Is native anthropology really possible? (Respond to this article at https://www.therai.org.uk/publications/anthropology-today/debate)

Although native anthropologists are often understood to be quite different from non‐native anthropologists, this paper argues that the distinction is not as clear as is often presumed. Both types of anthropologists are partial outsiders who are positioned at a relative distance from those they study in the field. This is illustrated with a discussion of the author's own fieldwork with Japanese Americans as a ‘native anthropologist’. Ultimately, the cultural differences we experience with the ‘natives’ are productive for fieldwork and essential for anthropological knowledge.