethnography, it's a pretty hot research area in anthropology at the moment. I haven't done much in terms of Twitter research, but I did do a social media study focused on visual content on primarily Instagram, snapchat and other platforms, and I drew on visual and digital anthropology scholarship. I am not sure exactly what aspect you're looking into, but you should be able to find methods articles on social network analysis on Twitter, and you may find useful resources through the Social Media Research Foundation as well. In terms of software, I haven't used any personally for social media research, but I do know of Node XL which is a free visual network analysis plug in for Excel, and that could be especially useful for a content analysis.

Hey there!
So there is a good amount of literature on this, and I would recommend doing some research on digital ethnography, it's a pretty hot research area in anthropology at the moment. I haven't done much in terms of Twitter research, but I did do a social media study focused on visual content on primarily Instagram, snapchat and other platforms, and I drew on visual and digital anthropology scholarship. I am not sure exactly what aspect you're looking into, but you should be able to find methods articles on social network analysis on Twitter, and you may find useful resources through the Social Media Research Foundation as well. In terms of software, I haven't used any personally for social media research, but I do know of Node XL which is a free visual network analysis plug in for Excel, and that could be especially useful for a content analysis.

I work in industry. While a postdoc won't hurt you, it's certainly not necessary for the vast majority of non-academic positions. There are some non-academic positions that function pretty similarly to academic ones, and some of those might prefer a postdoc (think think tanks or policy institutes). But for the vast majority of non-academic jobs - especially if they are not research roles - not having done a postdoc is totally fine.
Second, if I want to gain industry experience while still in graduate school, what might be some recommended ways to go about it? My research focuses on questions of development in Latin America so I'm considering incorporating ethnographic fieldwork not only at my research site but with NGOs/development agencies working in my geographic area of interest to see another side of things. Would this be the best way to go about it or should I consider internships as well?
Both? This doesn't have to be an either/or; if you are considering non-academic careers, you should get any kind of industry experience you can in graduate school. Working with NGOs/nonprofits/other agencies while doing your fieldwork is an excellent way; you can build connections and demonstrate your research skills. I know several people in social sciences who have gotten non-academic jobs this way. But you should also consider internships as well.
Lastly, and maybe this is more personalized to different jobs/fields, but for any of you who are now working outside academia, do you feel that you're still able to do enough research, apply the skills you learned through your PhD, etc. in your non-academic position? 
It's definitely dependent on what you do. I'm a research manager at a tech company, and I definitely apply the skills I learned in my PhD - both the "hard skills" of statistics, research methodology, etc. and the "soft skills" of critical thinking, time management, planning and executing on a giant project, prioritization, communication, conflict resolution, etc. I would say that the latter set of "soft skills" has been FAR more important in the long run for my success here, and I actually work in a direct research role. I do less research myself now that I am a manager - I manage other researchers - but my research skills are still necessary so that I can advise them and direct their work for maximum impact. I also do research project planning that can be multi-year and cover large strategic areas of the business, so that research agenda planning that your PhD teaches you (perhaps indirectly) - that's super useful, too. Surprisingly, grant-writing was useful, too. Not because I write grants here, but because learning to budget what you need to get your work done and learning how to ask for money and resources that you need is a generally useful skill in business, and I now do that all the time.

I agree with RepatMan on discussing SOP structure with POIs in your communication with them. I also think it would be appropriate to request a conversation via Skype if you have already established contact with potential advisors. During the application process for my current program, I had established contact with my now advisor and several other faculty members, and they offered to review my SOP before I submitted, as well as a Skype call to answer my questions. I don't necessarily think that's the norm, but if a POI offers, take the opportunity, and if not, I think it's very appropriate and useful to ask for general SOP advice.
Students who are asked to interview for funding purposes and program fit are also typical contacted for Skype conversations, based on my and my peers' experiences. Establishing strong points of contact with potential faculty advisors is critical in the application process for Anthropology, in my opinion. Good luck!

Hello @hantoo,
If you've never formally taken the language any previous language instructor will suffice. It will probably be taken better coming from a Spanish instructor than, say, a Russian instructor, but that's just anecdotal. It's more important to have an instructor who can speak to your abilities with language learning.

