At Home and in the Field

At Home and in the Field

Ethnographic Encounters in Asia and the Pacific Islands

Edited by: Suzanne S. Finney, Mary Mostafanezhad, Guido Carlo Pigliasco and Forrest Wade Young

University of Hawaii Press | 2015

https://doi.org/10.1515/9780824855543

Overview
Contents

About this book

Crossing disciplinary boundaries, At Home and in the Field is an anthology of twenty-first century ethnographic research and writing about the global worlds of home and disjuncture in Asia and the Pacific Islands. These stories reveal novel insights into the serendipitous nature of fieldwork. Unique in its inclusion of "homework"—ethnography that directly engages with issues and identities in which the ethnographer finds political solidarity and belonging in fields at home—the anthology contributes to growing trends that complicate the distinction between "insiders" and "outsiders." The obligations that fieldwork engenders among researchers and local communities are exemplified by contributors who are often socially engaged with the peoples and places they work. In its focus on Asia and the Pacific Islands, the collection offers ethnographic updates on topics that range from ritual money burning in China to the militarization of Hawai'i to the social role of text messages in identifying marriage partners in Vanuatu to the cultural power of robots in Japan. Thought provoking, sometimes humorous, these cultural encounters will resonate with readers and provide valuable talking points for exploring the human diversity that makes the study of ourselves and each other simultaneously rewarding and challenging.

Author information

FinneySuzanne S.:

Suzanne S. Finney is president of the Maritime Archaeology and History of the Hawaiian Islands Foundation.MostafanezhadMary:

Mary Mostafanezhad is assistant professor in the Department of Geography at the University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa.PigliascoGuido Carlo:

Guido Carlo Pigliasco is adjunct assistant professor of anthropology at the University of Hawai‘i and a foreign-law consultant to the State of Hawai‘i.

Reviews

Lamont Lindstrom, University of Tulsa:
The collection would serve to introduce students to the serendipity, ethics, and humanity of field research. Students receiving the ethnographers’ tweets should come better to understand the practice of field research and how field experience is useful for eventual comparison, generalization, and theory building. The approach of 'fieldwork' as a form of 'homework'—this feature is usefully signposted in the volume’s preface, introduction, and epilogue. Their stories illustrate the predicament of studying one’s own community, and this supplements the challenges that all ethnographers typically face—making a fool of oneself, culture shock, unintentional rudeness, misunderstandings, and so on.

