The Ethnographic Self as Resource: Writing Memory and Experience into Ethnography

Published by Berghahn Books 2010

The Ethnographic Self as Resource

Writing Memory and Experience into Ethnography

Edited by: Peter Collins and Anselma Gallinat

https://doi.org/10.1515/9781845458287

Overview
Contents

About this book

It is commonly acknowledged that anthropologists use personal experiences to inform their writing. However, it is often assumed that only fieldwork experiences are relevant and that the personal appears only in the form of self-reflexivity. This book takes a step beyond anthropology at home and auto-ethnography and shows how anthropologists can include their memories and experiences as ethnographic data in their writing. It discusses issues such as authenticity, translation and ethics in relation to the self, and offers a new perspective on doing ethnographic fieldwork.

Author / Editor information

Peter Collins received his PhD in Social Anthropology from the University of Manchester in 1994 and is currently Senior Lecturer in the Department of Anthropology at Durham University. He was previously a Lecturer in Development Studies at the University of Manchester. He is the author of numerous articles, and his primary research interests are religion, space and place, narrative theory and qualitative methods.

Anselma Gallinat received a PhD in Social Anthropology from the University of Durham in 2002 and has worked as a Research Assistant and Associate on applied projects. She is currently a Reader in Social Anthropology at Newcastle University (UK). She has worked on questions of sociocultural change, narrative, identity, and most recently memory and morality in eastern Germany.

Peter Collins received his PhD in Social Anthropology from the University of Manchester in 1994 and is currently Senior Lecturer in the Department of Anthropology at Durham University. He was previously a Lecturer in Development Studies at the University of Manchester. He is the author of numerous articles, and his primary research interests are religion, space and place, narrative theory and qualitative methods.

Reviews

“This book is recommended as useful for anyone writing ethnography in that it acknowledges the difficulties of engaging in anthropology, but also its challenges and rewards compared to other disciplines.” • Anthropological Notebooks

“…an excellent collection of anthropological autobiographical essays focusing on the positionality and resource of the self in ethnography… The essays are engaging and well written… [and] remind me of some of those classic anthropological / ethnographic collections – interesting in their own right to read, but also serving as a good teaching resource.” • Amanda Coffey, Cardiff University

Topics

Frontmatter Publicly Available Download PDF	i
CONTENTS Publicly Available Download PDF	v
PROLOGUE Peter Collins and Anselma Gallinat Publicly Available Download PDF	vii
Chapter 1 THE ETHNOGRAPHIC SELF AS RESOURCE: AN INTRODUCTION Peter Collins and Anselma Gallinat Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	1
PART I BEING SELF AND OTHER: ANTHROPOLOGISTS AT HOME
Chapter 2 PLAYING THE NATIVE CARD: THE ANTHROPOLOGIST AS INFORMANT IN EASTERN GERMANY Anselma Gallinat Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	23
Chapter 3 FOREGROUNDING THE SELF IN FIELDWORK AMONG RURAL WOMEN IN CROATIA Lynette Šikić-Mićanovic Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	45
Chapter 4 SOME REFLECTIONS ON THE ‘ENCHANTMENTS’ OF VILLAGE LIFE, OR WHOSE STORY IS THIS? Anne Kathrine Larsen Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	63
Chapter 5 THE ETHICS OF PARTICIPANT OBSERVATION: PERSONAL REFLECTIONS ON FIELDWORK IN ENGLAND Nigel Rapport Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	78
PART II WORKING ON/WITH/THROUGH MEMORY
Chapter 6 ETHNOGRAPHERS AS LANGUAGE LEARNERS: FROM OBLIVION AND TOWARDS AN ECHO Alison Phipps Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	95
Chapter 7 LEADING QUESTIONS AND BODY MEMORIES: A CASE OF PHENOMENOLOGY AND PHYSICAL ETHNOGRAPHY IN THE DANCE INTERVIEW Jonathan Skinner Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	111
Chapter 8 DUALLING MEMORIES: TWINSHIP AND THE DISEMBODIMENT OF IDENTITY Dona Lee Davis and Dorothy I. Davis Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	129
Chapter 9 REMEMBERING AND THE ETHNOGRAPHY OF CHILDREN’S SPORTS Noel Dyck Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	150
Chapter 10 GARDENING IN TIME: HAPPINESS AND MEMORY IN AMERICAN HORTICULTURE Jane Nadel-Klein Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	165
PART III ETHNOGRAPHIC SELVES THROUGH TIME
Chapter 11 THE ROLE OF SERENDIPITY AND MEMORY IN EXPERIENCING FIELDS Tamara Kohn Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	183
Chapter 12 SERENDIPITIES, UNCERTAINTIES AND IMPROVISATIONS IN MOVEMENT AND MIGRATION Vered Amit Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	200
Chapter 13 ON REMEMBERING AND FORGETTING IN WRITING AND FIELDWORK Simon Coleman Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	215
Chapter 14 THE ETHNOGRAPHIC SELF AS RESOURCE? Peter Collins Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	228
Chapter 15 EPILOGUE: WHAT A STORY WE ANTHROPOLOGISTS HAVE TO TELL! James W. Fernandez Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	246
NOTES ON CONTRIBUTORS Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	253
INDEX Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	257

Language: English
Publisher: Berghahn Books
Audience: Professional and scholarly;
Pages
- Main content: 270
Keywords: Theory and Methodology

eBook

Published: May 1, 2010
ISBN: 9781845458287