Fieldwork Embodied

Abstract

Participation entails bodily engagement. Participant observation has been integral to anthropological fieldwork. Although cross-cultural ideas of the body have been elaborated theoretically in social anthropology, the Cartesian mind/body dichotomy has privileged the cerebral in the understanding of fieldwork practice and the bodily experience of the fieldworker has been under-scrutinized. In seeking to rectify this situation, this chapter draws on extensive dialogues with leading anthropologists about their fieldwork. Examples are selected from Africa, Iran, Afghanistan, India, Malaysia and Europe. The anthropologists' conscious and hitherto unarticulated bodily adaptations are disentangled, and research is examined as a process of physical labour, bodily interaction and sensory learning which constitutes a foundation for the production of written texts.

Misogyny, Racism, and Islamophobia: Street Harassment at the Intersections

“…As Zubair, Martin, and Victor (2012) point out, researchers’ bodily appearances and bodily actions, adaptations, and interactions are important markers of their identity in the fieldwork. Okely (2007) suggests that researchers often have to learn to adapt their bodily performances and actions—including the way they dress—to fit in with, and be accepted among, those they are researching, especially when they are closely scrutinized and instructed. This demonstrates the important role the researcher’s body and behavior may play in developing (or hindering the development of) trust and rapport with participants.…”

Breaking the silence (again): on language learning and levels of fluency in ethnographic research

“…Similarly, the list of questions used when interviewing anthropologists about their field research for a recent book entitled Anthropological Practice: Fieldwork and the Ethnographic Method (Okely, 2012) does not include one on either language learning or working with interpreters, although there are brief references in several chapters to ‘learning the language’ (2012: 73 and 109. See also Okely, 2007: 66 and 71). The treatment of these issues in O’Reilly’s textbook on Ethnographic Methods is only slightly longer, with a paragraph being devoted to each one in turn (O’Reilly, 2012: 95).…”

Who else Needs Protection? Reflecting on Researcher Vulnerability in Sensitive Research

“…Campbell [28] reminds us that although researchers are not service professionals they do deal with people on a face-to-face basis and their involvement with research participants involves a considerable amount of personal interaction. Significantly, doing ethnographic fieldwork is an intense embodied experience [29] and it is realistic to expect that researchers may be emotionally affected by the work that they do. From listening to painful narratives or seeing destitution and poverty close-up, these first-hand experiences resonate more powerful and intense meanings.…”