OM SANDALFØDDER OG MULIGHEDEN FOR FORANDRING

Abstract

both the inferiority experienced by lowerclass
 Brazilians and the particular role
 of storytelling in the communication of
 anthropological insights. The two aspects of
 the article are related through the use of stories
 (here defined as recounts of particularly
 revealing moments during field-work) in the
 description of a metaphorical relationship
 between broad feet, poverty and second-class
 citizenship. Brazil is a society penetrated by
 social inequality in all aspects of daily life.
 The media bombardment of advertisements
 for products of all sorts increases the sense
 of inferiority among the poor. Signs on the
 body like grey, uncared-for skin and broad
 feet due to sandal use are experienced as the
 embodiment of ignorance and lack of selfcontrol.
 The informant Sonia explains the
 position as a “sandal foot” (pé de chinelo)
 with her story about lack of recognition and
 an often violent attitude towards lower-class
 Brazilians in the sphere of consumption as
 well as the health care system. In addition,
 a particular situation is described, in which
 the anthropologist witnesses a medical
 doctor misread a poor woman’s attempt
 to appear respectable. The anthropologist
 feels her impotence and detachment as
 an observer, while she dressed as a nurse
 unwillingly participates in the humiliation
 of the woman. This kind of experience, it is
 argued, provides a broadened understanding
 of human ex-perience, which may renew – in
 the anthro-pologist as well as her reader – the
 respect for the Other, crucial to any struggle
 for rights on a formal, and in the common
 sense, political level. The use of stories as
 vehicles for this kind of understanding and,
 more pragmatic-ally, for the anthropologist’s
 viewpoint in a highly politicized debate
 is justified by the particular capacity of
 storytelling. Stories about moments during
 fieldwork merge the “knower” and the
 known, it is argued, and engage the reader’s
 imagination and experience in the attempt to
 follow the process of knowing. They may
 therefore provide a richer understanding of
 anthro-pological insights than descriptions
 based on information and explanation alone.
 Besides, stories are per definition positioned,
 as there would be nothing to tell if nobody had
 sensed, felt and thought anything. Therefore,
 the telling of stories clearly engages the
 reader in an interpretation of the relationship
 between field, anthropologist and text. These
 two aspects of storytelling, the transportation
 of the reader to the field site by way of
 imagination, and the demand on the reader’s
 ability to interpret told situations, allow for
 a reflection upon human conditioning and
 the resulting plurality of perspectives. It also
 allows the anthropologist to put forward her
 perspective without postulating any superior
 knowledge.