On the production of knowledge

The researcher as research instrument is a major feature of socio-anthropological fieldwork. The gathering of data, their analysis, and evaluation are highly sensitive to the personality, perception and theories of the fieldworker. It causes divergent representations and valuations of the same processes and phenomena by different researchers, or different interpretations of the same subject by the same fieldworker over the years. After a brief review of the debates on the meaning, use, and origin of anthropological knowledge, Hein Streefkerk discusses this theme by focussing on his fieldwork among industrial entrepreneurs in south Gujarat, India, between 1971 and 1991. The topics are the manipulation of informants and the improvised nature of conducting fieldwork. The essay is concluded by a detailed account of the reasons why he had to change in 1991 his earlier opinion on industrial entrepreneurship in Bulsar.