Reversed Gaze

by Ntarangwi, Mwenda

• ISBN13: 9780252077692
• ISBN10: 0252077695
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2010-11-01
• Publisher: Univ of Illinois Pr

Summary

Deftly illustrating how life circumstances can influence ethnographic fieldwork, Mwenda Ntarangwi focuses on his experiences as a Kenyan anthropology student and professional anthropologist practicing in the United States and Africa. Whereas Western anthropologists often study non-Western cultures, Mwenda Ntarangwi reverses these common roles and studies the Western culture of anthropology from an outsider's viewpoint while considering larger debates about race, class, power, and the representation of the "other." Tracing his own immersion into American anthropology, Ntarangwi identifies textbooks, ethnographies, coursework, professional meetings, and feedback from colleagues and mentors that were key to his development. Reversed Gazeenters into a growing anthropological conversation on representation and self-reflexivity that ethnographers have come to regard as standard anthropological practice, opening up new dialogues in the field by allowing anthropologists to see the role played by subjective positions in shaping knowledge production and consumption. Recognizing the cultural and racial biases that shape anthropological study, this book reveals the potential for diverse participation and more democratic decision making in the identity and process of the profession.

Author Biography

Mwenda Ntarangwi is an associate professor of anthropology at Calvin College and the author of East African Hip Hop: Youth Culture and Globalization and Gender, Performance, and Identity: Understanding Swahili Cultural Realities through Songs.

Table of Contents

Preface	p. vii
Acknowledgments	p. xv
Imagining Anthropology, Encountering America	p. 1
Tripping on Race, Training Anthropologists	p. 24
Of Monkeys, Africans, and the Pursuit of the Other	p. 52
Remembering Home, Contrasting Experiences	p. 78
Mega-Anthropology: The AAA Annual Meetings	p. 101
A New Paradigm for Twenty-First-Century Anthropology?	p. 126
Notes	p. 153
Bibliography	p. 165
Index	p. 177
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