Art of Fieldwork

Harry F. Wolcott (1929-2012) was professor emeritus in the Department of Anthropology at the University of Oregon and a leading author in anthropology and research methods. Wolcott's major works include anthropological studies of American education: Teachers Versus Technocrats and The Man in the Principal's Office: An Ethnography. He also wrote extensively on fieldwork and writing: Transforming Qualitative Data; The Art of Fieldwork; Ethnography: A Way of Seeing; and Writing Up Qualitative Data and is the author of the more recent Sneaky Kid and Its Aftermath: Ethics and Intimacy in Fieldwork (all published by AltaMira Press).

Far more than a how-to-do-it handbook, The Art of Fieldwork offers a rich, engaging discourse drawing from a lifetime of personal experiences.

• chapter 1 Part One: Fieldwork Contexts 1.Introduction: Portrait of the Author as a Not-so-Young Man, About the Title and Contents, About Art, art, Art, The Arts, The Fine Arts chapter 2 2.Fieldwork as Art? A Fieldworker Is (Most) Like A, Artists and Artisans and "All That Is Required" chapter 3 3.How Art Works: Defining Art and Artists, Art vs. Craft as a Public Decision, The "Minor Art" World of Fieldworkers, The Patron Effect, Observing Convention, The Limits of Convention, Artistic License Reconsidered chapter 4 Part Two: The Fieldwork Part of Fieldwork 4. Fieldwork vs. (Just) Being in the Field: Data Gathering as Technique, Who Are Today's Fieldworkers?, Fieldwork as Intimate, Long-Term Acquaintance, How Intimate Is Intimate?, Performance First, Then Script chapter 5 5.Fieldwork: The Basic Arts: Courtesy and Common Sense, Being There, Getting Nosy, Looking Over Other's Shoulders Fieldwork: The Darker Arts: Superficiality, Obviousness, Self-Serving, Lack of Independence, Deception and Betrayal, Clandestine Observation, chapter 6 Part Three: Fieldwork as Mindwork 7. The Art of (Conceptual) Self-Defense: Scientific Method, Objectivity and Bias, neutrality, Reliability, Validity, Generalization, Self-Defense vs. Getting Defensive chapter 7 8. The Art of Conceptualizing: Theory, Mental Set, A Capacity for Judgment chapter 8 9. The Art of Self-Expression: Begin Writing Early, Anticipate How You Will Parcel Out the Study, Work "Start to Finish" but Think "Finish to Start", Writing with Panache, Writing as Central to the Art of Fieldwork, Writing as Disciplined Activity chapter 9 Part Four: Fieldwork As Personal Work 10.The Satisfactions of Fieldwork: Being-or Becoming-a Sociable Social Researcher, A Hint of Adventure, Problem Setting as Intellectual Challenge, The Authority of Authorship, Looking at Life chapter 10 11.The Art of Fieldwork: How Art Works, Art in the Conduct of Fieldwork, Art in Relating the Fieldwork Story chapter 11 References and Select Bibliography chapter 12 Name Index chapter 13 Subject Index chapter 14 About the Author chapter 15 About The Book