I want to pursue a discipline that digs down to the very root of our humanity. Whilst there are subjects that throw light on human nature and society, archaeology and anthropology seems to me the most inter-disciplinary and richest of subjects. Such a degree course offers a breadth of study which I would relish.

My avid interest in Native American history, ignited by reading Wilson's 'The Earth Shall Weep', was fuelled by working on an organic farm in Wilsall, Montana over the summer. Remains discovered in the town had been uncovered as those of a Clovis skeleton, America's oldest human remains and an ancestor of the Native Americans. Surprisingly, it was the reaction of the locals that absorbed me more than the skeleton itself. The locals refused to acknowledge the finding, remaining in denial of its existence. Fascinated, I persisted in deciphering the social codes and attitudes of the conservative ranching community that generated such a reaction. With a desire to gain knowledge on the study of humans, I found Geertz's concept of the anthropologist seeking complexity and ordering it made me want to pursue the subject at degree level. Reading further, I found that Geertz's interpretation in his ethnography 'Notes on a Balinese Cockfight' of the atmosphere and emotions created during a cockfight as the foundations for that community, and the binding of the humans involved, compelled me to consider the everyday acts that define the society I live in. Thus I returned to a piece of recreational reading, 'Watching the English'. Fox's societal 'rules' in Britain made me consider the disparities between what is considered the norm in different societies. In Marrakech recently, I found interest in unveiling what was considered sacred or taboo in a Moroccan society compared to my own, a thought triggered by Douglas's 'Purity and Danger'. I found the close linguistic ties between the words for 'woman', 'taboo' and 'sacred place' revealing of that society's attitude to women. I reflected on a lecture I delivered at my school's feminist society on the objectification of women in the Western media. In contrasting ways women in both societies seemed to me to have been reduced to mere commodity. 

Working in a gallery has enabled me to study firsthand human's interaction with the art they produce. Grayson Perry's social commentary in his artwork spawned my thought on how art can advertently or inadvertently comment on our societies. Thus, I entered my school's Philip Hendy competition, examining Mexico's culture and customs through the art created for the Day of the Dead. I began, in conjunction with reading Fowler's 'The Archeology of Personhood', to understand the importance of examining a society's material culture in order to interpret its beliefs and values. Whilst visiting Aachen Treasury, the piety and warrior ethos of Carolingian society was revealed to me through an artefact rather than the written word, revealing in turn the intimate connection between the disciplines of archeology and anthropology. 

Ensuring my gap year supplements my degree I will be joining a 4th century dig in Stanmer. Consistently involved in charitable endeavours, from tutoring English with youth organization SE1 United to working with the elderly at Garside House Nursing Home, I am currently working in a fundraising call center and undertaking an internship with Save the Children. Travelling to India, I will be volunteering with Sadhana Forest. Working with the local villagers to raise awareness about ecologically responsible and sustainable ways of living, I will be embedded in their community understanding their living practices whilst also questioning my own and cultivating new ones. I would thus hope to bring to my degree studies knowledge gained in the intervening time, and am convinced that my experience would be enriched by the insights that such a course of study would offer.