University of Sussex
Browse
GILBERT 2015 trouble in para-sites ANTH IN ACTION (accepted proof).pdf (757.37 kB)

Trouble in para-sites: deference and influence in the ethnography of epistemic elites

Download (757.37 kB)
journal contribution
posted on 2023-06-09, 07:47 authored by Paul GilbertPaul Gilbert
Through his enduring efforts to interrogate the regulative ideals of fieldwork, George Marcus has empowered doctoral students in anthropology to rethink their ethnographic encounters in terms that reflect novel objects and contexts of inquiry. Marcus’ work has culminated in a charter for ethnographic research among ‘epistemic communities’ that requires ‘deferral’ to these elite modes of knowing. For adherents to this programme of methodological reform, the deliberately staged ‘para-site’ – an opportunity for ethnographers and their ‘epistemic partners’ to reflect upon a shared intellectual purpose – is the signature fieldwork encounter. This paper draws on doctoral research carried out among the overlapping epistemic communities that comprise London’s market for mining finance, and reviews an attempt to carve out a para-site of my own. Troubled by this experience, and by the ascendant style of deferent anthropology, I think through possibilities for more critical ethnographic research among epistemic elites.

History

Publication status

  • Published

File Version

  • Accepted version

Journal

Anthropology in Action

ISSN

0967-201X

Publisher

Berghahn Journals

Issue

3

Volume

22

Page range

52-62

Department affiliated with

  • International Development Publications

Full text available

  • Yes

Peer reviewed?

  • Yes

Legacy Posted Date

2017-09-04

First Open Access (FOA) Date

2017-09-04

First Compliant Deposit (FCD) Date

2017-09-04

Usage metrics

    University of Sussex (Publications)

    Categories

    No categories selected

    Exports

    RefWorks
    BibTeX
    Ref. manager
    Endnote
    DataCite
    NLM
    DC