Far Away, So Close: Some Notes on Participant Observation During Fieldwork in Nepal and England
Date
2001
Authors
Wilmore, Michael Joseph
Editors
Advisors
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Type:
Journal article
Citation
Anthropology Matters Journal [serial online], 2001; www1-www7
Statement of Responsibility
Conference Name
Abstract
Participant observation has been the subject of intense debate amongst anthropologists in recent years, but it continues to be the methodological foundation of research within our discipline. Little thought has been given, however, to the extent to which a researcher’s participation in a social milieu can be properly assessed. I examine this issue in the light of two periods of participatory research in contrasting social environments, that of academic archaeology in the UK and a rapidly modernising, urban community in Nepal. I argue that participation is not simply a matter of ‘acting like’ or ‘doing things like’ people of another society. Instead, a researcher’s participation is a concomitant of his or her own changing socio-political position, and must be compared with the diversity of subject positions within the host society if the character of this participation is to be properly understood.
School/Discipline
School of Social Sciences : Anthropology