Gossip in ethnography

John Beard Haviland. Gossip, Reputation, and Knowledge in Zinacantan. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1977. xiii + 260 pp. Tables, diagrams, appendices, notes, bibliography, and index. $20.00.     

Gothic history and historical ethnography

It is difficult, for an Austrian, to pass judgement on the Goths. Anyone concerned with the history of the Goths must be resigned to being misunderstood, falsely praised, or rejected. This is hardly surprising, since the subject is so heavily laden with the ideological burden of an age-old tradition of identification with this people. It is almost impossible to separate Gothic history from the emotions aroused by the process once termed “The decline and fall of the Roman Empire”, and which is not yet universally known as “The transformation of the Roman world”.     

Gothic history and historical ethnography

It is difficult, for an Austrian, to pass judgement on the Goths. Anyone concerned with the history of the Goths must be resigned to being misunderstood, falsely praised, or rejected. This is hardly surprising, since the subject is so heavily laden with the ideological burden of an age-old tradition of identification with this people. It is almost impossible to separate Gothic history from the emotions aroused by the process once termed “The decline and fall of the Roman Empire”, and which is not yet universally known as “The transformation of the Roman world”.     

Expert knowledge and video-aided ethnography a methodological account

This is a report on a video-aided ethnographic investigation which targets expert knowledge in a hospital setting. Since such knowledge calls for gathering a qualitative sort of data, both intensive and situated, this paper offers an examination of the methodological implications of this investigation. Work environment digital video and computer-mediated observations with Transana? are adequate tools for the exploration of paramount concepts in the cognitive study of expertise, found in communicative sequences and embodied practices of situated agents.     

Rethinking ethnography: A study in public anthropology

This editorial calls for an alternative approach to writing ethnographies. Instead of treating a group as a cultural whole to make writing about it easier, the author emphasizes the importance of understanding the intracultural diversity that exists within that group. In addition, he asks ethnographers to step away from a framework which places them as the primary interpreters of a group. Instead, he calls for more dialogic, multicentric narratives, that allow the people they study (as well as their readers) to compose their own empowering narratives about the group. Intracultural diversity ensures there is not one true account, but many.     

The Indian as subject and object of Mexican ethnography

Pierre Durand. Nanacatlan. Société Paysanne et lutte des classes au Mexique. Montreal: Les Presses de 1'Université de Montréal. 1975. 257 pp. Tables, figures, maps, references, and bibliography. $14.50 Canadian, paper.

Judith Friedlander. Being Indian in Hueyapan. A Study of Forced Identity in Contemporary Mexico. New York: St. Martin's Press. 1975. 205 pp. Illustrations, references, bibliography, and index. $5.00 paper.     

Gender, representation, and power in San ethnography and rock art

Interpretation of San rock art has been heavily dependent on the various San ethnographies, particularly those of the /Xam, who inhabited the northern Cape Province, South Africa, until the early 20th century. A different reading of these ethnographies enables another avenue of interpretation: the interlinked themes of gender, sexuality, and rain appear to be as important in the art as shamanistic elements (reference to which has been a key development in understanding the art). While interpretation centering on the trance dance, recorded ethnographically from recent and contemporary San groups, has been most productive, many features of the art may be related to other aspects of San culture—to the female initiation ceremony, social organization, and the complex of notions and practices surrounding feminine gender and female sexuality.     

A critical assessment of South Asian highland ethnography

Christoph von Fürer Haimendorf (ed). Asian Highland Societies in Anthropological Perspective. Sterling Publishers, New Delhi; Distributed in USA by Humanities Press, Atlantic Highlands, New Jersey. 1981. 265 pages. $30.00.     

Archaeological ethnography: Conversations around Kruger National Park

Este artículo esboza las posibilidades para una práctica mixta, a la que yo denomino etnografía arqueológica, que enlaza la arqueología y antropología sociocultural. Mi trabajo de campo se ha realizado en los límites del Parque Nacional Kruger con individuos de la comunidad de Malatji, y también con ecologistas sociales, guardas del parque, intérpretes y agentes del patrimonio que trabajan en el parque nacional. La investigación contribuye y evalúa críticamente el centralísmo del patrimonio arqueológico de Sudáfrica y sus múltiples papeles en la formulación de nuevas subjetividades en la nación cosmopolita y postcolonial.

---

Résumé Cet article illustre la possibilité d'utiliser l'ethnographie archéologique comme pratique hybride permenttant de faire le pont entre l'archéologie et l'anthropologie socioculturelle. Mon travail de terrain se déroule à la limite du Parc National Kruger avec des individus de la communauté Malatji et aussi des spécialistes en écologie sociale, des agents de la conservation, des guides interprètes et des représentants du patrimoine employés du parc national. Cette recherche entend contribuer et faire une évaluation critique de la centralité du patrimoine archéologique en Afrique du sud et de ses r?les multiples dans la formation d'une nouvelle subjectivité dans la nation cosmopolite postcoloniale.