Ethnographic Fieldwork (Anthropology)

Moinhos e moleiros no Rio Ocreza (Beira Baixa, Portugal): um estudo antropológico do património fluvial

by Lois Ladra

-LADRA, Lois (2012): "Moinhos e moleiros no Rio Ocreza: um estudo antropológico sobre o património fluvial", Actas do VIII Congreso Internacional de Molinología (Tui, 28-30 Abril 2012). Pontevedra, ASGAMUI - ACEM.

2009, « Habitus, Freedom and Reflexivity », in Theory and Psychology Volume 19, no. 6, pp. 728-755.

by Mathieu Hilgers

The question of freedom is recurrent in the theory of habitus. In this paper I propose that the notion of freedom is... more The question of freedom is recurrent in the theory of habitus. In this paper I propose that the notion of freedom is an essential and necessary component for the coherence of the analyses which mobilize habitus both in terms of their theoretical articulation and in terms of their grounding in empirical reality. This argument can seem surprising considering that the theory of habitus has often been accused of being deterministic. Yet I show that, from an epistemological point of view, habitus theory is not deterministic. Bourdieu’s treatment of this concept implies at least three principles that exclude determinism: (1) the production of an infinite number of behaviors from a limited number of principles, (2) permanent mutation, and (3) the intensive and extensive limits of sociological understanding. After identifying and describing these principles, I show the reason for their incompatibility with a deterministic perspective and consider their implications for the corresponding model of action. I illustrate this analysis by a discussion of Loïc Wacquant’s carnal sociology of the pugilistic universe which reveals why it is essential to understand and explain the relation between habitus and freedom.

Annist, A. 2005. The worshippers of rules: Defining the right and wrong in local participatory project applications in Estonia.

by Aet Annist

Published in D. Mosse; D. Lewis (Toim.). The Aid Effect: Giving and Governing in International Development (150 - 170). London: Pluto Press
!! Not the exact replica of the published article.

Developmental cultures evolve through a complicated set of interests and agendas as well as the concerns of various... more Developmental cultures evolve through a complicated set of interests and agendas as well as the concerns of various stakeholders. The ethnographic data I collected during fieldwork in two south-east Estonian communities, and at different levels of a DFID-funded multi-agency participatory rural programme (RP) seeking to reduce poverty and social exclusion in rural communities in the Baltic states, is well suited to study this complex scene of global and local development relations.
I examine the evaluation process of project applications from rural Estonian communities at precisely the stage where the programme’s general ideology is tested and translated into practice. The chapter shows how local development agents strictly follow the requirements and regulations that organise the evaluation process in such a way as to create the impression of a trustworthy partner for foreign funders. At the same time, the process serves to conceal a frequent reliance on personal information, such as a suspicion about the motives of certain applicants, when rejecting projects.
The ethnographic cases provided illustrate both the process of translation in development industry as well as of the sensitivities in relation to the developmental status of post-Soviet societies.

O etnografię rodzimowierstwa. Wprowadzenie do etnografii Zakonu Zadrugi "Północny Wilk"

by Mariusz Filip

Państwo i Społeczeństwo 2008, 8(4): 107-121

Analiza istniejących opracowań ruchu rodzimowierczego wskazuje, że podstawową strategią opisu doktryn i działalności... more Analiza istniejących opracowań ruchu rodzimowierczego wskazuje, że podstawową strategią opisu doktryn i działalności poszczególnych ugrupowań jest socjografia, a więc taki sposób przedstawiania rzeczywistości, który uniwersalizuje zarówno opisywanych, jak i opisującego. W artykule postuluję o partykularyzację opisu opartego o długotrwałe badania terenowe – etnografię. Posmak tego sposobu pisania o rodzimowierstwie daje opis sytuacji „pierwszego kontaktu” z członkami Zakonu Zadrugi „Północny Wilk”.

Fieldwork and Fear in Iraqi Kurdistan

by Diane E. King

King, Diane E. 2009 Fieldwork and Fear in Iraqi Kurdistan. In Violence: Ethnographic Encounters. Parvis Ghassem-Fachandi, ed. Pp. 51-69. New York: Berg Press.

