The 'Intimate Politics' of Fieldwork
Monica Hunter and her African Assistants, Pondoland and the Eastern Cape, 1931-1932
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 4604174 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Leslie Bank (0000-0002-8506-7401, University of the Western Cape, corresponding author), Andrew Bank (University of the Western Cape, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2008 |
| Volume | 34 |
| Issue | 3 |
| Pages | 557-574 |
| Publication date | 2008-09-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Journal of Southern African Studies (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0305-7070 • E-ISSN: 1465-3893 |
| Publisher | Informa UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1080/03057070802259787 |
| OpenAlex | W2030009360 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 14 |
Monica Hunter's Reaction to Conquest (1936) is a celebrated example of interwar anthropology that has long influenced the conception of African societies and is today still widely recognised as a precocious and pioneering study. This article explores the human story behind the book by returning to the sites where Hunter collected her ethnographic data during her two years of fieldwork in 1931 and 1932. At each of these sites of knowledge production, I uncover – for the first time – the hidden history of the close personal relationships between Monica Hunter and her African research assistants. The view from the field reveals their enormous contribution to her research, variously as tutors in Xhosa, translators, transcribers, bodyguards, hostesses and social networkers, guides in cultural etiquette and, not least, primary informants. These assistants were only partially acknowledged in her published study, however, and I reflect on why she chose to downplay their contributions, as well as on their own respective motivations for collaborating so actively in her research work
African studies · Archaeology · Cape · Chose · Colonialism · Ethnography · Etiquette · Media studies · Political science · Politics · Sociology · Xhosa · Anthropological Studies and Insights · Anthropology · Gender Studies · History · Law · Qualitative Research Methods and Ethics · South African History and Culture
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| Unique citing works | 14 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 0,82 |
| Citation span | 2009 - 2026 (18) |
| Citation velocity | current |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 14 |