I finished reading “The Wimp Anthropologist Goes to the Desert: I Wavered, and Became a Little More Free“ by anthropologist Kodai Konishi.

This book is packed with phrases I absolutely love. The opening is incredible: “Hey, Kodai. Don’t you think the whole world is made of wind?” I didn’t quite get it at first, but it felt powerful! (And as I read on, I started to understand.)

It completely flips the image of a “smart anthropologist” who elegantly unravels the secrets of hidden cultures. Instead, it’s a lighthearted “story” that doesn’t hide his failures or his “wimpiness” during fieldwork. The story begins when he leaves for India, prompted by his university mentor’s lecture: “Go savor the foreignness of the world to your heart’s content—let it toss you around and break who you are.” I love that it’s a journey not of “self-discovery,” but of “self-destruction.”

I couldn’t help but laugh at how he ended up holed up in his hotel room in 90s India because he was so terrified, and I appreciate that he wrote it all down. Through various encounters, he eventually reaches a village in the desert. At first, he’s welcomed, but after a week, everyone gets used to him and starts scolding him mercilessly. His belongings become like communal property, and no one ever says “thank you.” From rituals for slaughtering sheep to a witch doctor who treats cobra venom and midnight hunting (where only the author can’t see a thing because it’s so dark)—episode after episode of an unimaginable world kept me turning the pages. It’s also great as an anthropology book because he provides interpretations based on previous research for these events.

A key word in this book is “Anger.” I was deeply moved by how he derives a perspective for overcoming individual differences through the way anger is expressed in Indian society—both in being scolded and in getting angry.