Performing Self in Ethnographic Fieldwork

This provocative book presents a methodological proposal for teaching ethnographic fieldwork, applying interdisciplinary tools inspired from performance theory, acting, experiential anthropology and existential psychotherapy. At the same time, it constitutes a theoretical and methodological trajectory mapping the history of ethnographic fieldwork through highly characteristic moments along with the author's own personal journey in the field in terms of a lifetime project. Starting from the assumption that ethnographic fieldwork constitutes a deeply human experience, the book proposes a step further towards the performative dimension of an ethnographic condition inspired by the Stanislavski method, which in practice complements performance theory issues: it is argued that participant observation offers an intermediate identity for the ethnographer through a conscious management of the social "role" dictated by his/her research subjects; this ethnographic mediation of the Self may also have psychotherapeutic effects, mainly through conscious management of self-diversity and reflexivity in ethnographic writing. Ethnographic fieldwork is thus highlighted as a performative stage and a field of deep transformations for the ethnographer’s identity.

Marilena Papachristophorou  is Professor of Social Anthropology and Folklore Studies at the University of Ioannina, Greece, formerly Researcher at the Hellenic Folklore Research Centre of the Academy of Athens. She studied French and Comparative Literature in Sorbonne, Social Anthropology and Ethnology at the School for Advanced Studies in the Social Sciences, France. She publishes in Greek, French and English.