Timothy Mason
Maître de conférences
Université de Paris 8
Born in London in 1946, schooled at Lincoln Grammar, I worked in legal publishing, advertising and in the Civil Service as a trainee programmer before going to what was then the West Ham Tech to study for a degree in Sociology. After that, I did a second degree in English at the Institut Charles V (Paris VII), followed by a maîtrise in translation studies.
I worked for three years as a lecturer in Sociology and English at the Medway and Maidstone College. I then took a post as lecteur at the University of Tours, later moving to Rouen. During that time, I completed a doctoral thesis parts of which you will find on this site.
After that, I trained as a secondary-school teacher of English, and worked for four years in French lycées - first at François Villon, and then at Limay. Then I worked for a couple of years at the University of Versailles St. Quentin, where I continued to give courses in Didactics and Sociology until 2002. For some nine years I worked as a teacher trainer at the IUFM de Versailles. In September of 2002, I joined the faculty at Paris 8, where I work in the CATD, teaching English to students of social science.
In my research I now mainly concentrate on the analysis of anthropological discourse - although I'm likely to be drawn into other things if my interest is sparked.
Publications
From Culture to Cultures : or Anthropology in the Desert, (talk given at the Université de Paris 9, during the colloquium ”Cultures, multiculturalisme”, Nov. 2003). To be published.
Extinguished Voices : Gillen, Spencer and the last Aborigines, (talk given at the International Colloquium at the Université de Lille 3, “Des Frontières de l'Interculturalité”, Dec. 2003). To be published.
Swallowing Stones ; The Anthropologist's Magician (talk given at the Institut Catholique de Paris, during the Colloquium 'Mages et Magiciens', on Wednesday 11 December 2002). To be published.
Incest : frontiers and syncretism, dans Ben Abbes, Hédi, dir. Pub., Frontières et syncrétisme, Annales Littéraires de l'Université de Franche-Comté, Presses Universitaires Franc-Comtoises, Besançon, 2002.
Evolution ou révolution : l'anthropologie britannique et les débuts de l'humanité ; le cas de Chris Knight, dans Barbiche, Jean-Paul, dir. Pub., Dévolutions et Féderalismes : Des faits et des idées, Actes du Colloque International Cultures et Sociétés : “Evolution, Révolution, Dévolution”, L'Harmattan, Paris, Montréal, 2001.
Lire les émeutes : interprétations du désordre civil au Royaume-Uni depuis 1980, dans Barbiche, Jean-Paul (dir. Pub.,), Littérature et ordre social, Actes du Colloque International, “Cultures et Société – Ordre et Désordres, L'Harmattan, Paris, Montréal, 1999.
The Anthropologist's Bagmen : Frazer, Spencer & Gillen, and the Primitive in Australia', in 'Cultures of the Commonwealth : Essays & Studies ; Rewriting History', No. 5, Winter 1998-99.
The Serial Killer ; an anti-hero for the fin de siècle, dans “Du mot à l'identité”, Annales littéraires de l'université de Franche-Comté, 1998.
Reading the Crime Rates ; Shifts in perceptions of Deviance since 1965, dans“Fictions du Réel, GRAAT, 1988.
Web-pages
My web-site athttp://www.timothyjpmason.com/ consists of some 150 pages, including academic articles, some of which have been published in paper form and some of which have not, hypertextual documents, lectures and other writings. It receives between 10 and 30 thousand visits a month, depending on the time of year,
and has been linked to by a number of academic sites. The following is a selection of pages from the site :
Hypertexts :
Could Chomsky be Wrong? Hypertextual essay providing commented links to sites and articles critical of Universal Grammar. Linked from a number of academic sites, including “The Linguist”.
Resources for a history of anthropology. Hypertextual document providing links to web-available resources on the history of anthropology. Linked from a number of academic sites, including SOSIG, where it has been listed among their top ten sites.
Courses
Didactics and Language-teaching. A series of lectures, notes and links built up for courses on English teaching given at the IUFM de Versailles and the Université of Versailles St. Quentin. Linked from a number of academic sites.
Crime and Deviance. A series of lectures and seminar discussions built up for a course for the Dept. de sociologie of the université de Versailles St. Quentin. Linked from a number of academic sites.
Articles & reviews
Living in the Present ; An analysis of Tense Switching in Angela Carter's 'The Bloody Chamber', This is the version of the paper which I read at the Colloque 'Writing the Frontier' at the Université de Limoges, (October 20, 2001).
“You No Bigfella Master” ; The Anthropologist's Eye for the Bushie Lubra, This article is a draught of a paper presented at the colloquium “L'impudeur” organized by la Société d'Etudes Anglaises Contemporaines with le Centre d'Etudes et de
Recherches sur la Littérature Anglaise de Paris 7 and held at the Institut Charles V, université de Paris VII, on 24/11/00.
Of Lice and Men, a satire on sociobiological explanations of human evolution. This first appeared as a series of postings to the Anthro-L listserve in April 2000.
Culture, language & the language class. This first appeared as a series of postings to the FLTeach Listserve, 2000.
Thunks 1 to 5 ; A critical presentation of Krashen's Five Hypotheses. These first appeared as contributions to a debate on the FLTeach Listserve in September,1999.
Elliott Currie on American Criminality, a review of Elliott Currie's 'Crime and Punishment in America ; Why the Solutions to America's Most Stubborn Social Crisis Have not Worked - and What Will" (Henry Holt, 1998). This has also been published
on “The Red Feather Institute” web-site.
On Race and the Measurement of Crime, A response to Philippe Rushton, 1997.This first appeared as a contribution to a debate on the listserve Anthro-L.
Conferences
The Fairy in English Literature and Painting from Blake to Kipling ; public talk given at the British Institute; March 2002.
A Botched Job; Landseer's Royal Sports on Hill and Loch ; presented at the SAES conference in April 2002. Originally - see the link - a section of my doctoral thesis.
Other Writings
Folk tales ; retelling traditional stories from Australia, West Africa, Papua and Europe.
Effnography ; some vignettes of life in Paris and London.