La « sortie de terrain » à l’épreuve de l’ethnographie multi-site

• Main Author: Julien Debonneville
• Format: Article
• Language: fra
• Published: Association Internationale des Sociologues de Langue Française 2017-11-01
• Series: Sociologies
• Subjects: multi sited ethnography; ethnographic disengagement; exiting fieldwork; spatiality; temporality; The Philippines
• Online Access: http://journals.openedition.org/sociologies/6432

This article discusses the process of "exiting fieldwork" in a multi-sited ethnography. In doing so, it challenges the classic conception of "exit" and "field" in anthropology. By describing how fieldwork is negotiated, and more broadly the back and forth movement between the different fields, this article suggests going beyond the traditional conceptions of the notion of “field”. This analysis leads to a reconceptualization of the notion of “distance“, “spatiality” and “temporality” and suggests approaching fieldwork in terms of process. Using the concept of ethnographic disengagement, this article shows how exiting the field is the result of a process and not a single act. It therefore points out, based on the role of the internet, that the field is everywhere. Finally, this article suggests new analytical and empirical ways of rethinking the separation between “home” and “the field” in the context of globalized power relations.