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locating ethnographic practice: romance, reality, and politics in the outback
Author(s) -
MYERS FRED R.
Publication year - 1988
Publication title -
american ethnologist
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.875
H-Index - 78
eISSN - 1548-1425
pISSN - 0094-0496
DOI - 10.1525/ae.1988.15.4.02a00010
Subject(s) - contest , ethnography , romance , sociology , politics , meaning (existential) , action (physics) , database transaction , anthropology , media studies , epistemology , law , political science , literature , art , philosophy , physics , quantum mechanics , computer science , programming language
This paper explores the contest over the meaning of the appearance of previously uncontacted Pintupi Aborigines in late 1984, arguing that an important site of Pintupi social action is transaction with the outside and their struggle to define their own framework of understanding. The event was interpreted by varying “audiences” in terms of their differing motivations and favored conventions for representing the Aborigine. I analyze my role as ethnographer, scientist, advocate, and academic and the use of ethnographic knowledge in mediating these competing discourses.