In the slipstream of participation

This chapter discusses the issue of participation in the history of anthropology, examining how participant observation was employed and conceptualized at its origins and engaging anthropology’s own understanding of its defining methodology. It presents a set of interrelated core concepts for anthropological methodology. The chapter considers intention as a way of framing attention in its potential form, and highlight problems with an overemphasis of a specific, narrow notion of intention. It follows Ingold’s suggestion to prioritize attention over intention with regard to its ability to implement the non-conscious, non-planning realm of habitual action. The chapter suggests that when framed as an inner striving—a self-induced movement—intention represents the beginning, not the effect, of attention. The challenge of participant observation is to access this kind of, at times, habitual, and often non-propositional knowledge embodied in practices or customs, and to find an intelligible way to communicate it, all while remaining in the slipstream of participation

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