“Missed opportunity”: mental health and ethnographic fieldwork in Japan during the Covid-19 pandemic

Abstract

The aim of this article is to explore how the relationship between ethnographic research and the mental health of its practitioners is represented in formal anthropological writing and methodological training. Drawing on my recent ethnographic research in Japan, I first reflect on my own mental health and the ways in which I coped with the challenges and difficulties in my professional and personal life since the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic. I then focus on how ethnographers’ mental health is treated in anthropology, in particular, and other social sciences in general. I find that the long-standing inclination of neglecting mental distress during and after fieldwork is beginning to change, with researchers, especially female anthropologists, beginning to point out the pitfalls of ethnography related to mental health. However, the issue remains highly stigmatized. Although fears exist that writing openly about the mental anguish experienced during fieldwork will affect future employment prospects. I think that it is necessary we examine them, as the emotions often continue to affect the lives of ethnographers even after leaving the field.