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  • Taking the Long Way Around

Taking the Long Way Around - Anya Peterson Royce

Thursday, March 07, 2019, 4:00 PM – ,

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My first ethnographic field research was in 1967 when I was an undergraduate anthropology major examining changes in dance in Mexico from pueblo to the big stage at Bellas Artes. That began my long-term field research in Juchitán, Oaxaca, research now in its sixth decade. I have spent shorter periods of field research in Poland, Italy, France and Ireland. I have been teaching and mentoring students almost as long. The quality and honesty of material that you learn and record in the field matters but equally important are the ways in which you discover, understand, and present it. This whole process leads you on journeys of reflection and transformation that often mean taking the long way around. The world does not always reward what it might see as dead ends, snail-like progress, and lack of certainty. [I take heart from Wittgenstein’s warning about drawing hard lines around inherently fuzzy concepts.] But this open-ended path of infinite possibilities signals the kind of learning that brings new knowledge and understanding. Ethnographers experience many things but perhaps one of the most difficult is what happens when a disaster strikes the place that has become another home. This was the case for me when the 8.2 magnitude earthquake struck Juchitán. I will share their and my responses.

Anya Peterson Royce received her B.A. in Anthropology and Honors in Humanities, Stanford University; her M.A. in Anthropology, University of California, Berkeley, 1971; and her Ph.D. in Anthropology, University of California, Berkeley, in 1974. She also has a D.Litt from the University of Limerick, 2010. She is the Chancellor's Professor of anthropology and comparative literature, and holds adjunct appointments in folklore and ethnomusicology, the Center for Latin American and Caribbean Studies, and the Russian and East European Institute. She also directs the Performing Arts Archive and Laboratory. Royce has served as Dean of the Faculties (1983-1993), and as academic advisor to the President (1988-1993) and Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs (1990-1993) at Indiana University.

Part of Reports from the Field Speaker series
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