Work

Does the Unconscious Influence Our Ethnography? Psychoanalysis during Fieldwork in Argentina

Year: 2020

Type: article

Abstract: Summary Ethnographic fieldwork is an emotional research practice because of its intersubjective nature and empathic embrace of the actor’s perspective. This intersubjectivity also involves the fieldworker’s unconscious, which influences ethnographic encounters and anthropological interpretations. Two years of psychoanalysis in Argentina revealed the influence of the unconscious on my fieldwork about political violence and trauma through dream analyses and the analyst’s interventions. This understanding improved the rapport with research participants and opened an alternative road to reflexivity.

Source: Anthropology & Humanism

DOI: 10.1111/anhu.12295

Author: Antonius C. G. M. Robben

Institution: Utrecht University

Language: English

Topic: Qualitative Research Methods and Ethics

Subfield: Sociology and Political Science

Field: Social Sciences

Domain: Social Sciences

Open Access status: hybrid

Estimated APC paid: $3,000

Funders: National Science Foundation, Harry Frank Guggenheim Foundation, Universität Wien