Engaging with spontaneous anthropologies: Fieldwork learning practices across the Greek-Albanian border (original) (raw)
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Teaching Anthropology A JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL ANTHROPOLOGICAL INSTITUTE Vol. 10 No. 2 (2021): Special Issue: Teaching Anthropology in Southern Europe, 2021, (Vol.10, No.2, pp.103-112), 2021
Often enough, Anthropology seems as an ‘abstract’ discipline, especially when students of other social sciences or humanities try to get acquainted with its theory, methodology, or the main anthropological discussion in general. Under these specific conditions, ‘teaching Anthropology’ becomes a task of high difficulty without a simultaneous ethnographic practice in the ‘field’. It is this specific ‘rite de passage’ which makes students under training in Anthropology seek theoretical schemas and methodological tools in order to ‘experience’ theory and ‘theorize’ methodology. In this paper, we present ethnographic material collected from various teaching contexts where Anthropology is neither the main academic background nor the stated educational outcome for students taking the courses. In these courses, anthropological knowledge comes to the surface through an empirical engagement with ethnographic practice as an applied theory in a research project. This connection between theory and practice brings Anthropology to the foreground since it engages students with both - the procedure of “doing fieldwork” (something substantial for Anthropology) and their own social experience within this process. The ethnographic material for this reflective approach derives from various academic contexts where we have experienced the emergence of this type of learning. This includes ethnographic and anthropological courses (undergraduate or postgraduate) at the Department of History and Ethnology in Democritus University of Thrace Greece, and field trips including ethnographic exercise for the students and the Konitsa Summer School for Anthropology, Ethnography and Comparative Folklore of the Balkans, organized by the Border Crossings Network in collaboration with the University of Ioannina and the Municipality of Konitsa, Greece, at the Greek-Albanian border.
Away from Home: Anthropology in and between Places
2011
Studying in Israel provides a unique opportunity to learn Qualitative Research Methods in a new site-Israel. We often think about the experience of the stranger as an unpleasant one: we try to avoid being strangers by locating ourselves among people and objects that we know-to create a sense of security. From the perspective of Qualitative Research Methods, however, the stranger's point of view is a very fertile one. The stranger can see things that the subjects can not. More important still, the strangers see things in a critical way. This course will provide you with a toolbox that will help you collect, document and understand reality, specifically, the rich and complicated realty of Israel. We will read classical materials in class, and we will think and implement those materials against the challenging realty that will knock on our class windows. As it is crucial to share not only knowledge but experience, some class meetings will take place "out there," and each student will conduct a small fieldwork. This course provides a unique opportunity for undergraduate students to gain experience in developing and conducting independent original research. For students in Anthropology (and other disciplines), the course is a first training opportunity in the world of fieldwork.
Fooled into fieldwork: Epistemic detours of an accidental anthropologist
In this chapter, I engage with a set of field accidents and failures and unresolved questions in my research experience in Georgia. Normative approaches would simply dismiss the learning and argue that these encounters lacked systematic engagement and ethnographicness. Yet, stepping into peripheral paths to knowledge, I show that fieldwork is not necessarily guided by an understanding of what significance or relevance are, nor does it have to follow well-planned techniques that involve systematic methods for assembling data.
A ‘NATIVE’ AND AN ANTHROPOLOGIST: DILEMMA AND ETHICS OF DOING FIELDWORK
Over centuries, ethnography has been the forte of ‘Western’ scholars studying non-Western societies in Asia and Africa. In the post-modern scenario, however, many anthropologists have emerged from among the once-studied communities who started studying themselves, and their own societies. These ‘native’ anthropologists, while studying their own groups and societies, and believed to be at an advantageous position, have in reality faced many difficulties – both practical and academic. The present paper discusses the problems of doing fieldwork, as a ‘native’ anthropologist. It also discusses the dilemma and ethics of doing ethnography in the ‘native’ context.
Breaking in my Anthropological Shoes: Reflections on my First Days of Fieldwork
JOURNAL OF CONTEMPORARY ANTHROPOLOGY, 2013
This paper explores the first day of ethnographic fieldwork conducted by an M.A. student. Starting in a non-Roma community, and trying to reach the Roma, I describe the difficulty of conducting fieldwork for the first time. I discuss the day I introduced myself to the community, the awkward and unnatural behavior of teachers toward my future informants, and the confusion and shyness of the Roma students felt in my presence.