Time and the Field

In recent years, ethnographic fieldwork has been subjected to analytical scrutiny in anthropology. Ethnography remains anchored in tropes of spatiality with the association between field and fieldworker characterized by distances in space. With updates on the discussion of contemporary requirements to ethnographic research practice, Time and the Field rethinks the notion of the field in terms of time rather than space. Such an approach not only implies a particular attention to the methodology of studying local (social and ontological) imaginaries of time, but furthermore destabilitizes the relationship between fieldworker and fieldsite, allowing it to emerge as a dynamic and ever-shifting constellation.

“…deserves to be read; above all by advanced students who are preparing for fieldwork.” • Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute (JRAI) “Time and the Field is an original and colorful collection of articles, approaching the overall topic from various perspectives, all illustrated with vivid accounts from the field. They cover a broad range of issues and comprehension, from reflections on methodology, descriptions of specific temporalities over theoretical experimentations (surfacing, trans-temporal hinges) to analysis about temporal constituencies of the ethnographic field… The book is surely a valuable inspiration for young anthropologists preparing their first fieldwork as well as for experienced fieldworkers motivating them to look at their data and practice from a different, time-inspired angle.” • Anthropos

Steffen Dalsgaard is Associate Professor at the IT University of Copenhagen. He is currently deputy chair of the Young Academy of Denmark. Among his recent publications are articles in HAU: Journal of Ethnographic Theory, Social Anthropology, Environment and Society, and Social Analysis.