The World Observed. reflections on the Fieldwork Process

Reading this book will teach us a lot about fieldwork, but it will teach us more about what it means to be human.-- William A. WilsonCharlesRedd Center for Western StudiesBrigham Young UniversityThis book will be of value to folklorists, anthropologists, sociologists, and anyone involved in field research.-- Patrick B. MullenformereditorPublications of the American Folklore SocietyThe books that give us insight into human motives and experience often arebased on fieldwork: people spending time with others where those otherslive and work. In The World Observed sixteen researchers relate how theirfieldwork experiences have been transmuted into understanding. The settingsrange from a women´s prison in Indiana to a village in Egyptfrom astreetcorner in Palermo to a gypsy funeral in New York. Theauthors--anthropologistsfolkloristssociologistshistorians--relatetheir struggles to find meaning in the chaos of data and the ethicalproblems they had to confront and resolve. Their fascinating stories offerfresh insight into how we know what we know.CONTRIBUTORS: Bruce JacksonEdward D. IvesBarre ToelkenCandace SlaterDan RoseAlessandro PortelliNancy KalowCarole BurkeMichael BuonannoDwight ReynoldsLynwood MontellEllen J. StekertNeil V. RosenbergAnthony G. BarrandHoward S. BeckerCarol SilvermanBRUCE JACKSONDistinguished Professor and Director of the Center forStudies in American Culture at the State University of New York at Buffalois the author of more than twenty booksincluding Fieldwork. EDWARD D.IVES is professor of folklore and Director of the Maine Folklife Center atthe University of Maine. He is the author of George Magoon and the DownEast Game War: HistoryFolkloreand the Lawand other books.A volume in the series Folklore and Societyedited by Roger D. Abrahams