Laminorul observației. Tehnica cercetării de teren în concepția lui Henri H. Stahl

Abstract

The paper presents the book of Henri H. Stahl, The Technique of the Sociological Monograph (1934) and delineates the author’s main achievements within the fieldwork methodology from the point of view of Romanian ethnology and folklore studies. As an important member of the interwar sociological school of Bucharest led by D. Gusti, Stahl was thoroughly interested in developing a comprehensive research methodology ready to be applied by the new members of the large research teams of the monographic campaigns. His method includes the attention devoted to getting in touch with the life of the village and the peasants while building psychological trust and empathy between interviewer and interviewee; this complex protocol of accommodation proves to be one of the first and the most sympathetic strategy in the history of anthropological fieldwork. Another aspect of primary interest in Stahl’s methodology is the fact it is drafted simultaneously with the development of peasant studies and rural sociology in the U.S., and the challenges that western anthropology faces in having to adapt its methods to studying peasant societies. Though Stahl often opposes in his studies the sociological school and the Romanian folklore studies, his contribution to Romanian folklore research was undoubtedly acknowledged and appreciated.