Anthropologists in the Field: Cases in Participant Observation

Lynne Hume · Jane Mulcock

dic 2004 · Columbia University Press

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All too often anthropologists and other social scientists go into the field with unrealistic expectations. Different cultural milieus are prime ground for misunderstandings, misinterpretations, and interrelational problems. This book is an excellent introduction to real-world ethnography, using familiar and not-so-familiar cultures as cases. The book covers participant observation and ethnographic interviewing, both short and long term. These methodologies are open to problems such as lack of communication, depression, hostility, danger, and moral and ethical dilemmas—problems that are usually sanitized for publication and ignored in the curriculum. Among the intriguing topics covered are sexualized and violent environments, secrecy and disclosure, multiple roles and allegiances, insider/outsider issues, and negotiating friendship and objectivity.

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Lynne Hume is associate professor in The School of History, Philosophy, Religion and Classics at the University of Queensland, Brisbane.

Jane Mulcock is a postdoctoral fellow in anthropology and sociology at the University of Western Australia.