But that's not what you said- you said you can't establish residency while in school. You can establish residency while in school, you just can't immediately become a resident for tuition purposes. If you do establish residency while in school, your tuition will go back to the in-state value after you've been in the state for a year. 
Most undergrads don't establish residency because they can't meet the requirements- and it's usually not worth it. It means they (usually) can't be on their parents insurance, can't go back home and work a job over breaks, etc.
Most graduate students do establish residency, but don't have to- they can opt to consider themselves students and go home to register a car, get at drivers license, etc.

George Washington U focuses on sociocultural anthro and "anthropology of public life." I think it's also worth it to consider what your specific interests are and look for cultural programs that fit with them--for example, there are some programs that heavily focus on specific areas of cultural anthro, like socioenvironmental anthropology, social movements, etc. There are also departments that might have a more specific geographic focus. 
A lot of programs do use the "four field approach," but I doubt that any required classes outside your subfield would take up more than a semester or two? The program I'm starting this Fall requires first year students to take one seminar in biological and archaeological anthro first semester, and one in cultural anthro and linguistics the second semester. The rest I'll be able to choose on my own, so realistically that's just one class during one semester where I'm taking anything besides cultural coursework. It varies for different programs, but I don't think any school will require you to take more than a year of those types of courses. I think you're going to have to do a solid amount of coursework in the beginning of any PhD program, so a class or two outside cultural anthro wouldn't be too bad, IMO.

I agree with the first bit, but I'm not so confident with the second.
As with the others here, I find your adviser's advice (particularly the tone of her delivery) to be, at best, inconsiderate and insensitive. But that does not mean that it is necessarily wrong. You need to ask yourself if you're willing to die on this hill. Filing this sort of complaint, particularly over your adviser's objections, and particularly if it ends up not going anywhere, can have a serious impact on your career. I'm not saying I think it should, but we deal with the world as it is rather than as we would like it to be.
My advice is to do your homework. Figure out how strong of a case you have and how the evidence you will give will filter through the administrative process. If you only have your own word for what happened, is it likely to be dismissed? Can you find other examples of sexual harassment complaints at your university? How successful were they, and why? If you can't find any (or only a few), do you think that's because none exist or because the university does not want them to exist? Is this what your adviser was trying to tell you, in her own crude way?
You need to consider your adviser, as well, regardless of whether she's included in the formal process. What's her relationship to the harasser? She's clearly not likely to support you, but if you pursue this, will she actively oppose you? Do you think she might have had a relationship with the man in question? Will you have any confidence in any letters of recommendation she writes? Will she talk about you positively to her peers at conferences? Will you need to find a new adviser? Can you, or would you have to switch schools?
And yeah, these are some pretty scary questions, and the fact that you need to ask them is precisely why sexual harassment goes unreported, and why, ultimately, the guy felt confident in making advances. Turns out the patriarchy sucks kind of a lot, but is really rather good at what it does.

I guess my question is one of how serious you and the SO are. Do you see a real future for the two of you together, one where you can pursue your passions/interests plus be together? How will you feel about having delayed graduate school if you and your SO were to break up 3-6 months from now? Thinking about things in this way might help you have a good perspective on your relationship, which can in turn help with making a decision. Personally, I picked grad school when in a somewhat similar situation and I don't regret it. Why? Because the SO that wasn't that supportive of me moving across the country for grad school was being selfish and wasn't interested in what was best for me long-term, which means things would've ended disastrously at some point.

I hope that student is being paid for this (or those hours count towards some kind of assistantship!)

Do you know this illustrated guide to a PhD? 
http://matt.might.net/articles/phd-school-in-pictures/
I like it a lot because it makes an important point: A PhD is about specializing in something very specific and very narrow. You seem to have a different trajectory that's more geared toward breadth than depth. That's perfectly fine, nothing wrong with that (no cynicism here!), but it's just not what a PhD is about. The field you've chosen is also one that requires a good deal of practical work before you're a strong candidate. So I think for now @ZeChocMoose offers you very good advice: get some more practical experience (along with some counseling, I think). Be more flexible in where you live, especially keeping in mind that what you save in transportation costs you may be spending away on rent (the DC area is expensive!). I think you should only apply for a PhD from a place where you're focused and motivated, not drifting into it. I also think you should only be applying if you can accept that it might then be the last stop on this particular train, and you'll have to get off at the end of the PhD road if you can't find work in your profession -- a quite possible eventuality. A PhD makes you eligible for certain jobs, but it makes you overqualified for quite a few others, and it's also time taken away from working and gaining other experience. All of those factors should go into making the decision. Whatever it is, I think this coming cycle should be a time where you look for more practical experience and a stable job, not a time where you should be applying for grad school. 
 

