 | Fieldwork Connections: The Fabric of Ethnographic Collaboration in China and America Subjects: Ethnology -- China -- Sichuan Sheng -- Field work; Ethnology -- Washington (State) -- Seattle -- Field work; Ethnologists -- China -- Sichuan Sheng -- Biography; Ethnologists -- Washington (State) -- Seattle -- Biography; Bamo Ayi; Ma Lunzy; Harrell St; Three distinguished anthropologists take the reader into the field as they get to know one another and the Yi/Nuoso of Liangshan Yi Autonomous Prefecture in southwest China. Harrell, the American, "a complete outsider," Ayi, a "?native? who grew up outside the native cultural context," and Lunzy, "who grew up within the native cultural context" form a trio of complementary, supplementary and differing perspectives. In alternating chapters that follow their separate and indirect paths to ethnography, their work together in China, and their later work in America, each tells his part. This is a jargon-free, readable revelation of the quotidian details and myriad tasks behind gathering ethnographic data, as well as the questions ethnographers must regularly ask ("Were all these facts about customs and languages and ancestors and marriage practices really important to these people, or did they just dredge them up because I was around?"). A cast of characters list, a brief Chinese and Nuoso glossary, maps and photographs of the researchers at work contribute to the ease with which the non-specialist reader can enter the work. If the title doesn?t scare off general readers, they will find a remarkably interesting, accessible account of how ethnographers work. 56 b&w photos. (Dec.) Copyright 2007 Reed Business Information. Bamo Ayi is an anthropologist and scholar of comparative religion. She is deputy director of the Foreign Affairs Department, State Nationalities Commission, and professor of philosophy at Central Nationalities University, Beijing. Stevan Harrell is an anthropologist and translator. He is professor of anthropology at the University of Washington. Ma Lunzy is an ethnologist, historian, author, and curator. He is deputy director of Liangshan Minorities Research Institute. |
