Redefining ethnography ‘in the strict sense of the term’: Perspectives gained from non-standard, old-new fieldwork

This essay reflects on the consequences for ethnography of the reversal ofthe direction of the anthropological encounter – what exactly happens whenanthropologists from the Global South undertake fieldwork among populations in theGlobal North? I will argue that this does not merely correct historical imbalances ofanthropological knowledge production, thereby changing the substance of thatknowledge itself, although of course that is a goal worth pursuing, as has cogently beenpointed out by the “world anthropologies” critique of hegemonic disciplinary practices.Using insights drawn from my own research site in the US heartland, where I conductedfieldwork initially in 1989-91, and then again during a “focused revisit” in 2015, Isuggest that lasting misunderstandings between the anthropologist and the researchparticipants are themselves a rich source of data and human possibility. My contentionis that non-standard and long-term fieldwork of this kind may help reveal dimensionsof the practice of ethnography that would otherwise remain obscured