Up in Nipigon Country

Anthropology as a Personal Experience

Edward J. Hedican

Fieldwork, once regarded as an essential pillar of social anthropology, has come under attack, especially from the post-modern school. Hedigan argues that for many in the discipline, an anthropology without fieldwork would appear to be a hollow, meaningless experience, devoid of its central epistemological value. This book, drawing on the author’s fieldwork experience among Ojibwa people in Northern Ontario, explores post-modernism’s critique of fieldwork and fieldwork’s contribution to modern anthropology.

Contents

• Preface
• Fieldwork in Anthropology 
• Research in Nipigon Country 
• Collins: Life on the Rail Line 
• Armstrong: A CNR Town 
• Up at Whitewater Lake 
• Spirituality: The Hidden Reality 
• Back at McGill 
• Conclusion: Experience and Fieldwork
• References