Out in the Field: Reflections of Lesbian and Gay Anthropologists

Front Cover
Ellen Lewin, William Leap
University of Illinois Press, 1996 - Social Science - 315 pages
"Definitive and well-rounded. . . . Explores how anthropologists
manage issues of identity and sexuality in field research and professional
life. In an era when the field worker's positionality is critical to research
and ethnographic writing, this insightful book has much to say to gay
and straight researchers alike." -- Louise Lamphere, University of
New Mexico
"Addresses sensitive, controversial, and tabooed subjects. . . .
Out in the Field will be read by a variety of audiences, within
and outside of anthropology." -- Jean Jackson, Massachusetts Institute
of Technology
Lesbian and gay anthropologists write candidly in Out in the Field
about their research and personal experiences in conducting fieldwork,
about the ethical and intellectual dilemmas they face in writing about
lesbian or gay populations, and about the impact on their careers of doing
lesbian/gay research.
The first volume in which lesbian and gay anthropologists discuss personal
experiences, Out in the Field offers compelling illustrations of
professional lives both closeted and out to colleagues and fieldwork informants.
It also concerns aligning career goals with personal sexual preferences
and speaks directly to issues of representation and authority currently
being explored throughout the social sciences.
CONTRIBUTORS: Geoffrey Burkhart, Liz Goodman, Delores M. Walters, Walter
L. Williams, Sabine Lang, Ellen Lewin, William L. Leap, Ralph Bolton,
Elizabeth Lapovsky Kennedy, Madeline Davis, Will Roscoe, Esther Newton,
Stephen O. Murray, James Wafer, Kath Weston, Sue-Ellen Jacobs

 

Contents

Introduction Ellen Lewin and William L Leap
1
Not Given to Personal Disclosure Geoffrey Burkhart
31
Rites of Passing Liz Goodman
49
Interpreting Sexual Orientation
58
Being Gay and Doing Fieldwork Walter L Williams
70
Conducting a Fieldwork Project on Gender
86
2
104
Confessions of a Reformed Grant Hustler Ellen Lewin
111
The Journey of a Gay Ethnographer in the Years
147
An Impossible Possibility?
200
The Erotic Equation in Fieldwork
212
Possible Insights
236
Sexual Identity in the Textual
261
Requiem for a Street Fighter Kath Weston
274
AfterwordSueEllen Jacobs
287
Contributors
309

How I Got Here from There
128

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