Categories: On Experience Fragments

Why His Professor Told Him to Skip Class with Michael Henderson

Michael Henderson’s anthropology professor gave his students some unusual advice: “If you find an interesting cultural experience, go and do that… and don’t come to my lectures.”

Michael took him seriously.

Unable to understand reggae music, he forced himself to keep listening. What happened next changed the way he thought about learning, culture and experience forever.

This short extract from On Experience explores why staying with something unfamiliar can completely change what we’re able to notice.

Edited Transcript

Michael Henderson: Now, one of the things he told us to do, to the extent he said, if you can find an interesting cultural experience to have go and do that, and don’t come to my lectures.

He said, you’re gonna learn more doing that than coming to my lectures. So I took that to heart and like you said, spent a lot of time in the library. In the old days they had listening posts where you could hire for 20 cents an LP (Long Playing Record). And a lot of my mates were really into, when I was at Union, were really into Bob Marley at the time and, and reggae.

And I’m based in New Zealand, so Pacifica reggae as well. It’s really, really popular. And I just couldn’t get it. I didn’t understand it. I couldn’t feel the rhythm. I couldn’t follow the melodies, especially the more heavy reggae. So it wasn’t just necessarily commercial, it was heavier reggae.

And so I thought, okay, well I’m just gonna expose myself to this stuff. And to be, if I’m really honest, I didn’t really like reggae, but I spent hours listening to reggae albums in the university library at these listening posts.

Until one day I suddenly saw my hand tapping on the third beat, which is what Reggae is. Not fourth. It’s third. And I saw my own hand tapping along went, ‘Oh, that’s new, right?’ And then realized I’d been following the narrative.

So I actually understood what the song was about, and then I realized was I was enjoying it. And so I think there’s a bit of that, Geoff. It’s kind of like a rhythm entrainment where one of my recommendations for anybody that just wants to be more sensitive to observing team cultures in the organization is look at the unfamiliar, listen to the unfamiliar, go and watch, go and see movies in a genre you wouldn’t normally enjoy.

So if you’re not really into, comedy romance, go and watch comedy romance. If you’re not really into science fiction, go and watch science fiction or read science fiction or talk to a friend that you know is a mad heavy metal fan. Even if you can’t stand the music. Just go, ‘Talk me through this Metallica fascination. Right? What’s going on?’

So it’s that, it’s deliberately putting yourself into the lens of understanding the unfamiliar. And anthropology is often described as making the familiar unfamiliar and the unfamiliar familiar. So almost the ultimate gain you get personally out of studying or being or practicing anthropology or even just reading on it, is that that unfamiliar slowly becomes familiar.

So they got that with the reggae and that was, I still remember, I know exactly where I was sitting. I know exactly which song was on. I know exactly. I can remember it because it was such a enlightening moment to go, ‘Oh my goodness, I found the beat.’