Virtual Fieldwork? COVID-19 and the Anthropology of Encounter

Virtual Fieldwork?  COVID-19 and the Anthropology of Encounter 

November 17, 2020 / 10:00-11:30AM (Manila, GMT+8) Hosted by DLSU-SDRC / Register here

Abstract

With lockdowns eliminating face-to-face fieldwork, anthropologists have had to develop alternative approaches to doing research in marginalized communities. Creative initiatives rely on cellphone and computer technology using Messenger, Zoom and Google for interviews, documents transmission and group discussions.  New interactive relations or encounters have evolved along with emerging technological challenges. Greater decision power now rests with community groups operating in partnerships with anthropologists. These are compatible with participatory action research for knowledge generation featuring co-production, co-dissemination, and co-capability building.

About the Speaker

Mary Racelis joined the Ateneo de Manila faculty in June 1960, the first woman professor in the College. Fr. Frank Lynch, S.J., then starting both the Institute of Philippine Culture (IPC) and the Department of Sociology and Anthropology (DSA), invited her to be among his first staff members. Dr. Racelis was born in Manila in 1932 of a Filipino father and American mother. She received her elementary education in the Philippines and finished high school and college in New York (Cornell University, Sociology and Anthropology 1954). She completed her M.A. Sociology at the University of the Philippines in 1960. In 1975, De La Salle University awarded her a Doctorate in the Social Sciences, honoris causa. In 2003, the Ateneo de Manila University awarded her a Doctorate in Humanities, honoris causa. (Source)