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Anthropological Fieldwork: Fieldwork at "home"

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There are some interesting and seemingly valid points that are discussed in my various readings concerning fieldwork at "home", or rather in the culture that the anthropologist grew up in. In "Constructing the Field", Caputo's opinion on the subject is that fieldwork in one's own culture is much harder than fieldwork in a strange and different culture. She says it calls for a "degree of self-consciousness" that can be extrememely challenging because of the "role conflicts" that appear between the already assumed role in one's own society and the dual role of the now ethnographer. I imagine it is extremely hard to try and do both. I am sure that many anthropologists have considered it much easier to go far away from where you are maybe a mother, daughter, wife, teacher, etc. Does anyone really have the time to be all these and conduct seriously interpretive research, notes and ethnogrpahy? It is an increasing trend now days, however, and more power to them! Yikes. By no means am i saying that fieldwork stretching to include one's own culture should not be definitive of today's anthropological trends, I just agree with her that it has to be extemely difficult and possibly not for me....(besides, I am still obsessed with the idea of the exotic).When Noel Dyck discusses in chapter 3 his experiences studying kids sports and coaches while already being a parent and coach, he says that it was always difficult to know when to "turn into" the anthropologist and leave his statuses of parent and coach behind while still in the familiar space of the soccer field. In his opinion, it is actually impossible to turn off the "personal" completely and "still retain my integrity as an individual"! Very interesting to think about....He also talks about the fact that fieldwork at "home" can be so alienating, possibly enough to end up moving because it has become such an uncomfortable setting because the ethnographer now sees "home" in a much different light. Just a tidbit that is interesting to also think about....In chapter 4, Caroline Knowles says that there is in fact "travelling" to and from the field when one conducts fieldwork at "home" , but "the travel that this involves is not about physical distance".(p.55). And for those critics of fieldwork at "home" who say that there is no sense of here to there and back, these people are saying that there is in fact a conscious journey and a challenging one at that because it is not defined by physical travel. This conscious "trip" to and from the field "simultaneously preserv(es) the authenticity of the business of anthropology".(p. 55). I really enjoyed how she put this and it really makes sense. I believe that she probably converted a few people after they read this passage.

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