Hi!! !

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Hi, my name is Chase! I was diagnosed with Asperger's at 15. I love drawing, listening to metal, and Rupaul's Drag Race. I study Anthropology at Smith College with a minor in Art. I low-key want to train and eventually join the Ultimate Fighting Championship once I get out of college.

Welcome to Wrong Planet!

Welcome!

Hi Chase, welcome to WP.

I have a question for you (and my apologies if you get asked this a lot and are sick of answering it, or it's not your field of anthropology!) I have often read the metaphor that many Aspies are "amateur social anthropologists" - landed on the "wrong planet", and using our "special interest" skills to study the culture around us, to compensate for deficits in social instincts. As someone who is both an Aspie and a budding Anthropologist, do you think this idea has any merit? Did it influence you to study anthropology, do you think? (Sorry, that's two questions!)

Hey! That's a good question!
I would certainly be lying if I thought that theory didn't have any merit. I chose to study Anthro for much different reasons, but at the same time it has allowed me to understand people and social interactions quite effectively. I think it's because when you're actually taking a class on it and reading extensively about all the ways people express themselves or establish rules and customs, someone is actually explaining to you WHY those interactions and customs exist. For me, it's kind of like someone telling you not to automatically approach every dog you see versus someone telling you not to automatically approach every dog you see BECAUSE not all dogs are friendly or comfortable around strangers. For some people that's obvious, but when there's that clarification, it's a lot easier to adjust myself to the social context.
I think what mainly influenced my interest in Anthropology was the fact that I do tend to fixate on people. Whenever I draw on my own time, it's either a portrait or a figure of some sort. I've always been interested in learning about other people's cultures. I also got in a bit of trouble in grade school for being obsessed with individual people (either because I liked them or wanted to be friends with them). Nothing too serious looking back, but I definitely got slammed (verbally) by one guy because I came off as stalker-ish and it messed me up for a few years (apparently this is a ridiculously common thing in the aspie world). So while anthro studies people on a much larger scale, it is certainly a more constructive approach.

What a cool explanation, that makes a lot of sense to me. I've always, strictly as an amateur, had a fascination for reading about psychology and linguistics too, for similar reasons. When I'm out and about, I "people watch" a lot so that I can correlate behaviours empirically, but like you say, that never answers the "why?"

Welcome! I can relate to what you said about fixating on people. I do the same thing, although I keep my obsessions to myself.