Studying local-to-global tourism dynamics through glocal ethnography

by Noel B. Salazar

Salazar, Noel B. 2010. Studying local-to-global tourism dynamics through glocal ethnography. In C. M. Hall (Ed.), Fieldwork in tourism: Methods, issues and reflections (pp. 177-187). London: Routledge.

Researching tourism in Asia, like elsewhere in the world, is a fascinating but extremely challenging endeavour. Since... more Researching tourism in Asia, like elsewhere in the world, is a fascinating but extremely challenging endeavour. Since tourism is a multi-layered phenomenon – marked by a plethora of politico-economic, socio-cultural, and other processes of production, consumption, representation, and regulation on local, national, regional, and global levels – many studies fail to understand and explain it adequately. Collaborative, mixed-methods, and multi-sited research have been proposed as possible ways to tackle and unpack tourism’s complexity. However, these are demanding to engage with as a graduate student, often with limited time, experience, and resources. Using my dissertation fieldwork in Yogyakarta, Indonesia, as an example, I demonstrate how a “glocal ethnography” approach helped me capturing the details of the local tourism scene while at the same time paying attention to how that local reality is firmly embedded in and continuously interacting with broader processes and power structures. In this chapter, I offer a tentative description of what glocal ethnography entails and I illustrate the use of this methodology in my own study of tour guiding.

Understanding differences and similarities

by Heather Young-Leslie

Un'antropologa nel backstage

by Cristina Balma Tivola

2008, unprinted, licensed under CC3.0.

An eploration of my seven years fieldwork among a cross-cultural theatre company for my PhD dissertation in... more An eploration of my seven years fieldwork among a cross-cultural theatre company for my PhD dissertation in Anthropology of Contemporary World and Performance Studies - developing my personal approach to research, data gathering and their interpretation.

The Pragmatics and Politics of Sexual Orientation in Africanist Ethnography of Religion

by Casey Golomski

paper for invited conference "Sexuality, AIDS and Religion: Transnational Dynamics in Africa," for the International Research Network on Religion and AIDS in Africa and Fertility Studies Research Group at the School of Anthropology, Oxford University

This paper largely discusses the pragmatics and politics of ethnography when the researchers’ sexual orientation is... more This paper largely discusses the pragmatics and politics of ethnography when the researchers’ sexual orientation is incongruent with research communities’ religious ideologies of right sexuality and gender. The research and development enterprises focusing on HIV-AIDS, sex-gender, and religion in Africa by and large originate in Europe and North America, and their entries constitute powerful, mostly unidirectional, influences and transformations of the global South. For anthropologists to understand Northern bids to describe and change Southern lifeworlds—especially as they relate to religion and sex-gender—I argue we must again engage a reflexive turn to critically account for our subjective position in the research. This is not solely meant to again question the nature of epistemology, but rather to see how sexual subjectivities are productive of different kinds of data in the field. Amongst these concerns, I present cases from fieldwork in Swaziland to illustrate contemporary criticisms of non-heteronormative sexualities and shifts in conventional sex-gender roles in heterosexual marriage, both wrought in increasingly transnational domains of Pentecostal-charismatic and evangelical Christianity and Euro-American public health enterprises.

Between Overt and Covert Research: Concealment and Disclosure In An Ethnographic Study of Commercial Hospitality

by Peter Lugosi

This is the accepted version. The final version was published as Lugosi, P., 2006. Between overt and covert research: Concealment and disclosure in an ethnographic study of commercial hospitality. Qualitative Inquiry, 12 (3), pp. 541-561. DOI: 10.1177/1077800405282801. Please consult the published version if citing.

