'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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... late spring instead of late fall , early winter , and , the threat of the rainy season temporarily abated , the afternoons are often clear and hot , the sun blazing with unsuspected ferocity - it looks like any other sun - the air ...
... late , three - thirty , by which time , Gary told me , 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 ...
... late winter day , stunningly beautiful and powerful , and thought again , How can you leave this place ? -a place and a life at once terribly mundane and yet magical , a place where a simple story be- comes , truly , a legend , and the ...