1.

Record Nr.

UNINA9910792306503321

Titolo

Emotions in the field [[electronic resource] ] : the psychology and anthropology of fieldwork experience / / edited by James Davies and Dimitrina Spencer

Pubbl/distr/stampa

Stanford, Calif., : Stanford University Press, 2010

ISBN

0-8047-7426-9

Descrizione fisica

1 online resource (289 p.)

Altri autori (Persone)

DaviesJames (James Peter)

SpencerDimitrina

Disciplina

305.8/00723

Soggetti

Ethnology - Fieldwork - Psychological aspects

Emotions - Anthropological aspects

Lingua di pubblicazione

Inglese

Formato

Materiale a stampa

Livello bibliografico

Monografia

Note generali

Description based upon print version of record.

Nota di bibliografia

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Nota di contenuto

Front matter -- Contents -- Acknowledgments -- Contributors -- Introduction Emotions in the Field -- 1. From Anxiety to Method in Anthropological Fieldwork -- 2. “At the Heart of the Discipline” -- 3. Disorientation, Dissonance, and Altered Perception in the Field -- 4. Using Emotion as a Form of Knowledge in a Psychiatric Fieldwork Setting -- 5. Hating Israel in the Field -- 6. Tian’anmen in Yunnan -- 7. Emotional Engagements -- 8. Emotional Topographies -- 9. What Counts as Data? -- 10. Ascetic Practice and Participant Observation, or, the Gift of Doubt in Field Experience -- Index

Sommario/riassunto

As emotion is often linked with irrationality, it's no surprise researchers tend to underreport the emotions they experience in the field. However, denying emotion altogether doesn't necessarily lead to better research. Methods cannot function independently from the personalities wielding them, and it's time we questioned the tendency to underplay the scientific, personal, and political consequences of the emotional dimensions of fieldwork. This book explores the idea that emotion is not antithetical to thought or reason, but is instead an untapped source of insight that can complement more traditional methods of anthropological research. With a new, re-humanized methodological framework, this book shows how certain reactions and experiences



consistently evoked in fieldwork, when treated with the intellectual rigor empirical work demands, can be translated into meaningful data. Emotions in the Field brings to mainstream anthropological awareness not only the viability and necessity of this neglected realm of research, but also its fresh and thoughtful guiding principles.