This article examines the ways in which problems of concealment emerged in an ethnographic study of a suburban bar,... more This article examines the ways in which problems of concealment emerged in an ethnographic study of a suburban bar, and considers how disclosure of the research aims, the recruitment of informants and elicitation of information was negotiated throughout the fieldwork. The case study demonstrates how the social context and the relationships with specific informants determined overtness or covertness in the research. It is argued that the existing literature on covert research and covert methods provides an inappropriate frame of reference with which to understand concealment in fieldwork. The article illustrates why concealment is sometimes necessary and often unavoidable, and concludes that the criticisms leveled against covert methods should not stop the fieldworker from engaging in research that involves covertness.

Diálogo, interpretación y autoritarismo en la etnografía contemporánea

by Sergio Eduardo Visacovsky

Relaciones de la Sociedad Argentina de Antropología, Nº XIX, 1994, pp. 7-35.

La crítica posmoderna intentó mostrar cómo se ocultan los procesos interactivos e interpretativos del trabajo de campo... more La crítica posmoderna intentó mostrar cómo se ocultan los procesos interactivos e interpretativos del trabajo de campo mediante la textualización y, por ende, cómo deben ser recuperados por una escritura dialógica. Desde una perspectiva crítica de la dialógica textualista, deseo preguntarme por la posibilidad de alcanzar formas de investigación descentradas, no autoritarias. Para ello, expondré la aproximación de Habermas del modelo interpretativo basado en la acción comunicativa, como un medio de encontrar una concepción dialógica que no reniegue de las pretensiones de validez ni las expectativas de conocimiento que se propone la antropología en tanto ciencia social. Finalmente, propongo analizar cómo puede sobrevivir la autoridad etnográfica cuando dirige su atención a ámbitos en los que intenta comprender problemas que ya poseen una interpretación profesional, científica, legítima y valedera, instalando al antropólogo en el lugar asimétrico de quien reclama autoridad y ser escuchado.

Presentación de “Seducción etnográfica. Transferencia y resistencia en diálogos sobre terror y violencia en la Argentina”, de Antonius C. G. M. Robben

by Sergio Eduardo Visacovsky

Aletheia, vol. 1, número 2, mayo 2011. ISSN 1853-3701

En los últimos veinte años, la obra del antropólogo holandés Antonius C. G. M. Robben se ha convertido en uno de los... more En los últimos veinte años, la obra del antropólogo holandés Antonius C. G. M. Robben se ha convertido en uno de los aportes más importantes, originales y de obligada referencia en temas como la violencia, la memoria y el trauma colectivos. A diferencia de muchos de quienes han estudiado estos tópicos, Robben ha producido una perspectiva analítica sustentada en investigaciones empíricas –no en especulaciones o declamaciones–, cuyo propósito ha sido aprehender los modos mediante los cuales las personas experimentan, practican y dan sentido a sus vivencias vinculadas a la violencia o al dolor social. Este enfoque le ha permitido generar un conocimiento alejado de los apriorismos sociológicos, psicológicos, ideológicos y morales, que conducen a visiones prescriptivas  de la realidad social. Sin embargo, no hay que confundir esta posición con un retorno a las epistemologías objetivistas, ni con la neutralidad valorativa: en lugar de ello, Robben nos proporciona una visión problemática de la construcción del conocimiento en las ciencias sociales en general, y de la etnografía en particular.

Synchronized arousal between performers and related spectators in a fire-walking ritual

by Dimitris Xygalatas

co-authored with I. Konvalinka, J. Bulbulia, U. Schjødt, E-M. Jegindø, S. Wallot, G. Van Orden, and A. Roepstorff.
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. 2011.

Collective rituals are present in all known societies, but their function is a matter of long-standing debates. Field... more Collective rituals are present in all known societies, but their function is a matter of long-standing debates. Field observations suggest that they may enhance social cohesion and that their effects are not limited to those actively performing but affect the audience as well. Here we show physiological effects of synchro- nized arousal in a Spanish fire-walking ritual, between active participants and related spectators, but not participants and other members of the audience. We assessed arousal by heart rate dynamics and applied nonlinear mathematical analysis to heart rate data obtained from 38 participants. We compared synchro- nized arousal between fire-walkers and spectators. For this comparison, we used recurrence quantification analysis on in- dividual data and cross-recurrence quantification analysis on pairs of participants’ data. These methods identified fine-grained com- monalities of arousal during the 30-min ritual between fire- walkers and related spectators but not unrelated spectators. This indicates that the mediating mechanism may be informational, because participants and related observers had very different bodily behavior. This study demonstrates that a collective ritual may evoke synchronized arousal over time between active partic- ipants and bystanders. It links field observations to a physiological basis and offers a unique approach for the quantification of social effects on human physiology during real-world interactions.

