Learning to see

Abstract

Starting from the author’s ethnographic experience of ‘learning to see’ in the field, the chapter introduces ‘enskilment’ and ‘skilled vision’ as forms of situated knowledge, referencing classic and contemporary anthropologists such as Margaret Mead, Charles Goodwin and Tim Ingold. Some simple exercises develop ‘learning to see’ as a skill, with the objective to think about looking as a learning process: focusing on learning to see forces us to keep in mind how the anthropologist is positioned in the field. In-depth ethnographic examples from contemporary anthropology follow, to show how learning to see is a social activity. The case studies from the fields of environmental and medical anthropology as well as from the anthropology of religion and of vocational training are contextualised within guiding references to classics of phenomenology (Martin Heidegger), psychology (James Gibson and Rudolf Arnheim), epistemology (Ludwik Fleck), ethnomethodology (Harold Garfinkel) and the philosophy of education (John Dewey). Finally, the chapter positions ‘learning to see’ vis-à-vis sensory studies (David Howes) and sensorial learning. Situated sensing may include the mediation of specific technologies and tools such as videocameras and microphones but also pen and paper