Standing on the Shoulders of Giants: a Reflection on Ethnographic Fieldwrok

Abstract

This thesis is the outcome of three months of ethnographic fieldwork in the towns of Isle de Jean Charles and Jean Lafitte situated in the southern part of the state of Louisiana. This fieldwork by most would be considered to have been a failure because I was not able to gain a level of access sufficient enough to write my ethnography. Instead of looking the other way, I attempt to conceptualize the areas in which my fieldwork was unsuccessful. In terms of understanding these processes and factors, I borrow from various authors whose backgrounds range from cultural anthropology to psychoanalysis to highlight the issues found in the ethnographic present, the line between fiction and ethnography, ethnography as translation, and last but certainly not least, empathy as a means of understanding.