The Art of Fieldwork by Harry F. Wolcott

Author:Harry F. Wolcott
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780759115088
Publisher: AltaMira Press
Published: 2013-06-25T00:00:00+00:00

Clandestine Observation

Exactly what motivates those of us who commit ourselves so wholeheartedly to be the self-appointed watchers of others? Do we engage in some special, socially approved form of voyeurism in which, through our insistence that we are attentive to all aspects of human life, we can also insist that no aspects of it are to be denied us?

Few fieldworkers (Van Maanen 1978:346 is one exception) have been so bold as to use the term voyeur in looking at our roles in research, but the least hint that our observations titillate us does not rest lightly. Nonetheless, exclusion is the enemy: We want to see it all. We search for arguments in support of claims about seeking knowledge for the common good to counteract the concerns of others about the rights of privacy. Demands for full disclosure of our research purposes among those whom we study rankle us, yet we express surprise and dismay to discover that something we have observed too closely or disclosed too fully rankles them.

We may vigorously deny that we are voyeurs, but we must face that accusation head-on to acknowledge whatever influence it may exert on our work and others’ perceptions of what we are up to. Perhaps we are better off admitting to both personal and professional leanings in this regard—as fellow humans and as social researchers—making sure they are seen in context. Our interest in what others do certainly extends beyond a strictly prurient one—virtually everything that humans do is of potential interest to us. Whatever it is, we would like to see how they do it, especially if it is something that we also do, would like to do, or perhaps would like to help them not to do.

A fundamental curiosity about what others think and do, how they live their lives similarly to and differently from how I live my own, drew me to the study of cultural anthropology. I can live with being identified as a kind of licensed social voyeur, someone who wants to, and to some extent gets to, look at life in all (or much) of its intimacy. Maybe by simply bringing these aspects of fieldwork into the open we can keep them from seeming to be one of our darker preoccupations.

But I can and do draw the line between being a voyeur and being a Peeping Tom. A key word associated with the latter may help distinguish the darker dimensions from our everyday actions as fieldworkers. Although we sometimes use the expression “Peeping Tom” to refer to (or subtly reprimand) those prying into something not legitimately their business, specifically the label is directed at anyone who obtains sexual gratification by observing others surreptitiously, the chance of a glimpse of Lady Godiva replaced today with the caricature of an individual peeping through a bedroom window while someone disrobing inside remains unaware.

The catchword is “surreptitious.” And that points to a darker, clandestine element in our work. It is not surreptitious observation itself that presents the problem but a recognition of when such observations are appropriate or acceptable and when they are not.

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