Comments on: Stories of the field: Some bibliographic notes http://savageminds.org/2009/03/23/stories-of-the-field-some-bibliographic-notes/ Notes and Queries in Anthropology — A Group Blog Sat, 26 May 2012 01:35:24 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.2 By: C L O S E R » Blog Archive » Making sense of the emotional field http://savageminds.org/2009/03/23/stories-of-the-field-some-bibliographic-notes/comment-page-1/#comment-705815 C L O S E R » Blog Archive » Making sense of the emotional field Thu, 26 May 2011 02:08:44 +0000 http://savageminds.org/?p=1734#comment-705815 [...] is one of those Stories of the Field. And maybe it is about Why I love anthropology as well. I’m not [...] [...] is one of those Stories of the Field. And maybe it is about Why I love anthropology as well. I’m not [...]

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]]> By: C L O S E R » Blog Archive » Closing the week 13 http://savageminds.org/2009/03/23/stories-of-the-field-some-bibliographic-notes/comment-page-1/#comment-590032 C L O S E R » Blog Archive » Closing the week 13 Sun, 29 Mar 2009 13:32:42 +0000 http://savageminds.org/?p=1734#comment-590032 [...] Savage Minds: Notes and Queries in Anthropology — A Group Blog » Stories of the field: Some bibli... One of the things I want to make sure to do in the course on ethnographic methods that I’ll be [...] [...] Savage Minds: Notes and Queries in Anthropology — A Group Blog » Stories of the field: Some bibli… One of the things I want to make sure to do in the course on ethnographic methods that I’ll be [...]

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]]> By: Ingie Hovland http://savageminds.org/2009/03/23/stories-of-the-field-some-bibliographic-notes/comment-page-1/#comment-588637 Ingie Hovland Thu, 26 Mar 2009 17:02:28 +0000 http://savageminds.org/?p=1734#comment-588637 Of those mentioned already, I really like Briggs too. I'd like to plug one issue of the Anthropology Matters journal in which PhD and early-career anthropologists reflect on their fieldwork experiences: http://www.anthropologymatters.com/journal/2007-1/index.htm Especially the first four articles deal with different aspects of the emotional experience of fieldwork (culture shock, the emotions of participant observation, dealing with emotional research subjects, and falling in love in the field). Of those mentioned already, I really like Briggs too.

I’d like to plug one issue of the Anthropology Matters journal in which PhD and early-career anthropologists reflect on their fieldwork experiences:

http://www.anthropologymatters.com/journal/2007-1/index.htm

Especially the first four articles deal with different aspects of the emotional experience of fieldwork (culture shock, the emotions of participant observation, dealing with emotional research subjects, and falling in love in the field).

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]]> By: Leo http://savageminds.org/2009/03/23/stories-of-the-field-some-bibliographic-notes/comment-page-1/#comment-588470 Leo Thu, 26 Mar 2009 01:41:10 +0000 http://savageminds.org/?p=1734#comment-588470 Not so far afield from these many rich ethnographic reflections, is Susanna Kaysen's novel "Far Afield" (Yes, Kaysen of Girl, Interrupted fame). As far as I know, it's the product of her time accompanying a husband to the Faroe islands for his fieldwork (so sort of fieldwork-memoir-at-one-fictional-remove), and it is half academic satire, half bildungsroman (well, the anthros version thereof, full of struggles with language, solitude, and bizarre cultural practices). I read it after my fieldwork and suddenly all the anomie seemed worthwhile somehow--the satire helps. Not so far afield from these many rich ethnographic reflections, is Susanna Kaysen’s novel “Far Afield” (Yes, Kaysen of Girl, Interrupted fame). As far as I know, it’s the product of her time accompanying a husband to the Faroe islands for his fieldwork (so sort of fieldwork-memoir-at-one-fictional-remove), and it is half academic satire, half bildungsroman (well, the anthros version thereof, full of struggles with language, solitude, and bizarre cultural practices). I read it after my fieldwork and suddenly all the anomie seemed worthwhile somehow–the satire helps.

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]]> By: carmen http://savageminds.org/2009/03/23/stories-of-the-field-some-bibliographic-notes/comment-page-1/#comment-588292 carmen Wed, 25 Mar 2009 19:35:58 +0000 http://savageminds.org/?p=1734#comment-588292 Lemme try that with textile: "excerpted on Google books":http://books.google.com.gh/books?id=A9QuJjQbh7MC&dq=Never+in+Anger&printsec=frontcover&source=bn&hl=en&ei=U37KScL4JMO7jAeVx73NAw&sa=X&oi=book_result&resnum=4&ct=result#PPA285,M1 Lemme try that with textile: “excerpted on Google books”:http://books.google.com.gh/books?id=A9QuJjQbh7MC&dq=Never+in+Anger&printsec=frontcover&source=bn&hl=en&ei=U37KScL4JMO7jAeVx73NAw&sa=X&oi=book_result&resnum=4&ct=result#PPA285,M1

