Male Tales...

In the chapter “Male Tales told During a Life in Physics,” Sharon Traweek discusses the career of a physicist in such a way that she essentially applies an ethnographic method of study to it. Her treatment of the process of becoming and being a physicist (and in particular, a particle physicist) is similar to a life history. In outlining the undergraduate, graduate, post-doc, group leader, etc, stages of study in physics, the author consciously highlights parallels between these, and stages or parts of one’s nonacademic life. The undergraduate period seems to almost reflect a childhood-like state of unawareness, while the graduate period sees a sort of coming-of-age period where students “got their first ‘real feeling for physics.’” Without a doubt, this article encompasses themes in this course, as it seems to study the technology of particle physics in a truly anthropological light.

Of course, the chapter’s consistent undertone is that the people in this field are predominantly men; while the author acknowledges in the conclusion that this need not be exclusively so, and also that women do have qualities associated with professional success, the idea that men are seen as more ideal for the field is pervasive in the chapter. What is even more striking is that one of the reasons for this purportedly natural gender bias in particle physics. In Traweek’s studies, she noticed that the reverence and devotion these physicists had to their work can best be described as a love, and not only a love, but a love that mimics the loyalty and commitment of a romantic love. Furthermore, despite the fact that many of these scientists do have wives, their love of their work seems to eclipse the love they have for their wives.

What I find to be most ironic is that within this field of unquestionably highly intelligent men, the attitudes and expectations of women are quite antiquated. Undoubtedly, much of the fieldwork they do and ideas they have are radical; this juxtaposes strongly with the arguably archaic expectation of wives to not have their own lives and interests. Despite all of this, I still wonder and would question the author about her personal opinion and reaction to her findings of the study. While obviously it is impossible to write entirely without any bias, she kept any initial reaction to this out of her paper, and it would interest me very much!