The Critical Ethnographer as Trickster

Bibliographic Data

ID2144239
AuthorsT Van Meijl (0000-0002-0547-2627, Schlumberger (Ireland), corresponding author)
Year2005
Volume15
Issue3
Pages235-245
Publication date2005-11-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueAnthropological Forum (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0066-4677 • E-ISSN: 1469-2902
PublisherInforma UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/00664670500282055
OpenAlexW2100279471
LanguageEN
Citations received13
References cited23

In this paper, I explore and elaborate similarities between the identity of mythological tricksters and ethnographic field researchers. As tricksters have multiple identities to mediate the unmediated (Basso 1996), so anthropologists adopt different identities in the field to reconcile the irreconcilable demands that are essential to ethnography. Participant observation reinforces the need to be flexible and to operate contextually. It requires anthropologists to engage in complex social realities and to detach themselves from the perplexities arising from their involvement in the social field of informants. The position of an anthropologist is ambiguous, but the tension between involvement and detachment may also be the secret behind anthropology's insights into cultural and social dynamics

Aesthetics · Art · Epistemology · Ethnography · Field (mathematics · Field research · Identity (music · Literature · Mythology · Participant observation · Sociology · Trickster · Anthropological Studies and Insights · Anthropology · Anthropology: Ethics, History, Culture · Gender Studies · Philosophy · Qualitative Research Methods and Ethics