"It's Not in the Course Guide!": Reflections from a Dutch Field School on How Students Learn to Do Fieldwork
Publication date
2020-09
Authors
Rasch, Elisabet
Simon Thomas, Marc
Cremers, Gijs
Verschuuren, Bas
Editors
Advisors
Supervisors
Document Type
Article
Metadata
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License
cc_by
Abstract
In this reflection we unpack students’ first fieldwork experiences and how this parallels a rite de passage . We do so in two domains: (1) students' first fieldwork with a focus on entering the field, staying in the field, and researcher identity; and (2) the impact of fieldwork experiences on students’ professional skills. Two struggles are prominent: letting go of the idea of “objectivity” and learning to deal with the whimsicalities of doing fieldwork.
Keywords
ethnography, field methods, first fieldwork, rites de passage, teaching anthropology
Citation
Rasch, E, Simon Thomas, M A, Cremers, G & Verschuuren, B 2020, '"It's Not in the Course Guide!" : Reflections from a Dutch Field School on How Students Learn to Do Fieldwork', Anthropology and Education Quarterly, vol. 51, no. 3, pp. 376-386. https://doi.org/10.1111/aeq.12338