Rabinow, Paul. Reflections on Fieldwork in Morocco. Essay, Review, Summary ANTV 315

Reflections on Fieldwork in Morocco 

"Culture is interpretation." (Rabinow, 150). These words come from Paul Rabinow in the conclusion of his text, Reflections on Fieldwork in Morocco.  In his "essay of anthropology" Rabinow attempts to examine his fieldwork by intertwining narrative and theory, defining anthropology and field work, and analyzing of the clarity, use, and lack thereof of the "other." 

Written into the very title of this book is where the greatest value of this work lies—within his narrative detailed reflections of his methods and ideas worked not only to provide a rich story, but also extremely useful considerations and conclusions within ethnographic methodology and theory. In the introduction Rabinow established this work as a dynamic study in which his use of sensory experiences informs the interpretation of the cultural landscape and "the meaning of each chapter depends on what comes after it," (6), in line with Ricoeur's definition of phenomenology. 

Rabinow held the belief that one had to do fieldwork in order to be a true anthropologist and sought to define this "rite of passage" that anthropologists must go through. In contrast to the belief of many anthropologists at the time, he believed that, "all cultural activity is experiential, [and] that fieldwork is a distinctive type of cultural activity” (5).  He sought to create an essay of anthropology which considered the separation of the discipline and the experiences.  

In his observation of fieldwork and anthropology Rabinow shows a cautious optimism in his first days in the field, speaking of the Moroccan waiter acting French--"How ethnographic." (11, Rainbow)--and musing on the beginnings of his work, "After all, now that I was in the field, everything was fieldwork." (11). This early view is visibly made more complex as he observes the impact of his field work on his informant Malik, leading to the belief that ethnographic data is intrinsically hermeneutical, saying that the anthropologist, “trains people to objectify their life-world for him. Within all cultures, of course, there is already objectification and self-reflection. But this explicit self-conscious translation into an external medium is rare. The anthropologist creates a doubling of consciousness” (119). He soon learns more of the difficulties of this field work, going so far as to state that "symbolic violence" is an integral part of field work. In his search for field data that was unwillingly given, seen as a taboo for the people to speak about, he was forced to disrespect their resistance in order to obtain the data he needed, "My response was essentially an act of violence; it was carried out on a symbolic level, but it was violence nonetheless. I was transgressing the integrity of my informants by obtaining information from Ali (who was certainly using it against them)." (129). This dilemma forced Rabinow to confront the use of "others" as informants.  

In his introduction, Rabinow stated that he had been drawn to anthropology in search of the "other," "seduced by the simplistic view that Western culture was only one among many, and not the most "interesting" one at that." (3). Both by force and by choice, throughout the narrative the clarity, usefulness, and lack thereof of the "Other" is examined by Rabinow. An unexpected and unintentional first contact, the French hotel owner Maurice Richard not only became an example of the othering between the French and the Moroccans, but he also became an example of how useful alienation from the community is when observing it.   

In his personal experience as an "other," Rabinow is alienated via religion, nationality, wealth, and more. It was through several of these factors that he is first rudely awakened to his first experience as an "other" when his Arabic teacher reveals to him that the common sense which he took for granted were leagues apart from what his teacher understood, “This was my first direct experience with Otherness. Ibrahim was simply testing the limits of the situation. Within Moroccan culture this is a standardized and normal thing to do, as I was to find out… I had gone into anthropology in search of Otherness. Meeting it on an experiential level was a shock which caused me to begin fundamental reconceptualization about social and cultural categories. Presumably this was the sort of thing I had come to Morocco to find, yet every time these breaks occurred they were upsetting." (Rabinow 28-9). The factor that most allowed him to further contemplate his "otherness" was his wealth and access to resources, especially his car. In describing his slow acceptance into the community, Ranibow describes his initial shock at the debate of who would receive his furniture, "The direct materialistic level of exchange was a strong indication that I was being accepted. Material motives are never in disrepute in Morocco. It is only when they are absent that suspicion is aroused." (110) 

Through this essay, Rabinow is able to establish a beginning, middle, and end to the process of field work and ethnography that he hadn't seen before. In doing so he was able to reflect upon the study of anthropology as a whole, helping to further define the field as an increasingly complicated and important social science.  

Bibliography 

Rabinow, Paul. Reflections on Fieldwork in Morocco. University of California Press, 2011.