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]]> By: carmen http://savageminds.org/2009/03/23/stories-of-the-field-some-bibliographic-notes/comment-page-1/#comment-588291 carmen Wed, 25 Mar 2009 19:15:46 +0000 http://savageminds.org/?p=1734#comment-588291 While it's neither short nor casual, you might find the discussion of field experience in "Never in Anger" an interesting addition to these readings. Briggs discusses her fieldwork experiences very frankly in chapter 6, in which she details the events that led up to her ostracism in a small Eskimo camp, and the ethically dubious way she got herself out of that problem. These experiences are integral to her overall analysis and argument, and having read it as an undergrad has really helped me in my more difficult moments of fieldwork to think about the ways in which problems and even disasters can be important sources of data. They have some of the chapter excerpted on Google books. While it’s neither short nor casual, you might find the discussion of field experience in “Never in Anger” an interesting addition to these readings. Briggs discusses her fieldwork experiences very frankly in chapter 6, in which she details the events that led up to her ostracism in a small Eskimo camp, and the ethically dubious way she got herself out of that problem.

These experiences are integral to her overall analysis and argument, and having read it as an undergrad has really helped me in my more difficult moments of fieldwork to think about the ways in which problems and even disasters can be important sources of data. They have some of the chapter excerpted on Google books.

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]]> By: Joanna Kirkpatrick http://savageminds.org/2009/03/23/stories-of-the-field-some-bibliographic-notes/comment-page-1/#comment-588286 Joanna Kirkpatrick Wed, 25 Mar 2009 14:47:14 +0000 http://savageminds.org/?p=1734#comment-588286 Fieldwork as a native: read an essay by Tahmima Anam, about what happened before she wrote her book "A Golden Age : A Novel": http://www.powells.com/essays/anam.html Fieldwork as a native: read an essay by Tahmima Anam, about what happened before she wrote her book “A Golden Age : A Novel”:

http://www.powells.com/essays/anam.html

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]]> By: lowie http://savageminds.org/2009/03/23/stories-of-the-field-some-bibliographic-notes/comment-page-1/#comment-588072 lowie Tue, 24 Mar 2009 17:48:00 +0000 http://savageminds.org/?p=1734#comment-588072 I recommend "The Wind in a Jar" by John Farella. I recommend “The Wind in a Jar” by John Farella.

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]]> By: Rex http://savageminds.org/2009/03/23/stories-of-the-field-some-bibliographic-notes/comment-page-1/#comment-588071 Rex Tue, 24 Mar 2009 17:44:58 +0000 http://savageminds.org/?p=1734#comment-588071 Thanks for these recommendations folks, some of which I've heard of and some of which are new to me. I'll try to keep blogging some additional pieces as I find them. Does anyone have recommendations on chapters within these edited volumes I might focus on? I am sort of judging them based on what I know about the anthropologists who are writing them, and don't want to skip a great piece by someone just because I don't know who they are. Thanks for these recommendations folks, some of which I’ve heard of and some of which are new to me. I’ll try to keep blogging some additional pieces as I find them. Does anyone have recommendations on chapters within these edited volumes I might focus on? I am sort of judging them based on what I know about the anthropologists who are writing them, and don’t want to skip a great piece by someone just because I don’t know who they are.

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]]> By: Bill Guinee http://savageminds.org/2009/03/23/stories-of-the-field-some-bibliographic-notes/comment-page-1/#comment-588067 Bill Guinee Tue, 24 Mar 2009 15:21:31 +0000 http://savageminds.org/?p=1734#comment-588067 I used the Blackwell anthology in my methods course last semester with success. It is a nice, well balanced group of essays. Robben, C.G.M. and Jeffrey A. Sluka. Ethnographic Fieldwork: An Anthropological Reader. ($28.00) ISBN-10: 1405 I used the Blackwell anthology in my methods course last semester with success. It is a nice, well balanced group of essays.
Robben, C.G.M. and Jeffrey A. Sluka. Ethnographic Fieldwork: An Anthropological Reader. ($28.00) ISBN-10: 1405

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]]> By: thomas kavanagh http://savageminds.org/2009/03/23/stories-of-the-field-some-bibliographic-notes/comment-page-1/#comment-588066 thomas kavanagh Tue, 24 Mar 2009 15:19:30 +0000 http://savageminds.org/?p=1734#comment-588066 Beware: Shameless plug ahead! _Comanche Ethnography_ (Kavanagh, U Nebraska Press, 2008) is the compiled and edited (made readable) field notes of the 1933 Comanche field school (Waldo R. Wedel, E.A. Hoebel, Gus Carlson) along with Robert Lowie's 1912 notes. It includes a number of appendices which cross reference the notes and the various publications derived from them. Beware: Shameless plug ahead!

