Storytelling - Jozi Chaet

Josephine Chaet

GWS 502.01 – Women of Color Methodologies

Professor Naber

Blog Post Four – Storytelling

January 30, 2017

Relevance of the Text to Research Generally

Over the course of this past week, the information presented throughout the readings has primarily focused on the way in which, or the extent to which, fictional texts can be used as ethnographic narratives that reveal elements of social consciousness in relation to gender, class, and community. Like Visweswaran, Maria Cotera examines the “political and poetic possibilities of fiction” (Cotera 2008, 6) in relation to anthropological inquiry, and in doing so suggests that through the study of fictional texts, it is possible to gain an understanding of the “historical experiences of women of color intellectuals in the early twentieth century” (Cotera 2008, 7). While the following post cannot successfully engage with all of the complex notions presented by Cotera, this post attempts to think through the primary concept addressed over the course of the readings, which is mentioned briefly above – namely, the way in which the ethnographic meaning can be made from fictional writing, and thus produce a new way to think about history and identity. In turn, this post attempts to explore the implications of that analysis, and endeavors to address the potential ways in which it relates to my own developing and emerging research.

Throughout her discussion concerning the ethnographic possibilities of fiction within the context of anthropological discourse, Cotera reflects on the traditional designation between science and fiction (Cotera 2008, 6) that has traditionally demarcated scholarship from other forms of writing, and challenges the understanding of fiction as something that exists outside the realm of ethnographic and historic truth (Cotera 2008, 6-7). In doing so, Cotera examines the way in which fiction contributes to the awareness of the “complex negotiations of race, gender, and colonial/class relations” (Cotera 2008, 6), which defined the experiences of women of color, and particularly women of color academics, throughout much of the late nineteenth and early twentieth century (Cotera 2008, 7). Specifically, Cotera states that a focus on the intersections between ethnography and literature offers “a useful conceptual map upon which [it is possible] to trace Deloria, Hurston, and González’s parallel movements in and between different modes of cultural description” (Cotera 2008, 20). In turn, through the study of fictional texts, it is possible to gain an understanding of the way in which female ethnographers coped with, resisted, and contested (Cotera 2008, 20) the institutionalized and ideological racism and sexism that characterized the discipline of anthropology, while also acquiring an awareness of the possibilities that exist for writing and doing ethnography as scholars, anthropologists, and women.

Applications to Real or Imagined Projects

Cotera’s discussion concerning the use of literature and fiction as an ethnographic text was intriguing, and reminded me of a paper that I wrote a number of years ago regarding the use of a particular novel as a lens through which it was possible to understand the practice of honor crimes among Bedouin communities in the southern Levant. That project was largely based upon the work of Meyer Fortes, a professor of anthropology at the University of Cambridge who studied under Bronislaw Malinowski; according to Fortes, ethnographic monographs, like fictional texts, involve “breaking up the vivid kaleidoscopic reality of human action, thought, and emotion…and creating out of the pieces a coherent representation of society” (Jacobson 1991, 13). Building upon the work published by Fortes, that project suggested that through an investigation of the literary description of women and honor-based violence, it was possible to explore the way in which concepts of honor and shame were manifested in particular communities. Revisiting that project after reading Coter’a articles subsequently led me to consider the ways in which such an analysis could potentially be applied to my currently evolving project. As mentioned in previous posts, over the past month I have been thinking about my own position within my work, and potential ways to be accountable to my research subjects and the work they do while simultaneously completing work that is academically stimulating. I am not sure that writing in the way that Hurston or Deloria framed and presented their work is a valuable endeavor for me or the appropriate way to do my own work, but I maintain that there is merit in using literature and fictional texts as ethnographic material, and while I do not necessarily see my own project (as it stands now) using such material, I understand the value in treating literature as a reflection of history, and thus a manifestation of lived experiences.  

Discussion Questions

If we treat personal texts, including letters and diaries, as at once part of the historical record and tinged with internal bias, can we use such writings in the same way as texts that are overtly fictional? Building upon the brief conversation we had during the third week of class, if anthropologists make use of personal texts, is it possible to be more accountable to the people they work with? How much nuance and justification is needed to legitimize the use of fiction as ethnography, if any?