'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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... Baltazar a copy of his letter of introduction from the university , and Baltazar now seemed to believe that this document and any others Gary could produce would dispel any suspicion regarding our motive for being here and Baltazar's ...
... Baltazar offered us new plans for today , Saturday , his trip to Cusco to buy tiles apparently forgotten : we would prepare the seed potatoes on Friday when Gary and I returned , and on Saturday we would plant . Baltazar rhapsodized ...
... Baltazar's commitment to help to build a house for an abuelita , as Daniel put it ( a “ little grandmother ” ) . But we won't bake bread tomorrow either . We didn't press Daniel ; we will talk to Baltazar later . Maybe we expect Baltazar ...