Anthropology Matters Journal, launch issue, May 2002.

Note from the Editorial Collective

The hard copy journal associated with the SOAS student-led research training seminar, E@TM, was the inspiration for the Anthropology Matters website. We are proud, therefore, to present the on-line launch issue of the (renamed) journal.

Challenging articles, they reflect the intention of this site: to facilitate the articulation of issues related to research and writing processes, which tend otherwize to remain the subject only of private reflection.

On-line, there is now the opportunity for lively engagement with issues raised. So, do take advantage of the discussion forum, to share your responses to any of the articles and encourage colleagues with related interests to contribute too.

To make a contribution to the next edition, or join the Editorial Collective responsible for procuring articles, please contact the Editor. As always, the Editorial Colllective will also be grateful for any other feedback on the journal or the site in general.

Identity/Identities and Fieldwork: Studying Homeopathy and Tai Chi 'at home' in South London

Christine Barry (Brunel University)

This reflexive paper presents the issues around my changing identity/identities during, and after, ethnographic fieldwork "at home" in South London, studying homeopathy and Tai Chi in the community. I will firstly explore this change of identity as a rite of passage using Wengle's notion of symbolic death of identity. This analysis, while useful, is limited in that it can be seen to over-essentialise the concept of identity. I will go on to show how my shifting identities in and after fieldwork were not solely the result of an individual psychological process but were constructed in contextual interaction with others as an embodied participant. It is my belief that ‘going native’ aided my understanding of the embodied experience of being part of alternative groups, but made coming out of the field a difficult time emotionally.

(html)

Facing Facts in Rwanda: A response to Nigel Eltringham's 'Representing Rwanda: Questions and Challenges'

Linda Melvern

(html)

A Reply to Linda Melvern

Nigel Eltringham (SOAS)

(html)

Shaming of the Anthropologist: Ethical Dilemmas during and in the Aftermath of the Fieldwork Process

Rachel Burr (The Open University)

This paper focuses on ethical dilemmas encountered during the fieldwork process. Questions are raised about the extent to which anthropologists should become involved in, and possibly alter, the experiences of the people they conduct participant observation among. Here it is argued that although much is written about ethics in anthropology, anthropologists do not make explicit clear guidelines concerning the level at which they should become involved in the communities they study. It is suggested that there is currently a divide between those who believe they should retain distance in the field and those who support some forms of local activism or other types of involvement. I present my experience of doing research in Vietnam among children who were at possible risk of contracting the AIDS virus and who, in the aftermath of fieldwork being completed, tested HIV positive. The paper also explores ways in which we can continue to draw on such experiences once we have returned from doing fieldwork.

(html)

What it is like for me and other people living with HIV/AIDS to be studied by researchers who are conducting projects on people

Jackie Nabwire - introduced by Andrew Irving

(html)

Globalising Rights? A Response to the Issues Raised by Jackie Nabwire

David Mills (C-SAP)

(html)

Book Review: ‘Leprosy in Colonial South India: Medicine and Confinement' by Jane Buckingham

Reviewed by James Staples

(html)