Dog Bites and Gastrointestinal Disorders: Our Everyday Bodies in Teaching Anthropology and Fieldwork Preparation

Abstract

What are the physical experiences of fieldwork really like? This article invites anthropologists engaged in teaching to transform the way research methods are currently taught to include frank and thoughtful conversations on how bodies, in their mundane physicality, are implicated in fieldwork. While the (mindful) body that actively and purposefully engages with the reality under investigation has gained centrality in anthropological discussions about “being there”, the body that things happen to has been ignored or marginalised. We contend that an exploration of the body that falls ill, feels uncomfortable, or simply does not match with an idealised image of the skilled and productive fieldworker (often male and able-bodied) has practical, pedagogical, political, and analytical merits. By recounting some of our own private anecdotes of challenges encountered in fieldwork, we emphasise the centrality of our physical experiences to our ethnographic approach. Discussing the glamourless, bodily aspects of fieldwork is crucial to preparing ourselves and our students for fieldwork, to combating ableism in anthropology, and to downplaying anxiety over narrow standard goals of “good” fieldwork. We also argue that theoretical considerations of the messy and unpleasant physical experiences that fieldwork involves can bring further insight into how research is (un)done.

Uncomfortable Knowledge: Toward a Pedagogy of Reflexivity

“…In anthropology, and other fieldwork-based disciplines, stories of the researcher's humiliation, despair and failure are more often heard backstage in the places where anthropologists congregate -at conference dinners, work seminars, coffee breaks, the conference hotel bar -than found in peer-reviewed publications (Hilgartner, 2000;Johansson & Montesi, 2021;Spencer, 2011; see also Okely, 2007). This derives in part from our understandings of what scholarship and professionalism entail (Okely, 2007;Johansson & Montesi, 2021;Spencer, 2011).…”

“…In anthropology, and other fieldwork-based disciplines, stories of the researcher's humiliation, despair and failure are more often heard backstage in the places where anthropologists congregate -at conference dinners, work seminars, coffee breaks, the conference hotel bar -than found in peer-reviewed publications (Hilgartner, 2000;Johansson & Montesi, 2021;Spencer, 2011; see also Okely, 2007). This derives in part from our understandings of what scholarship and professionalism entail (Okely, 2007;Johansson & Montesi, 2021;Spencer, 2011). When it comes to publication, the peer review process, in which reviewers are asked to evaluate a manuscript's originality, theoretical contribution, use of existing scholarship, research methods, and coherence, leads us to prioritise a work's analysis, argumentation, and production and use of data.…”

“…When it comes to publication, the peer review process, in which reviewers are asked to evaluate a manuscript's originality, theoretical contribution, use of existing scholarship, research methods, and coherence, leads us to prioritise a work's analysis, argumentation, and production and use of data. Stories about the anthropologist's mistaken assumptions, miscommunications, and difficult emotions do not contribute to this "scientific image" (Spencer 2011, p.77; see also Johansson & Montesi, 2021;Okely, 2007), leading to calls for anthropologists to have the space to reflect on their embodied experiences without damage to their professional reputations (Cain & Scrivner, 2021).…”

“…While few anthropologists explicitly connect emotional and embodied learning in the field to reflexive knowledge, many have argued for greater attention to embodied praxis (e.g., Dellenborg, 2013;Deltsou, 2020;Johansson & Montesi, 2021;McGranahan, 2014;Okely, 2007;Strauss, 2017). For example, McGranahan emphasizes engaging the body to help students develop an ethnographic sensibility, offering examples of how she uses discomfort "to bring some of the experiential, embodied, and empathetic aspects of ethnographic research into the classroom" (McGranahan, 2014, p.24; see also Deltsou, 2020).…”

“…For example, McGranahan emphasizes engaging the body to help students develop an ethnographic sensibility, offering examples of how she uses discomfort "to bring some of the experiential, embodied, and empathetic aspects of ethnographic research into the classroom" (McGranahan, 2014, p.24; see also Deltsou, 2020). Yet as Spencer points out, anthropology students usually are "advised to read and discuss ethnographic monographs…mainly from the viewpoint of concepts, theories and the interpretation of data," to the detriment of "the messy sides of lived fieldwork experience, encounters and relationships" (2011, p.71; see also Johansson & Montesi, 2021;Okely 2007). Indeed, most ethnographic publications eschew detailed discussions of the anthropologist's clumsiness, awkwardness, and mistakes, not least because of concerns about professionalism and academic rigour (Spencer, 2011).…”