Anthropology, Reconciliation, and Collaborative Methodologies

摘要

Anthropology is by nature a highly collaborative discipline, but the relationshipbetween fieldworkers, communities and individuals, mediated by social,political and economic conditions and circumstances, unavoidably takesdifferent forms. Collaborative methodologies generally, refer to specific types ofrelationships which aspire towards parity or the subordination of disciplinary tocommunity-based knowledge systems. Methodologically, they form a continuumthat ranges from consultative,dialogical to participant actionresearch, though all acceptmutually consensual, fairand open ethical engagement.Consultative relationshipsimply formal agreement overthe subject and nature ofresearch, the methodologiesemployed (interviewing,surveys, participantobservation, archival, libraryor museum based research),ethical protocols, duration,and the way results willor will not be mobilized;dialogical methods understandculture not as somethingexternal awaiting discoveryand interpretation, but asthe product of a dialoguethat takes place betweenresearchers and artists,traditional knowledge holders,other authorities, or specificsectors within a community.The product of research is aresult of the procedure itselfand includes the juxtapositionof different views akin instyle and performance toconversation. One of thebest and most detaileddocumented examples of thismethod is Johannes Fabian’sPower and Performance.