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Of Orphans and Anthropologists: A Personal Reflection on Forming “Family” and Research Relationships in the Field
Author(s) -
Williams Julie L.
Publication year - 2015
Publication title -
anthropology and humanism
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.153
H-Index - 17
eISSN - 1548-1409
pISSN - 1559-9167
DOI - 10.1111/anhu.12089
Subject(s) - reciprocity (cultural anthropology) , sociology , friendship , ethnography , kinship , field (mathematics) , anthropology , field research , indigenous , reflexivity , epistemology , gender studies , social science , philosophy , ecology , biology , mathematics , pure mathematics
Summary In this paper, I explore the anthropologist, in my case a single, white N orth A merican “girl,” often referred to as niña in Spanish, as an imagined orphan in the indigenous community of L umbisí, E cuador. L umbiseños' understanding of being “alone” propelled a long process of incorporation that slowly developed my social connections to the community through friendships, alternative fictive kin constructions, and reciprocity. This reflective piece draws on the work of B ruce G rindal, whose profound influence on humanistic anthropology shaped my approach to ethnographic research. His vision of an anthropology based on real human connections, the long‐term responsibility of research, self‐reflection, a critical eye, and the effective communication of human experiences we share with everyone, not just academics, inspired several generations of scholars, who carry on this tradition in his name. Using three vignettes experienced in crucial phases of this ongoing collaborative research, I attempt to illuminate the process of relationship building, the conflicts experienced, and the resolution we obtained in the spirit of G rindal's (2011) final publication, “Confrontation, Understanding, and Friendship in a Redneck Culture.”