Anthropology Matters: "Fieldwork Support"

The latest issue of Anthropology Matters is now online - my last issue as editor!

LATEST ISSUE OF
ANTHROPOLOGY MATTERS:

FIELDWORK SUPPORT
Autumn 2009, Vol 11(2)
ISSN 1758-6453
http://www.anthropologymatters.com

The latest issue of the Anthropology Matters Journal features an opening piece by Amy Pollard, which presents the results of her interviews with 16 PhD students concerning difficulties encountered during their fieldwork. The piece is both powerful and provocative, and will hopefully serve as an aid for thoughtful discussions in pre-fieldwork courses, post-fieldwork seminars, and departmental planning meetings. Anthropology Matters invited four academics – Christine Barry, Sara Delamont, David Mills, and Judith Okely – to start the discussion by writing brief responses to Pollard’s account. The journal issue then presents two in-depth accounts of fieldwork, by Larissa Begley and Julie Soleil Archambault. Finally, the issue is rounded off with a piece that moves from PhD fieldwork to collaborative field research with undergraduates, written by Laura DeLuca and five of her undergraduate students.

Anthropology Matters is an open access journal. All articles are available free of charge at http://www.anthropologymatters.com

EDITORIAL:

FIELDWORK SUPPORT: INTRODUCTION, by Ingie Hovland.

LEAD ARTICLE:

FIELD OF SCREAMS: DIFFICULTY AND ETHNOGRAPHIC FIELDWORK, by Amy Pollard (Cambridge University). This study seeks to document some of the difficulties that PhD anthropologists at three UK universities have faced. It describes a range of feelings as experienced by 16 interviewees…

RESPONSES:

RESPONSE TO AMY POLLARD’S PAPER "FIELD OF SCREAMS", by Christine Barry (King’s College London)

FAMILIAR SCREAMS: A BRIEF COMMENT ON "FIELD OF SCREAMS", by Sara Delamont ( Cardiff University )

SILENCED? by David Mills ( University of Oxford )

RESPONSE TO AMY POLLARD, by Judith Okely ( University of Oxford )

ARTICLES:

THE OTHER SIDE OF FIELDWORK: EXPERIENCES AND CHALLENGES OF CONDUCTING RESEARCH IN THE BORDER AREA OF RWANDA / EASTERN CONGO, by Larissa R. Begley ( University of Sussex ). The current conditions of this region, which remains a conflict zone under tight government control, have contributed to feelings of isolation, frustration, fear, distrust, insecurity, and with no clear way to seek support for both the informants and the anthropologist. This paper will address these challenges and the ways that they impact on the research process itself, as well as the effects they have on the anthropologist…

BEING COOL OR BEING GOOD: RESEARCHING MOBILE PHONES IN MOZAMBIQUE , by Julie Soleil Archambault (SOAS). My paper tackles issues of acceptance and rejection. As I sought to gain acceptance amongst youth I found myself participating in various controversial and, at times, dangerous activities that made me the victim of intense gossip and outright rejection by some. In this paper I present the challenges of “being cool”, while also “being good”, and the repercussions of my research choices on my social standing. I then discuss how, instead of compromising my research, this predicament had a positive outcome…

LOST AND FOUND: LESSONS FROM COLLABORATIVE RESEARCH WITH UNDERGRADUATE STUDENTS ON THE LOST GIRLS OF SUDAN, by Laura DeLuca ( University of Colorado ), with assistance from Katherine Bruch, Lauren Rhoades, Lindsay Eppich, Jordan Olmstead, and Jackie Holder. This article focuses on the challenges and rewards of working with undergraduate research assistants. Five undergraduates share their reflections as neophyte anthropologists…

All articles can be found at:
http://www.anthropologymatters.com

ABOUT ANTHROPOLOGY MATTERS
Anthropology Matters is the postgraduate arm of the Association of Social Anthropologists in the UK and Commonwealth (the ASA). Anthropology Matters runs a website (http://www.anthropologymatters.com), an open email list, and an online journal. If you would like to join the email list, please sign up through the website.