Death and rebirth in fieldwork: A case study

Abstract

Cultural anthropologists have spent a great deal of time and effort analyzing rites of passage among small-scale tribal peoples. They have devoted considerably less effort however to the study of their own principal rite of passage, the experience of fieldwork. In a series of earlier studies (Wengle 1983, 1984, 1986), the author has explored certain psychological changes that anthropologists experience while doing fieldwork. In this paper, I provide (1) a description of the subjective meaning of fieldwork conceived as a rite of passage and (2) an illustration of the major themes contained in this description through an analysis of a recently published personal account of fieldwork (Cesara 1982).

Rites of Passage: Identity and the Training of Clinical Psychologists in the Current South African Context

“…Turner suggests that it is a nebulous period, characterised by an absence ofnot only everything that has been familiar in the past, but also ofall that is to come in the future (Wengle, 1987). Because it is a timeless, invisible, secret and hidden phase, it is difficult to describe.…”

“…With this lost, initiates have to find a way of constructing a new identity -a painful process ofre-birth, during which time they are introduced to some of the basic assumptions of the culture into which they will pass (Wengle, 1987). Perhaps the most difficult aspect ofthis conflict-filled demand stems from the idea that in the interstructural, marginal phase, initiates become structurally invisible and no longer classifiable.…”

“…Thus, there are certain constellations of self, which will be more vulnerable than others in this particular process, and for whom the clinical training, like the training of an anthropologist, is likely to be truly considered a shattering rite of death and rebirth (Wengle, 1987). However, whilst a clinical trainee's past will influence the experience, there are factors, in addition to unresolved developmental issues, which need to be taken into account in attempting to understand the kind ofexperience that each student has.…”

“…In his case study ofMandy Cesara, an anthropologist in the field, whose journey is in many ways parallel to that of clinical trainees, Wengle (1987) describes Cesara's desperate, and sometimes unrealistic, attempts to find some way to alleviate the feelings of alienation she was experiencing by maintaining a link with the past by clinging to something familiar, however small and apparently insignificant. One such example is found in her account of driving 150 miles to buy a cabbage.…”

“…In the marginal phase Turner suggests that 'the characteristics ofthe ritual subject (the "passenger") are ambiguous; he passes through a cultural realm that has few or none of the attributes ofthe past or coming state' (Turner, 1967, p. 94). Turner suggests that it is a nebulous period, characterised by an absence ofnot only everything that has been familiar in the past, but also ofall that is to come in the future (Wengle, 1987). Because it is a timeless, invisible, secret and hidden phase, it is difficult to describe.…”