Runtu wrote:VegasRefugee wrote:Then those degrees are not under the umbrella of topics I am discussing.
Also the tenure question is moot unless theres someone you knew in the programs I have outlined.
im not trying to pick at all of the BYU alumni, just BYU alumni from "mormon-centric" (whatever that means) programs. Anthropology mostly.
I took a couple of anthropology classes as part of my Latin Am major, and I don't recall ever talking about anything Mormon in regards to ancient American history. One of my professors, John Hawkins, has written some apologetic stuff, but it never came up in our classes. I think he's a fairly well-respected scholar of Central American ethnic self-identification.
But What I do not get is how one can be respected as a latin american scholar and hold teh belief that god directed a relatively small group of people to the new world and !Viola! became the peoples of the Americas. This with the accompanying pseudohistory of the Book of Mormon and all the conclusions this gives one in the field.
If I was a respected Network Engineer (which I think I am...at times) and I believed that God dictates how packets are shunted through routers and switches with a melodramatic backstory and nonexistent gold plated routing protocols, I would not be very well respected for long. Furthermore, this belief that the world of networking is dictated through my chosen imaginary friend permeates my worldview and thus my interpretations of a networks intricacies, thus forcing bad conclusions.
The weight of other axioms that contradict a hypothetical BYU scholars conclusions are not taken into account but rather are weighted according to the scholars belief system. To say a scholar of any sort does not use his or her worldview to interpret data is just not plausible.
What im saying is that BYU is producing scholars who have a fundamentally flawed worldview in which everything points back to Mormonism and the holy grail they seek after is proving Mormonism true. They are left with an impossible task and a fundamental ethos hamstringing their interpretation. Their only other option is to ditch the Mormon worldview and accept defeat, something a stalwart Mormon would never do. So they hem and haw, giving an inch here and a concession there, the whole time left clinging to their shredded testimony as they wait for a chance to prove everyone wrong and joseph right.
To say BYU prepares scholars of Anthro properly is contradictory at a fundamental level. Information that is given to the scholar, say at a conference, that contradicts the Mormon worldview of "new world" history is in the mind of the Mormon suspect. The scholars religion is tied directly to their conclusions and they are a slave to joes assinine mound builder speculation.