Thursday, November 20, 2008

Fieldwork as autobiography

An interesting theme that i encountered in my readings is fieldwork acting as not just fieldwork but as an autobiography. In chapter 4, Knowles says that: "the process of revealing the other also brings the self clearly into view as not the other; and it so can be argued that fieldwork , in its outcome if not its intent, is as much about the autobiography of the researcher as it is an investigation of the other". (p. 61). "It (fieldwork) negotiates, in no predictable way, the researcher's account of self". (p. 62). In other words, we need to recognize one thing as it is in order to recognize the next thing as different from the first thing. I realize that that is putting it rather simply, however, I think that what she is trying to say is that we can recognize and interpret the "other" only by initially understanding ourselves first or even simultaneously in order to be able to recognize difference and thus creating the capability to interpret and analyze. So creating fieldnotes/ethnographies is a simultaneously autobiographical experience. In some ways, thinking about it like this makes ethnographic research perhaps a little daunting?
In chapter 5 Rapport discusses the use of the narrative as a way to establish a "form of human consciousness" in ethnographic writing. Narratives are ways in which to contextualize the self-realization in the autobiographical sense and the interpretation of the other in a story that has a more humanistc approach. This way, the ethnographer can be more open and honest about his/her interpretations that can enable the reader to trust the writing more. The ethnographer then exhibits a sense of self-realization that shows a more humble approach to the interpretation of the other instead of attempting to claim "true objectivity". About the use of the narrative Rapport says: "One of the most important stories to emerge is that of the individual's own self. The self comes to know itself through its own narrational acts."(p.76).He also says: "Furthermore, narratives represented a 'privileged medium for understanding human experience', because there appears to be a human 'readiness or predisposition to organize experience into a narrative form'."(p.75).
I like the idea of narratives from the humanistic point. The concept of hearing the other interpreted as a story from the aspect of =

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