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FIELDWORK AND THE PERCEPTION
OF EVERYDAYLIFE
TIMOTHYJENKINS
ofCambridge
University
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434 TIMOTHYJENKINS
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TIMOTHYJENKINS 435
an alternative
to thedualistpositionthanBourdieu(1977;1990),who delib-
eratelysituateshis workin anotherdimensionto thatof the opposition
characterizedaboveas realist/anti-realist
(althoughhe too can be takento
taskforcertainresidualdualisms;see Herzfeld[1987:8 sq.,83 sq], who has
developedsome of Bourdieu'spositions);I shalldrawupon his work,and
subsequently uponHerzfeld's, in exploring
thisapproachto thequestionof
fieldwork and theperception of everydaylife.The discussionis elaborated
through considerationofa singleexampledrawnfromfieldwork undertaken
in thesouth-west ofFrance,itsaimbeingtodistinguish a numberoffeatures
offieldwork thatpermitan adequateaccountto be givenofa particular way
oflife.
A Frenchcattlemarket
The exampleconcernspractices involvedin buyingand sellingcattlein the
market placeinsouth-west France(drawing uponFossat1972andT Jenkins
1981).EachsmalltowninBeaamandthesurrounding regionhasa weeklyor
fortnightly market,whenthepeasantscomein fromthedistricts around,to
shop,to do business,or simplyto meetfriends andto talk.On thatday,the
locallanguage, the'patois'(or,morecorrectly, 'Occitan';see Bec 1973),re-
places Frenchon the streets.The centreof the marketis the livestock
market, whereone findsonlymen,andonlythepatoisis spoken.
Therearetwoprincipal actorsin thecattlemarket: theprofessionaldealer
and thepeasant.The dealeris visiblymarked,by wearinga blacksmock.
Each dealerhas his circuitof markets, and some travelfarafield.All the
dealersrelate,in a hierarchy, to theslaughterhouses in theregionalcapital;
localdealers, who arealsosmallfarmers, actas intermediariesandas sources
of information forthebiggerdealers;therefore muchof thetrading is bet-
weendealers.The producer, thepeasant, hasa morelimitedhorizon,forhe
goesonlyto thelocalmarket.
The smallermarkets, thatserveonlya restricted area,havedeclinedsince
thesecondworldwar,perhapsforreasonsconnected withbettertransport
andcommunications, anda changing focusin theinterests ofyoungfarmers;
at any rate,it is now rareto see livestockat them.The largermarkets,
however, continueto survive andevenflourish. The localexplanation to an
outsider's enquiryofwhythisis so - forthesamefactors shouldhaveeroded
both- is givenin termsofa description ofthesortofpeasantwho buysand
sellsat market, and of a corresponding accountof thedealer.The peasant
who goesto thecattlemarket is supposedto be a bitlazy,and a bitsmarter
thanaverage; he prefers,
insteadofworking, togo to themarket andto tryto
makemoremoneyby sellingthere,by tricking thedealersor,at least,by
playing themoffagainsteachother.The qualitiesevokedbysucha descrip-
tionor explanation areambiguously markedforthepeasant:he admiresthe
abilityto makea bargain, evendishonestly, butthepersonwho showssuch
an abilityis notnecessarily
verysolidor moral.
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436 TIMOTHYJENKINS
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TIMOTHYJENKINS 437
thecattle
Accountingfor market
The moststriking conclusionto be drawnfromthisexampleis thatthe
explanationgiventoan outsideenquirer,ofthepersistenceofmarkets,ofthe
behaviour in themarket
oftheparticipants place,andofthecontestofwits,
is notan adequateaccount.2This is forseveralreasons(cf Bourdieu1977:
16-22).To beginwith,theaccountleavesouttheobvious,takingforgranted
all thatgoeswithoutsaying.To indicateonlyone aspectofthis,thoughone
thatimplicates everypartof peasantlife,theindigenous
practically account
omitsanycomment whatsoever upon therelationsof languageand gender,
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438 TIMOTHYJENKINS
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TIMOTHYJENKINS 439
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440 TIMOTHYJENKINS
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TIMOTHYJENKINS 441
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442 TIMOTHYJENKINS
Practice,fleldworkandanthropologicalknowledge
Whataretheimplications ofthisdiscussion forthepractice offieldwork and
foranthropological knowledge? In theprevioussection,thethrust has been
to criticizetheopposition ofthought andaction,claiming thatknowledge is
practical,andthatabstract knowledge is a specialcasewithinthisframework.
In thissection,theunderlying themeis to rejecttheoppositionof anthro-
pologistto subject,insisting thatthe situationof the fieldworker is, in all
important respects, characteristicofthecondition beingstudied.
