Being There

Conrad W. Watson describes fieldwork as ‘a period of particular heightened intensity’ (1999a: 2) in the introduction Being There (1999b). The authors this volume were by far not first, nor last, anthropologists questioning and critically reflecting on what it is that they are actually doing when being there their respective fields. For others (Borneman Hammoudi 2009; Geertz 2004; Hollan 2008), was primarily an epistemological question, following ruptures discipline’s identity after Writing Culture Debates late 1980s. Forced to rethink practices, saw understandings theory-building knowledge production follow suit. However, complexities challenges ethnographic also confronted still confront many with intricate questions inequalities, power structures violence only need be theorised but navigated everyday practice fieldwork.