Peripheral Methodologies Unlearning, Not-knowing and Ethnographic Limits

How does peripherality challenge methodology and theory-making? This book examines how the peripheral can be incorporated into ethnographic research, and reflects on what it means to be on the periphery – ontologicallyand epistemologically. Starting from the premise that clarity and fixity as ideals of modernity prevent us from approaching that which cannot be easily captured and framed into scientific boundaries, the book argues for remaining on the boundary between the known and the unknown in order to surpass this ethnographic limit. Peripheral Methodologies shows that peripherality is not only to be seen as a marginal condition, but rather as a form of theory-making and practice that incorporates reflexivity and experimentation. Instead of domesticating the peripheral, the authors engage in (and insist on) practicing expertise in reverse, unlearning their tools in order to integrate the empirical and analytical otherwise.

Foreword: Between Village and Bush Paul Stoller Introduction: Welcome to the Corners of the Periphery Francisco Martínez, Martin D. Frederiksen and Lili Di Puppo I. Suspension of Clarity 1. At the Core, Beyond Reach: Sufism and Words Flying Away in the Field Lili Di Puppo 2. Shadows of Meaning: Rethinking Social Dramas through Absurdist Theatre in a Georgian Wedding Martin Demant Frederiksen 3. ‘This parenting lark’: Idiomatic ways of knowing and an epistemology of paying adequate attention Melissa Nolas and Christos Varvantakis II. Unlearning 4. Desiring the Absence of Knowledge. On Knitting Ethnography and Navigating Diaries Lydia Arantes 5. Acquiring Metis in Ceramic Production: Patterned Changes and Peripheral Participation. Ewa Klekot 6. Hammering on the edges. Thresholds of un-knowing in Santa Clara del Cobre, Mexico Michele Feder-Nadoff III Absence of Knowledge 7. Fooled into Fieldwork: Peripheral Research Routes of an Accidental Anthropologist Francisco Martínez 8. Here, There and Nowhere in Provincial Outskirts and Haunted Houses Kirsten Marie Raahauge 9. Isomorphic Articulations: Notes from collaborative film-work in an Afghan-Danish Film Collective Karen Waltorp and ARTlife Film Collective Conclusion: Catching a Glimpse of Peripheral Wisdom Lili Di Puppo, Martin D. Frederiksen and Francisco Martínez Afterthought: Notes on the peripheral, in a plague year Robert Desjarlais

Francisco Martínez isAssociate Professor at the School of Humanities of Tallinn University, Estonia. Lili Di Puppo isAssistant Professor of Sociologyat theNational Research University Higher School of Economics, Moscow, Russia. Martin Demant Frederiksen isAssociate Professorat the Department of Anthropology, Aarhus University, Denmark.