Persons and things: an ethnographic analogy

This article explores some parallels between the ethnographies of Marilyn Strathern and Bruno Latour. More precisely, it distinguishes Latour's models of a symmetrical alliance between humans and non-humans from Strathern's conception of an ethnographic analogy,which finds (in the context of Melanesia) a mode of social action that is indifferent to the modern distinction between persons and things. This theoretical inquiry takes as its theme the question of the ownership of genetic tissues, which not only affords a topical, concrete, context for the exploration of theoretical issues, but also offers a persuasive illustration of the critique of 'symmetry' that unfolds from the perspective of Strathern's ethnographic analogy.     

The Intergenerational Field Needs More Ethnographic Research

Abstract

Dominant approaches to intergenerational research may be inadequate to meet new challenges to the intergenerational field, such as increasing complexity of program settings, interdisciplinary collaboration, and a mandate to address social problems. An ethnographic approach to intergenerational work may be an effective strategy for meeting these challenges. An ethnographic approach involves a holistic perspective using field-based methods of data collection and a cross-cultural research base. As ethnographic methods have been used successfully in related areas such as education, gerontology, and child development, researchers are encouraged to integrate this perspective into studies of intergenerational programming. Various resource materials are described for practitioners and researchers interested in learning more about the ethnographic approach.     

Excursionismo: An Anthropological and Anarchist Methodology for Exploring the Past

In this essay, I describe an excursion I made to castle ruins while doing field research on the Spanish anarchist movement. I offer some insights into the processes through which I was able to discover and construct the past in which that castle was built. To do so combined the conventional participant-observer approach used in anthropological research with the Spanish practice of excursionismo , albeit in its radicalized anarchist form. I also relied on the heuristic character of the flaneur that was advocated by culture historian Walter Benjamin. Such an approach allows an observer to linger over historic sites in order to more closely examine what these sites commonly mean, what they mean to some members of the local community, and what else they could mean. Excursionismo is a valuable methodology for rescuing the personal as well as global histories of the past while engaging in what I call "historical loitering with contemporary intent."     

“She’s Mlungu but she looks like me!”: disrupting insider/outsider dichotomies in ethnographic fieldwork

What happens when the biologically and socially visible (and invisible) boundaries used to maintain differences between the researcher (outsider) and the researched (insiders) are broken down or denied acknowledgment? This article explores one challenge of conducting ethnographic fieldwork in regards to race and the unintentional blurring of the insider–outsider dichotomies within the field. As an English-speaking African American attempting to penetrate Langa, a black South African, predominantly isiXhosa-speaking township, it became apparent that my physical appearance automatically relegated me to an ‘insider,’ awarding me a certain and perhaps undeserved membership in the field. Drawing on ethnographic fieldwork from 2011 to 2012, this article is a reflection of my experience of balancing my role as a black-American researcher – and by default an outsider – in an environment where my “outsider-ness” was visibly non-existent. This both mitigated an exacerbated my ethnographic data collection.