Autobiography anthropology terms

Autobiography, Anthropology A Personal Historical Recollection Judith Okely KEYWORDS anthropological debates, ASA, autobiography, feminism, history of anthropology, reflexivity The book Anthropology and Autobiography, which I co-edited with the now late Helen Callaway, has an extended early history before its completion, drawing on what was once declared highly controversial, indeed unpublishable.

Decades later, many aspects of the volume are taken for granted and younger generations, if not my own, are bewildered by and incredulous at the 1980s opposition to confronting the specificity of the fieldworker, the effects of her/his interaction and the varying accessibility of indigenous allies in the field. Recalling my initial proposal for the biannual conference of the Association of Social Anthropologists (ASA), founded in 1946, it is strange how things and procedures have now changed.

It is bemusing as to how the theme was then seen by some ‘fellow’ ant