essay

The tribulations of fieldwork

encounter and experience; personal accounts of fieldworkHonolulu • Published In 1975 • Pages: 99-113

By: Béteille, André Marie.

Abstract
After a few introductory pages on general problems of fieldwork encountered by social scientists in doing ethnographic studies, the author turns to those that he specifically met and dealt with in his study of the community of Sripuram, in Tanjore District. Béteille's personal account relates to his choice of the village itself, the decision where to live in the village (i.e., in the Brahman area of the Harijan section of the community, or in a relatively neutral caste area in between), informant selection, and general relations with the village inhabitants as a whole. The document is unique in this collection in being one of the very few which makes the author's methodology the primary subject of discussion.
Subjects
Theoretical orientation in research and its results
Observation in research
Purification and atonement
Castes
Social relationships and groups
Tillage
culture
Tamil
HRAF PubDate
2009
Region
Asia
Sub Region
South Asia
Document Type
essay
Evaluation
Creator Type
Sociologist
Document Rating
5: Excellent Primary Data
Analyst
John Beierle ; 1983
Field Date
1961-1962
Coverage Date
1961-1962
Coverage Place
community of Sripuram, Tanjore District, India
Notes
By André Béteille
Includes bibliographical references (p. 113)
LCCN
75902105
LCSH
Tamil (Indic people)