Observers
Observed
Essays on Ethnographic
Fieldwork
Edited by George W. Stocking, Jr.
History of Anthropology (VOLUME ONE)
Richard Handler, Series Editor
“This first volume focuses on
ethnographic fieldwork, a keystone of cultural anthropology that
is at once a unique means of collecting data (participant observation
is often spoken of as an ‘anthropological’ method) and a crucial
rite of passage that transforms novices into professionals. . . . The collection as a whole is of high quality, presenting
valuable information and provocative analyses. For an anthropologist,
the essays by historians offer fresh perspectives that differentiate
this book from others on fieldwork. If this volume is a augury
of things to come, HOA [the History of Anthropology series] promises to
be a significant contribution to anthropological and historical
literature.”
—American Scientist
History of Anthropology is a series of annual volumes, each of which treats
an important theme in the history of anthropological inquiry.
For this initial volume, the editors have chosen to focus on
the modern cultural anthropology: intensive fieldwork by “participant
observation.” Observers Observed includes essays
by a distinguished group of historians and anthropologists covering
major episodes in the history of ethnographic fieldwork in the
American, British, and French traditions since 1880. As the first
work to investigate the development of modern fieldwork in a
serious historical way, this collection will be of great interest
and value to anthropologist, historians of science and the social
sciences, and the general readers interested in the way in which
modern anthropologists have perceived and described the cultures
of “others.”
 George W. Stocking, Jr. (1928–2013) was the Stein-Freiler Distinguished Service Professor
Emeritus in the Department of Anthropology and the Committee
on the Conceptual Foundations of Science at the University of
Chicago. He was the author of many books, including Victorian
Anthropology; After Tylor: British Social
Anthropology, 1888–1951; and The
Ethnographer’s Magic, and was the founder and long-time
editor of the History of Anthropology series published
by the University of Wisconsin Press. He was awarded the
Huxley Medal of the Royal Anthropological Institute and the Franz
Boas Award for Exemplary Service by the American Anthropological
Association. His most recent book with the University of Wisconsin
Press is Glimpses into My Own Black Box:
An Exercise in Self-Deconstruction.
Media & bookseller inquiries regarding review copies, events, and interviews can be directed to the publicity department at publicity@uwpress.wisc.edu or (608) 263-0734. (If you want to examine a book for possible course use, please see our Course Books page. If you want to examine a book for possible rights licensing, please see Rights & Permissions.)
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January 1983
LC: 83-47771 GN
256 pp. 6 x 9
12 illus., maps
Included in this volume are the contributions
of:
Homer G. Barnett
University of Oregon
James Clifford
University
of California, Santa Cruz
Douglas Cole
Simon Fraser University
Richard Handler
Lake Forest College
Curtis Hinsley
Colgate
University
Joan Larcom
Mount Holyoke College
Paul Rabinow
University of California, Berkeley
George W. Stocking
University of Chigago |
