ANTROPOLOGISKE KRUMSPRING I ET VIDENSSAMFUND: Om at lave feltarbejde i en agora

Abstract

Taking its point of departure in their recent fieldwork, the authors explore the concept of
 knowledge in two different ways. How is scientific knowledge conceived in the debate
 surrounding the passage of the new Danish legislation on universities? And how is it
 possible to work with knowledge in the form of humanistic research as object of
 anthropological enquiry? In anthropology, knowledge, in relation to research has
 especially been studied regarding the natural sciences, i.e. in laboratories. The authors
 see this as a logical consequence of the development in anthropological method and
 theory, where the anthropological object has increasingly been defined as an object with
 a specific physical integrity – that is, as tied to a group of people and/or a physical place.
 This discussion finds an interesting parallel in the debate of the new act. Scientific
 knowledge is by some humanistic researchers understood as a solitary process where
 demands from larger society, as well as from the institutional community are considered
 restrictive, a factor that potentially pollutes the otherwise pure science. Thereby science
 is perceived as a relatively autonomous field in society – quite similar to the classic
 notion of culture. Arguing for an actor-network, dialogic notion of the anthropological
 field, i.p. as an agora, requires a “rhizomatic” form of knowledge for humanistic research
 in general and anthropological research in particular.