Anthropologists in a Wider World Essays on Field Research [Hardcover]

The tradition of intensive fieldwork by a single anthropologist in one area has been challenged by new emphasis on studying historical patterns, wider regions, and global networks. Some anthropologists have started their careers from the new vantage point, amidst a chorus of claims for innovative methodologies. Others have lived through these changes of perspective and are able to reflect on them, while re-evaluating the place of fieldwork within the broader aims of general anthropology. This book explores these transformations of world view and approach as they have been experienced by anthropological colleagues, a number of whom began their work very much in the earlier tradition. They cover experiences of field research in Africa, Papua New Guinea, South America, Central and South Asia, Europe, the Middle East, Indonesia, Japan and China. Constant through the chapters is a distinctively qualitative empirical approach, once associated with the village but now being developed in relation to large-scale or dispersed communities.

Chapter 1.Fieldwork and the Passage of Time
P. DreschandW. James

Chapter 2.Indians and Cowboys: Two Field Experiences
P. Rivi?re

Chapter 3.A View from Afar: Memories of New Guinea Highland Warfare
M. O'Hanlon

Chapter 4.Beyond the First Encounter: Transformations of the Field in North East Africa
W. James

Chapter 5.Templates, Evocations, and the Long-Term Fieldworker
D. Parkin

Chapter 6.Wilderness of Mirrors: Truth and Vulnerability in Middle Eastern Fieldwork
P. Dresch

Chapter 7.Serendipity: Reflections on Fieldwork in China
F. Pieke

Chapter 8.Fieldwork and Reflexivity: Thoughts from the Anthropology of Japan
R. Goodman

Chapter 9.Reflections of Life Crisis: Distancing the Personal
L. Matsunaga

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