ISBN:
978-1-4742-5818-0
Language:
English
Series Statement:
Encounters
Keywords:
Kind Kindheit
;
Feldforschung
;
Methodologie
;
Ethik
;
Anthropologie, soziale
;
Kulturanthropologie
Abstract:
Conducting ethnographic fieldwork with children presents anthropologists with particular challenges and limitations, as well as rewards and insights. Children: Ethnographic Encounters presents ten vivid accounts of researchers' experiences of working with children across a variety of cultural contexts. Part of the Ethnographic Encounters series, the book offers honest reflections on successes as well as failures and shows that in all cases - even those that 'failed' - anthropologists can learn something about children's position in their social world. Going beyond the usual focus on North America and Europe, the text offers comparative insights into the nature of childhood in different societies. The chapters provide first-hand accounts of fieldwork with children in diverse geographical places such as Mexico, the Ecuadorian Amazon, Rwanda, central India, Thailand, Malaysia, and China. The book provides hope, encouragement and inspiration to anyone planning to undertake ethnographic fieldwork with children and provides important insights to students and researchers working in the growing field of anthropology of children and childhood, in childhood studies, and related fields. Review: Engagingly and vividly written, with examples of what happens in fieldwork with children, this book is vital reading for researchers wanting to study the lived realities of children and youth from a range of disciplines, including anthropology, sociology, geography and education, and helps in thinking through the practice and ethics of research encounters in diverse settings around the world. -- Virginia Morrow, Oxford Department of International Development, UK Children: Ethnographic Encounters drives home the important point that child-friendly methods need to be developed ethnographically and in response to individual children, and to different contexts and communities. This book humanizes the ethnographic process by reflecting humorously and thoughtfully on fieldwork experiences of awkwardness, embodied co-presence, frustration, and "failure". I highly recommend this book to budding and experienced researchers alike, to help us persevere and remain open to moments of serendipity and personal connection, and yet simultaneously be more humble and cautious. -- Cati Coe, Rutgers University, USA These engaging essays reveal the highly varied but always situated ways in which children respond to anthropologists in their midst. By working with children, these anthropologists highlight the emotional intensity and astonishing insights that ethnographic encounters produce, while also opening up larger questions regarding what children know about their own worlds. -- Allison Truitt, Tulane University, USA This is a lively, detailed and refreshingly honest collection which opens up the "black box" of ethnographic research with children. Across a wide range of settings, contributors describe their frustrations and rewarding moments, and their appreciation of being let into children's worlds, be they mystifying, challenging and occasionally hilarious. Highly recommended reading for anyone contemplating research with children. -- Anne-Meike Fechter, University of Sussex, UK An excellent and insightful collection of ethnographic explorations of children's everyday lives from a range of settings, largely located within the Majority World. The book also includes a useful chapter which highlights further reading around related topics. A great addition to Childhood Studies. -- Samantha Punch, University of Stirling, UK
Description / Table of Contents:
Introduction Catherine Allerton, London School of Economics, UK 1. Different Childhoods, Different Ethnographies: Encounters in Rwanda Maja Haals Brosnan, London School of Economics, UK 2. 'Difficult' Children: Ethnographic Chaos and Creativity in Migrant Malaysia Catherine Allerton 3. Paths to the Unfamiliar: Journeying with Children in Ecuadorian Amazonia Natalia Buitron-Arias, London School of Economics, UK 4. The Exemplary Adult: Ethnographic Failure and Lessons from a Chinese School James Johnston, London School of Economics, UK 5. Learning to be a Child in Greater London Anne-Marie Sim, University of Oxford, UK 6. Questions and Curiosities, Ignorance and Understanding: Ethnographic Encounters with Children in Central India Peggy Froerer, Brunel University, UK 7. Protectors and Protected: Children, Parents and Infidelities in a Mexican Village Zorana Milicevic 8. Awkward Encounters: Authenticity and Artificiality in Rapport with Young Informants in China Ole Johannes Kaland, NLA University College, Norway 9. Growing Close Where Inequalities Grow Large? A Patron for Qur'anic Students in Nigeria Hannah Hoechner, Universite Libre de Bruxelles, Belgium 10. Understanding the Indefensible: Reflections on Fieldwork with Child Prostitutes in Thailand Heather Montgomery, Open University, UK 11. Guide to Further Reading, Catherine Allerton Select Bibliography Index
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