Locating the Field

Are reports of the death of conventional fieldwork in anthropology greatly exaggerated? This book takes a critical look at the latest developments and key issues in fieldwork. The nature of 'locality' itself is problematic for both research subjects and fieldworkers, on the grounds that it must now be maintained and represented in relation to widening (and fragmenting) social frames and networks. Such developments have raised questions concerning the nature of ethnographic presence and scales of comparison. From the social space of a cybercafe to cities in India, the UK and South Africa among others, this book features a wide range of ethnographic studies that provide new ways of looking at the concepts of 'locality' and 'site'. It shows that rather than taking key fieldwork processes such as globalization and mobility for granted, anthropologists are well-placed to examine and critique the totalizing assumptions behind these notions.

Simon Coleman is Professor of Anthropology, University of Sussex. Peter Collins is Senior Lecturer in Anthropology, University of Durham.

Introduction: 'Being...Where?' Performing Fields on Shifting Grounds Simon Coleman, University of Sussex, and Peter Collins, University of Durham* Studying Down, Up, Sideways, Through, Backwards, Forwards, Away and at Home: Reflections on the Field Worries of an Expansive DisciplineUlf Hannerz, University of Stockholm* Beyond the Verandah: Fieldwork, Locality and the Production of Knowledge in a South African CityLeslie Bank, Rhodes University* Fieldwork on Foot: Perceiving, Routing, SocializingJo Lee and Time Ingold* Rendering and Gendering Mobile Subjects in a Globalized World of Mountaineering: Between Localizing Ethnography and Global SpacesSusan Frohlick, University of Manitoba* Post-Diasporic Indian Communities: A New GenerationAnjoom Mukadam, Lancaster University, Centre for Excellence in Leadership, and Sharmina Mawani, School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London* The Internet, Cybercafes and the New Social Spaces of Bangalorean YouthNicholas Nisbett, University of Sussex* Out of Proportion? Anthropological Description of Power, Regeneration and Scale on the Rai Coast of Papua New GuineaJames Leach, Cambridge University* Far from the Trobriands? Biography as FieldSigridur Duna Kristmundsdottir, University of Iceland* Diaspora, Cosmopolis, Global Refuge: Three Voices of the Supranational City Nigel Rapport, Concordia University of Montreal.