'Tambo: Life in an Andean VillagePerhaps the best way to sharpen one's power's of observation is to be a stranger in a strange land. Julia Meyerson was one such stranger during a year in the village of 'Tambo, Peru, where her husband was conducting anthropological fieldwork. Though sometimes overwhelmed by the differences between Quechua and North American culture, she still sought eagerly to understand the lifeways of 'Tambo and to find her place in the village. Her vivid observations, recorded in this field journal, admirably follow Henry James's advice: "Try to be one of the people upon whom nothing is lost." With an artist's eye, Meyerson records the daily life of 'Tambo—the cycles of planting and harvest, the round of religious and cultural festivals, her tentative beginnings of friendship and understanding with the Tambinos. The journal charts her progress from tolerated outsider to accepted friend as she and her husband learn and earn, the roles of daughter and son in their adopted family. With its wealth of ethnographic detail, especially concerning the lives of Andean women, 'Tambo will have great value for students of Latin American anthropology. In addition, scholars preparing to do fieldwork anywhere will find it a realistic account of both the hardships and the rewards of such study. |
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... Andrés and Juana the next day for Ricardo's , I missed nearly all of the celebration , except that we shared with Andrés and Celestina a bottle of trago we bought for him , on the morning of the second day before I went to Juana's house ...
... Andrés was quite angry with her , though of course he said nothing when we arrived . I felt embarrassed for her and for Andrés : the special meals brought to the field are an important offering of gratitude for the help of the ...
... Andrés came over to Baltazar and Teresa's house where we were eating breakfast and , in the whining voice of supplication which the Quechua assume to ask a favor , asked Baltazar if he could use his table , the one which we now have in ...