When They Read What We Write: The Politics of Ethnography

by Caroline B. Brettell

Overview

Stimulated by discussions of ethics and responsibility in anthropological fieldwork, this collection of essays explores what happens when people who are the subjects of the research read or learn about what has been written about them. The most acute problems arise from biased media reports in newspapers and on television that misconstrue the findings of the anthropological study. This work shows how long-term relationships of trust and cooperation between subject and researcher can be irrevocably damaged by misinformation, rumor, or lack of forethought. The ten seasoned ethnographers writing with considerable hindsight warn of the dangers of ignoring the native readership and suggest strategies that will avoid misunderstandings and misrepresentations in the future.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780897893251
Publisher:	Bloomsbury Academic
Publication date:	05/18/1993
Pages:	216
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.62(d)

About the Author

ettell /f Caroline /i B. /r ed.

Table of Contents

Introduction: Fieldwork, Text, and Audience by Caroline B. Brettell

Contested Texts: Implications for Fieldwork and Rapport

Unintended Consequences: The Myth of "the Return" in Anthropological Fieldwork by Dona L. Davis

Responding to the Anthropologist: When the Spiritual Baptists of Trinidad Read What I Write about Them by Stephen D. Glazier

Politicized Texts: Insider, Outsider, and Ethnographic Authority

Involvement, Detachment, and Representation on Corsica by Alexandra Jaffe

Fieldwork in Quebec, Scholarly Reviews, and Anthropological Dialogues by Richard Handler

The Student of Culture and the Ethnography of Irish Intellectuals by Elizabeth A. Sheehan

Mediated Texts: Issues of Representation and Identity

Whose History Is It? Selection and Representation in the Creation of Text by Caroline B. Brettell

When They Read What the Papers Say We Wrote by Ofra Greenberg

Collaborative Texts: Ethics, Negotiation, and Compromise

Is Anonymity Possible? Writing about Refugees in the United States by MaryCarol Hopkins

Just Stories of Ethnographic Authority by Richard P. Horwitz

Myths of Objectivity and the Collaborative Process in Life History Research by Sally McBeth

The Case of Mistaken Identity: Problems in Representing Women on the Right by Faye Ginsburg

Bibliography

Index

Editorial Reviews

A text for an introductory course for nonmajor or premajor students with some exposure to basic biology concepts. This sixth edition incorporates a new organization into six sections on introductory concepts, marine primary producers, diversity of marine animals, benthic communities, the pelagic realm, and human intervention in the sea, with expanded material on invertebrates and recent research. Includes reference appendices, a glossary, color photos, and chapter summaries and review questions. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

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