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text and the postmodern annoyance
Samantha L. Solimeo (S17276@FORTLEWIS.EDU)
Tue, 30 Jul 1996 20:59:40 -0600
In response to John McCreery's posting, "Some care should be taken to maintain
separation between what those whose lives we study do and say about what
they do and what we infer from what we see and hear. Failure to do so is at the
heart of many postmodern dilemmas.
Yes, I agree that there needs to be distance, both personally and
academically. However,it is crucial to include the "studied" within the text
of any ehtnographic work. It is maintaining a blalnce between creating texts
which represent the production of both the anthropologist and the subjects,
and creating texts which reify and exoticize the subjects, which is
important.
I appreciate your suggestion for how to "get around" terminology,
but there needs to be a distinct voice of the study population present for
the work to have real meaning and use. The trick is retaining your
authority as writer and anthropologist without subsuming the authority of the
subject.
Samantha L. Solimeo :s17276@fortlewis.edu"
P.s. I apologize for the spelling errors, but my computer doesn't allow me to
fix them at this point.
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