'Luck on the Road': Problems of Fieldwork among the Gypsies
| Autor: | Susan DiGiacomo |
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| Rok vydání: | 1983 |
| Předmět: | |
| Zdroj: | Human Organization. 42:337-340 |
| ISSN: | 1938-3525 0018-7259 |
| DOI: | 10.17730/humo.42.4.r53h22808458p420 |
| Popis: | All field-workers must deal with problems of entry and rapport-gaining "the ability to cope with a field situation in such a way that work is possible" (Nader 1970:113). The anthropologist who chooses to d o fieldwork among a pariah group faces particularly trying problems of establishing an effective field persona and at the same time maintaining self-identity. One of the few defenses available to such groups is to hold the stranger firmly at arm's length unless he is willing to offer complete commitment to them. Consequently, insights gained by this type of work, however valuable they might be, are often won at great personal cost to the researcher. In this paper I wish to address some of these difficulties, using data drawn from a 1975 summer research project among a group of conservative Gypsies, or Rom, in one of Spain's large cities. In particular, a period of three weeks spent traveling with the Gypsies, during which the anthropologist-informant relationship steadily deteriorated into conflict, serves to bring into sharp focus certain aspects of Gypsy social structure as these are related to the limits of the anthropologist's role as participant. |
| Databáze: | OpenAIRE |
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