Unhealthy at the Health Fair: A personal account of chronic illness and disability in the field
This reflective essay examines the author’s experience conducting fieldwork while managing chronic illness and disability.
Through the looking glass: learning to do ethnography with children and their families
In this article, Nieves Galera reflects on the practical and emotional challenges of conducting ethnographic fieldwork with infants and their families.
Ethnographic Ableism: Structural Silencing of Physical Disability in Anthropological Research
Micha Rahder critiques “ethnographic ableism,” the structural exclusion and silencing of researchers with disabilities in anthropology.
Emotions of Friendship: The Psychological Challenges of Doing Fieldwork in Xinjiang
In this article, Lisa Ernst examines the overlooked psychological toll of “friendship as method” within ethnography, specifically during high-risk fieldwork in Xinjiang, China.
Dis/ability to do Fieldwork
In this article, Rine Vieth critiques the “Malinowskian” ideal of fieldwork, which prizes able-bodied endurance and long-term isolation as markers of professional authority.
Competitive Hardship: ethnographic guilt and early-career pressure to conduct ‘authentic’ fieldwork
Jennifer Cearns examines the persistent influence of the “Malinowskian” model of fieldwork on early-career anthropologists, arguing that traditional expectations of isolation and immersion create unnecessary guilt and anxiety in contemporary settings.