Okay, I'll voice the possibly less popular opinion. Your responsibility is to yourself. You don't have to stay with him and you are not responsible for getting him better or for educating him. You need to take care of yourself. If you do decide you want to try and stay, I think it's of utmost importance to get support from others. Can you involve his family? friends? do you have a support system around you to take care of you, if you need it? If he wasn't always like this, something must have triggered this, and maybe you can help him through it. Whatever it is, though, you shouldn't do it alone, and you shouldn't let him take it out on you. This sounds like a situation that requires professional help. I know that posting here was probably already hard enough, so maybe the next step is for you to find counseling on your own, maybe through your school, before you think about talking to him. Figure out your resources and support network, then come up with a plan to confront him. I hope that there is no fear of physical violence, but if there is, let me repeat again: your responsibility is to yourself first. Make sure that you are safe, and take care of yourself, both physically and mentally. If that means you need to leave him, I think that's totally understandable and no one from the outside can judge. And if you choose to stay and try and fix it, again I hope that no one will judge and that you can find the help you need. 

I had a process of bashing different things together to see what stuck. For example, I might read a book and go 'oh, x theme is really cool', then read another book and think 'wow, y setting is really up my street', then I'll look at putting x theme and y setting together. Then I just kept going further down the rabbit hole, as it were, dissecting x theme and y setting and getting more specific until I found what I really enjoyed researching. So it started out for me by broadly mashing together literature and history, but then going forward and looking at specific kinds of literature, different periods of history etc, and repeating that same process of throwing interesting combinations together until I found something really cool. So yeah, there is definitely a lot of trial and error, and I agree that stumbling across that one thing that nobody has really studied before can really define your interests.

@hantoo  I lived in Gainesville for a few years while my husband got his doctorate.  I know someone who lived at the continuum and had a great experience.  It was a nice place and the location is perfect.  You're extremely close to campus and you're only a few blocks away from downtown which has restaurants and bars that are more popular with grad students versus undergrads.  A few bars you'll be within walking distance to that were always fun: tall paul's, Rockey's dueling piano bar, and the midnight (has a great trivia night).  
If you like hiking around you're only a 15 min drive from the north entrance of Paines Prairie (this part is better than the south entrance in Micanopy)  Just google maps the La Chua Trail.  You should take SE 15th Street (you'll probably feel like you're lost at some point but it's at the end of the street).  This is a beautiful trail and I guarantee you will see animals.  There's tons of alligators, wild horses, bison, etc.  It's a great place to catch a sunset.  There's also a good biking trail at this entrance, it's not actually in the park though.  
We both loved our time in Gainesville and still try to get back every once in a while.  Some other things worth checking out Devil's Millhopper, Ichetucknee River (for tubing or kayaking), Satchel's Pizza, the Hyppo popsicles, Krishna lunch on Campus (located in the Plaza of Americas - cheap delicious lunch), butterfly rainforest and natural history museum, wok n' roll,  and the flying biscuit for breakfast/brunch.  If you're up for a day trip, drive over to St. Augustine or Cedar Key.  Good luck!  I hope Gainesville is as nice a home to you as it was to us.  

I’ve always thought that becoming acquainted with the literature in your area is always the first step to develop your research interests and hopefully, by the end of graduate school, a research program.
 
Now that takes time, though. I have 11 folders with potential PhD dissertation topics that I left unfinished (maybe I’ll start working on them in the future, who knows) before I found “the one”. And I think “the one” usually comes with a question from you or some sort of realization that there’s this area that has gone vastly unexplored or maybe people are looking into it but you have a different idea of how to go about it. Like, you say there are many areas in your field that you find interesting. Pick maybe a few of those many and ask yourself a question that you’re interested in. See who has looked into this and how. Then try making it more specific and keep going until you find an area for you to start doing research and develop. If by the time you’ve got to that level of specificity you no longer find the area compelling or it’s become plain boring, then maybe move on to the next.
 
I honestly feel the majority of us go at this via trial-and-error so I wouldn’t be too worried about not having very defined research interests at this stage.