The Burning Saints: Cognition and Culture in the Fire-walking Rituals of the Anastenaria

by Dimitris Xygalatas

forthcoming by Equinox Press, London.

The Burning Saints is an anthropological account of the fascinating tradition of fire-walking rituals performed by the... more The Burning Saints is an anthropological account of the fascinating tradition of fire-walking rituals performed by the communities of the Anastenaria in Northern Greece in honour of Saints Constantine and Helen.

Based on long-term ethnographic fieldwork and insights from various disciplines across the humanities and the natural sciences, this book offers a multi-level approach of the Anastenaria. It examines the historical development and sociocultural context of the Greek fire-walking tradition, while at the same time placing it within a wider framework of highly arousing rituals, discussing possible social, psychological and neurobiological factors that may be involved in their performance. Of particular interest is the role of emotional and physiological arousal involved in the performance of such rituals in motivating participation, mediating experience and providing meaning for it.

Indigenous Knowledge and Ethics

by Linda Scarangella McNenly

Scarangella (2004). Published in "Nexus: The Canadian Student Journal of Anthropology," Vol. 17, Issue 1

Fieldwork at Buffalo Bill’s Wild West show.

by Linda Scarangella McNenly

Scarangella (2005) IN Anthropology News (46) 5: 17, 19

See also book chapter posted: "Indigeneity in Tourism" See also book chapter posted: "Indigeneity in Tourism"

Feltarbeid og redselen for nærhet

by Terje Planke

Publisert i:
Planke, Terje 1999: Feltarbeid og redselen for nærhet. I Dugnad. Tidsskrift for etnologi. Nr 2-1999. Novus forlag. Oslo.

There has been argued that researchers need distance to understand one's own culture. The paradigm of distance is a... more There has been argued that researchers need distance to understand one's own culture. The paradigm of distance is a central method in the field of ethnology and has received much attention in the school of cultural analysis. I claim that this method is connected with a holistic view of culture where the ethnologist must be able to step out of her own cultural background, which is common with the background of the agent. To present my alternative view of culture, I find support in Fredrik Barth's description of culture as scattered on a population and not evenly distributed.

The paradigm of distance continues to be a primary method within ethnology but there is, in addition, a movement toward studying material culture and action. If the ideology of distance is to remain a method, this must be done by will, by means of an open discussion and not by tacit agreement. There is a paradox to study action if this is not done without attempting to understand the perspective of the agent. An external (or distanced) view of action is rooted in the visual, symbolic and language-based tradition of research. This position does not take into account the fact that there is a difference in essence between being an observer or an agent. To minimize the problem, the author argues that it is important to follow the perspective of the agent, to focus on context and to combine the study of action with the study of individual reason.

CONTRA LA DEVOLUCIÓN: APORTES DE LOS CONCEPTOS DE IMPLICACIÓN Y DIÁLOGO PARA LAS INVESTIGACIONES ANTROPOLÓGICAS EN CONTEXTOS DE GESTIÓN EDUCATIVA

by Ana Padawer

Published in Papeles de trabajo - Centro de Estudios Interdisciplinarios en Etnolingüística y Antropología Socio-Cultural, Rosario, Argentina, 2008

OPOSICIÓN POLITICA Y CAMBIOS TECNICO-PROFESIONALES EN UNA INICIATIVA DOCENTE. UN ESTUDIO ETNOGRAFICO DE LAS ESCUELAS NO GRADUADAS EN LA PROVINCIA DE BUENOS AIRES.

by Ana Padawer

Published in Ava, Revista de Antropología, 2008