Performing Self in Ethnographic Fieldwork

This provocative book presents a methodological proposal for teaching ethnographic fieldwork, applying interdisciplinary tools inspired from performance theory, acting, experiential anthropology and existential psychotherapy. At the same time, it constitutes a theoretical and methodological trajectory mapping the history of ethnographic fieldwork through highly characteristic moments along with the author's own personal journey in the field in terms of a lifetime project. Starting from the assumption that ethnographic fieldwork constitutes a deeply human experience, the book proposes a step further towards the performative dimension of an ethnographic condition inspired by the Stanislavski method, which in practice complements performance theory issues: it is argued that participant observation offers an intermediate identity for the ethnographer through a conscious management of the social "role" dictated by their research participants; this ethnographic mediation of the Self may also have psychotherapeutic effects, mainly through conscious management of self-diversity and reflexivity in ethnographic writing. Ethnographic fieldwork is thus highlighted as a performative stage and a field of deep transformations for the ethnographer’s identity.