by Nils Bubandt (Editor), Thomas Schwarz Wentzer (Editor)
How
do we teach analysis in anthropology and other field-based sciences?
How can we engage analytically and interrogatively with philosophical
ideas and concepts in our fieldwork? And how can students learn to
engage critical ideas from philosophy to better understand the worlds
they study?
Philosophy on Fieldwork
provides "show-don’t-tell" answers to these questions. In twenty-six
"master class" chapters, philosophy meets anthropological critique as
leading anthropologists introduce the thinking of one foundational
philosopher – from a variety of Western traditions and beyond – and
apply this critically to an ethnographic case. Nils Bubandt, Thomas
Schwarz Wentzer and the contributors to this volume reveal how the
encounter between philosophy and fieldwork is fertile ground for
analytical insight to emerge. Equally, the philosophical concepts
employed are critically explored for their potential to be thought
"otherwise" through their frictional encounter with the worlds in the
field, allowing non-Western and non-elite life experience and ontologies
to "speak back" to both anthropology and philosophy.
This
is a unique and concrete guidebook to social analysis. It answers the
critical need for a "how-to" textbook in fieldwork-based analysis as
each chapter demonstrates how the ideas of a specific philosopher can be
interrogatively applied to a concrete analytical case study. The
straightforward pedagogy of Philosophy on Fieldwork makes
this an accessible volume and a must-read for both students and
seasoned fieldworkers interested in exploring the contentious middle
ground between philosophy and anthropology.
