Emotions in Anthropology - Introduction

The book aims to help retrieve emotion from the methodological margins of fieldwork.

The 'reflexive turn' explores how an ethnographer's position in the field influences the data they collect, looking at how a researcher's identity, gender, ethnicity, and personal history affect their understanding of their research.

The author asserts that the researcher's 'states of being' during fieldwork and how these states may either enable or inhibit the understanding of the field are relatively under-investigated.

<p>The book seeks to demonstrate how specific emotions, reactions, and experiences consistently evoked in fieldworkers, when treated with intellectual rigor, can enhance our understanding of the 'life-worlds' we set ourselves down in.</p> Signup and view all the answers

<p>The author challenges the beliefs that 1) emotion has no epistemological worth and 2) that subjectivity is a negative force in research.</p> Signup and view all the answers

<p>The author argues that subjectivity, when treated with the same intellectual rigor as more empirical data, can be a valuable tool for knowledge construction, rather than undermining it.</p> Signup and view all the answers

<p>The author argues that the 'post-modern' position's rejection of universalizing aims is too radical, and that it overlooks the potential value of subjectivity.</p> Signup and view all the answers

<p>The author critiques the traditional view of 'empiricism' that objectivity is the goal of research and that subjectivity must be controlled and restrained. This view, the author argues, leads to many important facts being ignored or concealed. This approach, according to the author, is not truly empirical, as genuine empiricism embraces all facts, including subjective ones.</p> Signup and view all the answers

<p>Both 'post-modern' and 'traditional empirical' stances generally agree that subjective experience, the 'personal equation,' is a barrier to making generalizations.</p> Signup and view all the answers

<p>The author proposes a 'radical empiricism' approach, which refuses to draw a divide between subject and object, giving equal value to objective and subjective experiences.</p> Signup and view all the answers

<p>'Radical empiricism' embraces both transitive and intransitive experiences and accepts subjective experiences as valuable sources of knowledge.</p> Signup and view all the answers

<p>The early natural sciences emphasized objectivity, seeking hidden uniformities that could be translated into quantitative terms. It aimed to remove distortions caused by the research environment or the researcher.</p> Signup and view all the answers

<p>The dichotomies employed by traditional 'empiricism' impeded research into human phenomena that could not be quantified, leading to a narrow focus on quantifiable data and limiting the scope of research.</p> Signup and view all the answers

<p>The shift towards 'phenomenological' and 'interpretivist' thinking emerged; This shift emphasizes 'feeling into the world,' 'attuning to the world,' and 'adjusting to the pitch of the world,' bringing a new focus on subjective experience into research.</p> Signup and view all the answers

<p>The author argues that participation in fieldwork is not only about gaining data, but also about experiencing the emotional effects of engaging with the people and situations being studied.</p> Signup and view all the answers

<p>By ignoring the emotional consequences of participation, research may overlook valuable insights and may unintentionally hinder an understanding of the lived experiences of the individuals being studied.</p> Signup and view all the answers

<p>The central point of contention was whether the 'personal equation', the emotional experiences of the researcher, could be considered to be a legitimate part of research. It was understood that 'emotional detachment' was crucial for ensuring the objectivity of research.</p> Signup and view all the answers

<p>The founders of modern anthropology were highly aware of the 'personal equation' and were troubled by the misconceptions that could arise when researchers' subjective experiences were not adequately acknowledged or managed. They understood that emotional states could lead to bias in interpreting data and, therefore, undermine the objectivity of research.</p> Signup and view all the answers

<p>The publication of Bronislaw Malinowski's fieldwork diary, which contained his raw emotions and experiences, challenged the suppression of subjective experiences in published accounts of fieldwork.</p> Signup and view all the answers

<p>Anthropological research began to acknowledge the importance of the researcher's emotional experiences through the development of 'reflexive' and 'intersubjective' approaches. These approaches moved beyond the 'objectivist' model toward recognizing the importance of emotional experiences in understanding the world being investigated.</p> Signup and view all the answers

<p>Devereux argued that methods are not tools for acquiring knowledge but rather are psychological devices that reinforce our biases and reinforce our existing perceptions.</p> Signup and view all the answers

<p>The growing critique of objectivity highlighted how it can be used to oppress, marginalize, and dehumanize subjects, and how it serves to reinforce existing hierarchies and power structures. It emphasized the need to consider the political implications of research and the role of the researcher in potentially reinforcing power imbalances.</p> Signup and view all the answers

<p>Rosaldo argued that emotion can serve as a lens for understanding cultural difference, suggesting that emotional experiences can provide powerful insights into the 'perplexities of difference.'</p> Signup and view all the answers

<p>The 1980s saw a growing interest in subjectivity and how it can be used to generate more nuanced understandings of culture and difference.</p> Signup and view all the answers

<p>The codified approach, while providing useful guidelines, is ultimately seen by the author as a form of 'traditional empiricism' that can limit the potential of research by neglecting the importance of subjective experiences and underplaying the role of emotion in knowledge production.</p> Signup and view all the answers

<p>The author believes that 'traditional empiricism' and 'radical empiricism' can coexist in a complementary way. This is because they each draw on different strengths and can be used to address different research questions.</p> Signup and view all the answers

<p>The author believes that methods do not simply shape subjective experience but rather they also generate new experiences and reveal new aspects of the world. They create a 'meta-pragmatic' framework, shaping how we experience the world and how we interact with others.</p> Signup and view all the answers

<p>'Self-contained methods' are those that rely on formal, structured techniques, such as statistics or interviews, and generally reinforce a particular, and often restrictive, mode of subjectivity. These 'methods' tend to focus on objectivity, minimizing or controlling the role of subjective experiences.</p> Signup and view all the answers

<p>The author argues that those spaces 'between' the use of 'self-contained methods' – the times when we are not applying a method in a formal way – are actually the most fertile ground for generating new knowledge. In these spaces, we are more likely to experience the world in its natural and unfiltered form; this 'interstitial space' brings us closer to the 'truth' of our experiences.</p> Signup and view all the answers

<p>The author argues that embracing emotional experiences in anthropological research is not only a legitimate approach, but also a necessary and valuable one. These emotional experiences can enrich our understanding of the world and can contribute to a more complete and nuanced epistemology.</p> Signup and view all the answers

<p>The author defines 'radical empiricism' as a framework that takes emotion seriously as a source of knowledge and as a valuable tool for understanding the world. This framework recognizes the importance of not only 'objective' and 'quantifiable' data, but also the subjective and emotional experiences that inform our perceptions. 'Radical empiricism' is a more inclusive approach that challenges the traditional views of objectivity and subjectivity in research.</p> Signup and view all the answers