Abstract
This essay focuses on the core of ethnographic research—participant observation—to argue that it is a potentially revolutionary praxis because it forces us to question our theoretical presuppositions about the world, produce knowledge that is new, was confined to the margins, or was silenced. It is argued that participant observation is not merely a method of anthropology but is a form of production of knowledge through being and action; it is praxis, the process by which theory is dialectically produced and realized in action. Four core aspects of participation observation are discussed as long duration (long-term engagement), revealing social relations of a group of people (understanding a group of people and their social processes), holism (studying all aspects of social life, marking its fundamental democracy), and the dialectical relationship between intimacy and estrangement (befriending strangers). Though the risks and limits of participant observation are outlined, as are the tensions between activism and anthropology, it is argued that engaging in participant observation is a profoundly political act, one that can enable us to challenge hegemonic conceptions of the world, challenge authority, and better act in the world.
Highlights
Reuse of this item is permitted through licensing under the Creative Commons: This version available at: http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/83714/
This essay focuses on the core of ethnographic research—participant observation—to argue that it is a potentially revolutionary praxis because it forces us to question our theoretical presuppositions about the world, produce knowledge that is new, was confined to the margins, or was silenced
Though the risks and limits of participant observation are outlined, as are the tensions between activism and anthropology, it is argued that engaging in participant observation is a profoundly political act, one that can enable us to challenge hegemonic conceptions of the world, challenge authority, and better act in the world
Summary
Original citation: Shah, Alpa. (2017) Ethnography?: Participant observation, a potentially revolutionary praxis. There are self-imposed threats that can reduce what we do to mere qualitative data collection or producing case studies This situation can arise from our failure to recognize the significance of our praxis, our diluting the rigor of our fieldwork, and our own apathy. The first is that through living with and being a part of other people’s lives as fully as possible, participant observation makes us question our fundamental assumptions and preexisting theories about the world; it enables us to discover new ways of thinking about, seeing, and acting in the world It does so by being inherently democratic because of its pedagogy of a two-way process of exchange between educator and educated and because it ensures that we explore all aspects of the lives of the people we are working with, recognize their interconnections. Others may borrow from us, may try to emulate us, are welcome to join us, but it is we—in the discipline of anthropology—that even when the forces are stacked up against us, who create the space for and fight for participant observation
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