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About Sherry Ortner--I think that her articles seemed very…familiar. It was important information, but it didn’t seem like anything new or fresh; I’d heard it all before. I recognize that her work was immensely important when it came out, and furthermore, I recognize that the initial importance of her work may be the reason why it now seems so familiar. Likely, much of the feminist and gender-related writings I’ve read have borrowed from or relied on Ortner’s work.
    Perhaps this feeling of it being nothing new is why has felt, in some sense, to be “dated.” To be honest, I also have not read much in the way of anthropological writing, so it might also be a problem of differing disciplines. Still, though, it seemed tame. When I read, I look for things that will shake up my preconceived notions, things that will introduce me to completely different ways of thinking. Ortner’s articles did not do that. And again, it could be because she was so influential that she influenced much of what I have already read, which would explain why it seems that her articles somehow repeated things I have already heard. I think her articles help support a good foundation in gender studies, and it is important to have a sturdy foundation. I’m just more interested now in what can be done beyond that foundation.