_Comanche Ethnography_ (Kavanagh, U Nebraska Press, 2008) is the compiled and edited (made readable) field notes of the 1933 Comanche field school (Waldo R. Wedel, E.A. Hoebel, Gus Carlson) along with Robert Lowie’s 1912 notes. It includes a number of appendices which cross reference the notes and the various publications derived from them.

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]]> By: Pdoc http://savageminds.org/2009/03/23/stories-of-the-field-some-bibliographic-notes/comment-page-1/#comment-588041 Pdoc Tue, 24 Mar 2009 13:36:33 +0000 http://savageminds.org/?p=1734#comment-588041 A couple more recent books in this genre: The Shadow Side of Fieldwork: Exploring the Blurred Borders between Ethnography and Life. Athena McLean and Annette Leibing, eds. Wiley-Blackwell: 2007. Being There: The Fieldwork Encounter and the Making of Truth. John Borneman and Abdellah Hammoudi, eds. U California Press: 2009. A couple more recent books in this genre:

The Shadow Side of Fieldwork: Exploring the Blurred Borders between Ethnography and Life. Athena McLean and Annette Leibing, eds. Wiley-Blackwell: 2007.

Being There: The Fieldwork Encounter and the Making of Truth. John Borneman and Abdellah Hammoudi, eds. U California Press: 2009.

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]]> By: Sara http://savageminds.org/2009/03/23/stories-of-the-field-some-bibliographic-notes/comment-page-1/#comment-588027 Sara Tue, 24 Mar 2009 12:24:48 +0000 http://savageminds.org/?p=1734#comment-588027 Thank you Rex for sharing these bibliographies. “Dispatches From the Field” is a good choice. You can check “Tales of the Field” by John Van Maanen; it is a nice book. Also, “Writing Ethnographic Fieldnotes” by Robert M. Emerson is as I assume a good one for this course. And, Lila Abu-Lughod wrote two very interesting ethnographic books “Veiled Sentiments: Honor and Poetry in a Bedouin Society”, and “Writing Women's Worlds: Bedouin Stories”, which you can assign some of their chapters. Thank you Rex for sharing these bibliographies. “Dispatches From the Field” is a good choice. You can check “Tales of the Field” by John Van Maanen; it is a nice book. Also, “Writing Ethnographic Fieldnotes” by Robert M. Emerson is as I assume a good one for this course. And, Lila Abu-Lughod wrote two very interesting ethnographic books “Veiled Sentiments: Honor and Poetry in a Bedouin Society”, and “Writing Women’s Worlds: Bedouin Stories”, which you can assign some of their chapters.

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]]> By: maniaku http://savageminds.org/2009/03/23/stories-of-the-field-some-bibliographic-notes/comment-page-1/#comment-587983 maniaku Tue, 24 Mar 2009 04:47:24 +0000 http://savageminds.org/?p=1734#comment-587983 Been a while since I read it, and I am not sure if it is what you are looking for (it seems to me those stories that pass around the department are interesting, I know what you're talking about, but I didn't necessarily find them useful for envisaging fieldwork)... Anyway, for me, Doing Fieldwork in Japan was useful. Very region specific though I would imagine ;) Can't say how applicable it is for others... Hrmm, Actually, I think I might need to look at it again... Been a while since I read it, and I am not sure if it is what you are looking for (it seems to me those stories that pass around the department are interesting, I know what you’re talking about, but I didn’t necessarily find them useful for envisaging fieldwork)…

Anyway, for me, Doing Fieldwork in Japan was useful. Very region specific though I would imagine ;) Can’t say how applicable it is for others…

Hrmm, Actually, I think I might need to look at it again…

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]]> By: ariana http://savageminds.org/2009/03/23/stories-of-the-field-some-bibliographic-notes/comment-page-1/#comment-587982 ariana Tue, 24 Mar 2009 04:19:30 +0000 http://savageminds.org/?p=1734#comment-587982 I like Ruth Behar's collection "The Vulnerable Observer" -some of the chapters on her fieldwork experience are just superb. p.s. i am trying to leave this comment but the machine tells me that "eleven" is not the correct sum of ten plus one!! (the test that i am not a robot - wouldnt my inability to get the right sum be a proof that i am a human?) I like Ruth Behar’s collection “The Vulnerable Observer” -some of the chapters on her fieldwork experience are just superb.

p.s. i am trying to leave this comment but the machine tells me that “eleven” is not the correct sum of ten plus one!! (the test that i am not a robot – wouldnt my inability to get the right sum be a proof that i am a human?)

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