Locating the Field: Space, Place and Context in Anthropology

Description

Are reports of the death of conventional fieldwork in anthropology greatly exaggerated? This book takes a critical look at the latest developments and key issues in fieldwork. The nature of 'locality' itself is problematic for both research subjects and fieldworkers, on the grounds that it now must be maintained and represented in relation to widening (and fragmenting) social frames and networks. Such developments have raised questions concerning the nature of ethnographic presence and scales of comparison. From the social space of a cybercaf to cities in India, the UK and South Africa among others, this book features a wide range of ethnographic studies that provide new ways of looking at the concepts of 'locality' and 'site'. It shows that rather than taking key fieldwork processes such as globalization and mobility for granted, anthropologists are well-placed to examine and critique the totalizing assumptions behind these notions.

Simon Coleman is Professor of Anthropology, University of Sussex. Peter Collins is Senior Lecturer in Anthropology, University of Durham.

'Unlike many edited collections, this is a coherent volume. Its authors confront the place of anthropology in today's academy, focus on methodological questions, and provide persuasive counter examples to more simplistic paradigms.' Sharon R. Roseman, Memorial University of Newfoundland