This week’s “Light Over Heat” video discusses gaps between scholarly portrayals of people and people’s own experiences and understandings. It was occasioned by the feedback I received from people about sociologist Harel Shapira’s depiction of defensive gun training courses in a New York Times opinion essay and Jennifer Carlson’s depiction of gun sellers in her book Merchants of the Right.
Although phased differently by different people, many people basically said to me: “I don’t see myself in that work.”
“I don’t see myself” is important information for scholars to consider, but it alone does not mean that the work is wrong. To illustrate, I discuss an experience I had in my own work on Catholic parishes back in the day, Real Stories of Christian Initiation, that highlights this complexity.
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Gun Curious 