In makingthispoint,we shouldnot be distracted by the fieldworker's
initialexperience ofconfusion. The anthropologist beginning fieldwork may
represent an extreme caseofmutualincomprehensibility or misunderstand-
ing,anditis fairto saythatat theheartoffieldwork thereliesa problemof
perception. The anthropologist setsoffto an unfamiliar culture,withthe
intention notofjudging,but rather of understanding thevalues,categories
andpractices thatorderhowthings aredonethere.He or she,likeanynative
informant, can gaincertainhabits,skillsand,even,flair.Blochhas recently
drawnattention backto thepointof thetechniqueof participant-observa-
tion:'Becauseofitslong-term character, involvingcontinuousand intimate
contactwiththosewhomwe study, participant-observation makesus learn
theprocedures whichthesepeoplehavethemselves learnedandenablesus to
checkup on whether we arelearning properly byobserving our improving
abilityto cope in thefieldwithdailytasks,including socialtasks,as fastas
our informants' (Bloch 1991: 194). Perhapsthereis a degreeof overstate-
ment here,but the point is sound: fieldwork, like indigenouslife,is
characterized bya seriesofapprenticeships.
Yet,clearly, theinvestigator arrivestherenotwithan openmindclearedof
all preconceptions butwitha setofassumptions, consciousandunconscious,
thatshapesbothwhatthatpersonseesand is capableofseeing.Conducting
fieldwork is a two-sided process:theanthropologist mustundoandgradually
bringto consciousness his or her own assumptions at the same timeas
grasping theindigenous categories.This is bearingin mindthatthecatego-
riesandassumptions arenotsimplyintellectual, butalsobodily:habits,skills
and so forth. Thatis one reasonwhythefieldwork experience is frequently
so acute,andwhytheautobiographical taleof conducting fieldwork, ifit is
honestly told,oftentakestheformofa Confessions, an accountofthewrong
assumptions, oversights, blindnessto the obvious,insensitivity and social
gaffesmadebytheanthropologist whothought thathe - orshe- knewwhat
was goingon whenhe or shedid not.
The fieldwork experienceexemplifies the normalconditionof social
knowledge, albeitin an extremeformto beginwith:everybody constructs
understandings out of 'thatmixture of knowledgeof theworld,goalsand
ambitions, constraints and contingencies, imaginative "shotsin the dark",
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TIMOTHYJENKINS 443
emotion and ignorance ... which combine in the human experience' (R.
Jenkins1981:93). The anthropologist is notdifferent in thisfromthepar-
ticipantin themarket place:fieldwork is simplyanothercaseofa meeting of
potentially incompatible systemsof comprehension. Social life,indeed,is
madeup oftheseactsofmutualinterpretation, and theanthropologist, like
anyotheractor,needsto createprotocols, through acquiring varioushabits,
skillsandsavoir-faire thatwillallowhimor herto participate in it.
The exampleof the cattlemarketsuggestsa further refinement in the
positionbeingdeveloped.It shouldalready be clearthat,as faras thepartici-
pants are concerned,thereis no such thingas objective,uninvolved
knowledge. Thereis no placeforan 'objectiveobserver': thereis no neutral
positionor neutralknowledge, andno placeforsomeonewhowillsaywhat
hasgoneon. Eithertheactoris on thepeasant'ssideor elseon thedealer's;
in eithercase,he does notarticulate whathe knows.Fromthefactthatthe
economictransaction consistsin theprocessofmutualinterpretation, itfol-
lowsthatto be 'in' themarket place(otherthansimplybodilypresent, as a
tourist,say) one mustbe involved.As a consequence,the anthropologist
mustgiveup the idealof objectiveknowledge, in thesenseof an under-
standing thateverybody mightshare.To understand is to acknowledge one's
ownparticipation, andtherefore to be changedsince,in orderto participate,
one of theroleson offerhas to be takenup and explored.This can be as
disturbing as theinitialexperience of fieldwork. Duringfieldwork, thean-
thropologist changesfroma positionof misinterpreting theoffers made,or
therolesavailable,to one of havingto decidewhetheror notto takethem
up. In thissense,'subjectivity'is thepricethathastobe paidto do fieldwork.
The anthropologist getscaughtup in the seriesof eventsthatconstitute
sociallife,wherethereis no objective truth, butsimplypotentially exclusive
versionsofthetruththattogether constitute theevent.
However,theanthropologist - likeanyinformant, ifasked- seeksto give
objectiveinformation: thereis a lurein theidealof a perfectly transparent
reading of the in
system question.'Objectiveknowledge' a valuein the
has
anthropologist's world,forit too is employedin thepursuitof reputation
and esteemand, indeed,of self-definition (cf Taylor's[1985] accountof
'social theoryas practice').But moreimportantly, as Bourdieuinsists,an
outsideris particularly vulnerable to taking indigenous objectifying accounts
at theirfacevalue,becausesuch accountsbuildin the relationof outside
observer to objectas ifitwerea property oftheobject.Thereis a matching
betweentheanthropologist's experience and thewayindigenous life'offers
itselfup' to outsideperception as transparent to such a gaze. In thisway,
indigenouslivesare attributed thequalityof beingdetermined by models,
rulesor structures, as iftheirpurposewerethecommunication of order(a
'code') to an outsideview,or the constitution of representations forthe
purposeof analysis. Yet,theeventsthatmakeup sociallifeare not,as the
transaction in themarket shows,examplesofperfect transparency.