As a 26 year old married to a 37 year old, I'd probably say you could be a bit more open-minded. Not all 20 somethings are straight out of college. You might find it difficult to connect to someone whose life thus far has included going to high school and then straight into the US college system (which, to an Australian who spent a semester at a US college in 2010, seems very much like a continuation of high school). But that's not going to be every single person in your cohort. I guess these are the types of things you can't really know until you're there.

This whole "9 to 5" conversation is completely unwarranted imo. In fact, it seems like the people taking a dump on this thread have completely missed the point. This isn't about why we chose to go to grad school, it's about what we like about it now that we're here (or if graduated, what we liked while we were still there). If I wanted a job that involved travel, living in a cool place, meeting interesting people, etc., there are many routes I could have taken, including getting a PhD.
If you want to get into the why's, at least a masters degree was really a necessity for me if I wanted a decent job in my field. While there are exceptions, most people I know in my field who only have a B.S. are either working seasonal contract jobs (albeit in some pretty awesome locations around the world) that pay less than my GTA salary or are working full-time jobs that pay the same or only marginally better than my part-time GTA salary. I'm sure over time, their experience will lead them to a well-paying job, but for now, I'm getting the better deal, and when I graduate, I'm going to be qualified for much better jobs than them. There are a few people I graduated with who are making some pretty good money, but they actually aren't even working at jobs they went to school for, which is an unfortunate reality that many people face after graduation.
My own personal take on the 9 to 5... I am not generally opposed to working a block of 8 hours, but I hate having the same hours everyday and I hate mornings. Right now, I start at 8 am on Mondays, 10 am on Tuesdays and Thursdays, whatever I feel like on Wednesdays, and 11 am on Fridays. I love that it's different from day to day and that I don't have to drag myself out of bed early everyday. It also varies from week to week. Some Wednesdays I do nothing related to school, and others I spend a good 12 hours working. The activities also differ from day to day... I worked for years doing the same thing over and over again, and it's crap. If I stay in academia, I won't have to worry about that, because classes and schedules change from term to term, and even new professors often have some degree of freedom in scheduling so that they don't have to work the same exact hours every day. If I don't stay in academia, a lot of people in my field have varying schedules. So yeah... the career path I'm on will probably keep me clear of boring repetitive work locked into the same time slot every single day.

I could appreciate this artistic vision if it weren't so cliche. It's like seeing The Kiss in every college dorm room at this point. Could we work towards developing a more novel and exciting perspective on the selfsame human condition of which we are all part?

I might have read wrong, but it felt like you aren't clear about what the project is about-- and it is really hard to do a focused lit review without that first step. If you're trying to figure out what project to do, I think @hantoo's description is a good place to start. Try to get a sense of what literature exists, and what its general findings are. I keep a running excel doc with columns for the citation, the gist of the findings, things that are particularly relevent to my current project, and notes. This might be overkill for where you're at right now, but an idea. 
If you already know what project you're doing, it should be a little easier. You have a general sense of the story you need to tell to justify your research. Usually why the general problem is important, and how your work is filling some gap. I usually start with google scholar or a field-specific database and find some relevent articles then follow their citations / the papers that have cited them to grow the circle outward. 
Also, your advisor probably expects to have this be an ongoing convo/discovery process. They sound understanding and realistic from what you posted! 

I've had bad luck with most succulents, my apartments generally don't get enough light, with the exception of my nearly unkillable snake plant sitting in the sunniest spot in my current house. My other idiot-proof/low light tolerant plants are the good old spider plants and pothos vines. Super nerdy, but you should follow Houseplant Journal if you're into plant pictures and care tips. 

I just turned 23--I finished undergrad almost exactly 1 year ago and will start a PhD program this fall. Grad school rocks because you can start at pretty much any age, and personally I think it's never too late to pursue something you love. Awesome to see people of many ages continuing to learn  

I'll be starting grad school this fall and have been considering getting succulents for my new apartment! Although I suppose the first step would be to actually secure said apartment...

One thing to note: regardless of whether or not a department is four field or focuses solely on sociocultural, it's likely that you will be required to do 2-3 years of coursework.  Even if you enter with a Master's, departments want to train students in their particular methodological and theoretical grounding.  What I'm saying is, if you're looking at sociocultural focused departments in order to cut down on time to degree, you might be out of luck.  All the aforementioned programs are certainly strong and worth an application, but I don't know if I would recommend limiting yourself so early in the application process.