Out in the field : reflections of lesbian and gay anthropologists

"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 Out in Public addresses, and engages us in, the new and exciting directions in the emerging field of lesbian/gay anthropology. The authors offer a deep conversation about the meaning of sexuality, subjectivity and culture. The book affirms the importance of recognizing gay and lesbian social issues within the arena of public anthropology; explores critical concerns of gay activism in a variety of global settings, from the U.S., the European Union, Singapore, Nigeria, India, Nicaragua, and Guadalajara; offers a unique focus on the politics of being gay and lesbian, in cross-cultural perspective; deals with broad-ranging issues that affect human sexuality and human rights globally. Winner of the 2009 Ruth Benedict Prize in the category of "Best Anthology." One morning in December 1965, quite early in my first field-work in a village in southern India, my landlord's son called attention to some people gathered in the street on which my house faced.