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444 TIMOTHYJENKINS
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TIMOTHYJENKINS 445
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446 TIMOTHYJENKINS
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TIMOTHYJENKINS 447
Anthropological
accounting
In theaccountof thecattlemarket, we haveseenhow an apprenticeship is
necessary in orderto takepartin themarket, whichhas itsown formsof
experience. We haveseen too how different modesof knowledge, labelled
'official'and 'practical',
areinvokedin different contexts, witha consequent
emphasisupon thepower,ratherthanthecontent, of speech(and silence):
ofwho sayswhat,to whom,underwhatconditions. Andwe havedescribed
theimplications ofthesefactors forthepractice oftheanthropologist.7 In the
courseofthisargument, theroleplayedin thecattlemarket byacademicand
literarydescriptions hasbeenmentioned, as has thewaytheofficial account
producedin answerto questioning lendsitselfto theseoutsideregistrations.
Now thequestionhas arisenofthestatusoftheselatteraccounts:whatare
theircharacteristics andwhatis atstakein theprocessofgivingan anthropo-
logicaldescription?
The first thingto sayis thatan anthropological accountshouldbe treated
withthesamecircumspection as an informant's reply,forparallelreasons;it
leavesout all thatgoes withoutsaying,thereis underlying it a desireto
explain, automatisms arepotentiallyatwork within it,and theaccount tends
to concentrate upon the exceptional. These featurespresentthemselves
simultaneously. In takingthe cattlemarketin Beam as an example,I am
following a well-establishedanthropologicalstrategy,ofstudying marginal or
exceptional sectorsofmodernsociety. In thisperspective,Beamis provincial,
not metropolitan, the cattlemarketis not fullyintegrated intothe market
economy, and thepeasantis an archaicratherthana contemporary figure.
The strategy drawsupona distribution ofvalueswhichseemsto insistthat
anthropology dealsin activities
thatarein somesenseoutsidethesphereof
modernity, looking to privateknowledge anddeeds,survivals, andlocal,non-
standard and non-cosmopolitan features.Such an accountis boundto tella
different storyfromtheone thesubjectsofanthropology mighttellto them-
selves;thequestionswhichpresentthemselves to an outsideenquirer, such
as whatarethereasonsforthepersistence of themarket?, andwhatarethe
motivations oftheparticipants?, do notarisefortheactorsthemselves.
In takingup thisoutsideperspective, one aspectoflanguageis crucial:the
powerlanguagehas of introducing an 'objective'pointof viewappearsto
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448 TIMOTHYJENKINS
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TIMOTHYJENKINS 449
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450 TIMOTHYJENKINS
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TIMOTHYJENKINS 451
Conclusion
Ifitis thecasethat,in Herzfeld's words,thereareontological consequences
of bringing lifeor experienceintowords,whatsortof knowledgeis the
anthropologist aimingat? The approachsketchedin thisarticlerejectsa
dualismthatassertsthe priority of mind over bodyand, amongstother
oppositions,ofabstract theoryoverlivedlife;instead, it aimsto reassertthe
temporal and embodiednatureof everyday life,and to suggestthatanthro-
pologicalfieldwork is a privileged
siteto effectsucha correction becausethe
anthropologistis committed in thebody- unlikealmostanyotherformof
research- to an encounter withanotherformofsociallife.The corollary to
thisreassertionis a reassessment of thenatureoftheory, withtheemphasis
equallyuponitsembodiedness. An attempt in thisperspective to weighthe
value of theideasproducedthroughfieldwork would takeaccountof the
following points,concerning theirpartiality,
expressive natureandadequacy.8
First,as knowledgeis gainedovertimeand in situthrougha seriesof
apprenticeships,a givenknowledge, in the sense of experience, is never
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452 TIMOTHYJENKINS
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TIMOTHYJENKINS 453
life.Therearecertaincriteria
fortheemergence ofmeaningthatarebrought
outbyfieldwork, as byanytaskofinterpretationor translation.
The knowl-
edgeachievedmaylack'absolute'status,butnevertheless it hasan adequacy
to its complexsituation.Good theoryis markedby an awarenessof its
originsandfunctions,bothin thatithasa powerto actandto perceive, and
inthatitwillbe takenup andused:inbrief,an awarenessthatittoois a form
oflife.9
NOTES
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454 TIMOTHYJENKINS
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JesusCollege,
Cambridge
CBS 8BL
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