Frontmatter Free access PDF PDF	i
Contents Free access PDF PDF	v
Preface Christine R. Yano Free access PDF PDF	xi
Introduction Suzanne S. Finney, Mary Mostafanezhad, Guido Carlo Pigliasco and Forrest Wade Young Access restricted Content is available PDF PDF	1
Part 1.Real Encounters:Predicaments of Ethnographic Fieldwork
Introduction Suzanne S. Finney Access restricted Content is available PDF PDF	5
Tempting the Nāga Carl J. Hefner Access restricted Content is available PDF PDF	7
An Anthropologist Behaving Badly Lisa Humphrey Access restricted Content is available PDF PDF	12
Attacked in the Field Jaida Kim Samudra Access restricted Content is available PDF PDF	18
A Question of Permission in Pohnpei Suzanne S. Finney Access restricted Content is available PDF PDF	24
Grandmothers, Sharks, and Other Dangerous Things Alexander Mawyer Access restricted Content is available PDF PDF	29
Part 2. Meaningful Encounters:Learning, Representing, Engaging the Field
Introduction Forrest Wade Young Access restricted Content is available PDF PDF	39
Fieldwork as Transformative Experience Serge A. Marek Access restricted Content is available PDF PDF	41
Fieldwork on Two Wheels in Hanoi, Vietnam, or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Enjoy the Ride Margaret Barnhill Bodemer Access restricted Content is available PDF PDF	47
The Cultural Power of Robots in Japan Hirofumi Katsuno Access restricted Content is available PDF PDF	56
Encountering Maoist Propaganda in Pastoral Inner Mongolia Hong Jiang Access restricted Content is available PDF PDF	63
When the Field is Your Home Jonathan Y. Okamura Access restricted Content is available PDF PDF	70
Part 3.Language Encounters:Voices, Discourse, Digital Practice
Introduction Forrest Wade Young Access restricted Content is available PDF PDF	79
Systemic Culture Shock Naomi C. F. Yamada Access restricted Content is available PDF PDF	81
Shóón Pakin, Sóóu Tittilap Emerson Lopez Odango Access restricted Content is available PDF PDF	87
Talking with the Moai on Easter Island Forrest Wade Young Access restricted Content is available PDF PDF	93
Blogging in Papua New Guinea Steven Edmund Winduo Access restricted Content is available PDF PDF	100
Part 4. Identity Encounters:Gender, Ethnicity, Nationality
Introduction Mary Mostafanezhad Access restricted Content is available PDF PDF	109
Prostitutes, Menstrual Blood, Minor-Wives, and Feeding the Ducks LeeRay M. Costa Access restricted Content is available PDF PDF	111
Manning Up James Perez Viernes Access restricted Content is available PDF PDF	118
Contested Belonging of North Korean Refugees in South Korea Hyeon Ju Lee Access restricted Content is available PDF PDF	124
“You Filipino, Ya?” Roderick N. Labrador Access restricted Content is available PDF PDF	132
Part 5. Close Encounters:Marriage, Kinship, Social Networks
Introduction Guido Carlo Pigliasco Access restricted Content is available PDF PDF	141
Sorry, Wrong Number! Ashley Vaughan Access restricted Content is available PDF PDF	143
The Invisible Firewalker Guido Carlo Pigliasco Access restricted Content is available PDF PDF	149
“You Can Do It, Japan!” Pamela L. Runestad Access restricted Content is available PDF PDF	155
Head Candy/Gut Connection Lynette Hi‘ilani Cruz Access restricted Content is available PDF PDF	162
Part 6. Economic Encounters:Class, Development, Inequality
Introduction Mary Mostafanezhad Access restricted Content is available PDF PDF	173
Tales of the Talā (Dollar) Fa‘anofo Lisaclaire Uperesa Access restricted Content is available PDF PDF	175
Working-Class Hospitality and Etiquette in a Bowl of Rāmen Noodles in Tokyo, Japan Satomi Fukutomi Access restricted Content is available PDF PDF	184
Entering Moloka‘I Hawaiian Style Mary Tuti Baker Access restricted Content is available PDF PDF	190
Part 7.Green Encounters:Environment, Sustainability, Restoration
Introduction Mary Mostafanezhad Access restricted Content is available PDF PDF	199
From Nuclear Exodus to Cultural Reawakening Joseph H. Genz Access restricted Content is available PDF PDF	201
“They Came For Nature” Mary Mostafanezhad Access restricted Content is available PDF PDF	209
The Forest of Contradictions Keith Andrew Bettinger Access restricted Content is available PDF PDF	216
He‘Eia Kūpuna Mapping Workshops Hokulani K. Aikau, Nahaku Kalei and Bradley Wong Access restricted Content is available PDF PDF	222
Part 8. Political Encounters:Power, Conflict, Resistance
Introduction Forrest Wade Young Access restricted Content is available PDF PDF	231
Narratives of the Vulval Curse in Bontok and Kalinga, Philippines Melisa Casumbal-Salazar Access restricted Content is available PDF PDF	233
Digitalizing the Wantok System in West Papua James Stiefvater Access restricted Content is available PDF PDF	240
Embattled Stories of Occupied Hawai‘i Ty P. Kāwika Tengan Access restricted Content is available PDF PDF	246
Ta‘Aroa is Great, Good and Mā‘Ohi Lorenz Gonschor Access restricted Content is available PDF PDF	253
Part 9. Deep Encounters:Worldview, Religion, Spiritual Practices
Introduction Guido Carlo Pigliasco Access restricted Content is available PDF PDF	263
Tiptoeing among the Knowledge of the Bodies and the Bodies of Knowledge in Tonga Gaia Cottino Access restricted Content is available PDF PDF	265
Being and Time in Nagasaki, Japan Toru Yamada Access restricted Content is available PDF PDF	272
Losing My Mind and Loving Mosquitoes, Crickets, and Other Jungle Inhabitants Geoff Ashton Access restricted Content is available PDF PDF	278
“Papa! What’s Money?” C. Fred Blake Access restricted Content is available PDF PDF	285
Epilogue Geoffrey White Access restricted Content is available PDF PDF	294
Bibliography Access restricted Content is available PDF PDF	299
List of Contributors Access restricted Content is available PDF PDF	317
Index Access restricted Content is available PDF PDF	323

At Home and in the Field

Ethnographic Encounters in Asia and the Pacific Islands

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