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FIELD ENVY: OR, THE PERILS AND PLEASURES OF DOING FIELDWORK ROSALIND I. J. HACKETT Fieldwork is generally not regarded as an emblematic practice of scholars of religion (or more specifically historians of religion as the authors generally refer to themselves here). Nor does it have the "deep metaphysical significance" attributed to it by anthropologists, in that careers are built on it (Lewis 1986: 1). It is, rather, written texts that have assumed this fetishistic quality in the history of reli- gions. But here we have a group of (predominantly young and re- cently initiated) historians of religion, and one seasoned anthropolo- gist, reflecting on what British anthropologist, I. M. Lewis and others have termed their "shamanistic voyages" into "alien" territories, and the academic and personal repercussions thereof. Rather than com- menting on them individually, I intend to distill some of the salient ideas, and address both the explicit and implicit questions they raise about fieldwork. Many of the scholars assembled here were driven to their respec- tive "fields"-whether India, Russia, Nigeria, or Honduras-in the search for life beyond texts. Some found it in abundance, others found that life without looking for it, one left that life, after having briefly
Method & Theory in the Study of Religion – Brill
Published: Jan 1, 2001
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