Long-term field research in anthropology

Abstract

Chronicling Cultures provides readers with detailed case histories of ethnographic projects that are longterm in duration, lasting decades in some cases and often involving multiple collaborators and new generations of researchers. The central theme of the text is that extended time spent in the field leads to both qualitative and quantitative transformations in research. Contributors to the volume examine these transformations with respect to the data gathering process, the theoretical outcomes of long-term research, the impacts on host communities and the many problems and benefits of spending extended time in the field through multiple revisits and restudies. The volume will be of especial interest to those interested in the history of anthropology and to a lesser degree those interested in field methods. Amongst the shortcomings of the volume are its somewhat loose thematic organization, the overly descriptive nature of many of the contributions, the narrow range of cases selected and the lack of diverse perspectives.