Trust in Ethnography

It seems as though when you set you to do an ethnographic study their are unspoken rules and boundaries that you must adhere too, but that there is also a sense of freedom. In Anand Pandian's essay recounting the travels and research of Louis Dumont this observation holds true. Pandian recounts Dumont's visit to the area of Tamil Nadu through the voices of the people who live there. We discussed in class the importance of gaining the trust of the group of whom you are studying so that you can observe them without the fear that they would purposely misrepresent themselves.    Dumont's arrival to the region came shortly after India's independence from Great Britain and in the beginning people thought "that the foreign visitor had something to do with the moment of India’s freedom from Britain." However they were pleased to discover that he was truly there to "...see the country." This newfound reasoning for why Dumont was visiting Tamil Nadu provided him with a better entrance into the lives of the people that lived there. One resident described their relationship as almost familial in nature. Having the level of trust that Dumont incurred most definitely affected his ability to conduct ethnographic research in the region. His research wouldn't be limited to the surface observation of the groups that is seen quite often in ethnographic study, but rather he could sink deeper into the culture and customs of the region by almost immersing himself in them. Dumont seemed to be able to maintain a balance between foreigner and native which allowed to him to affect people's lives even after his visit concluded and past the point at which he died. The passing around of his book amongst the people of the region, and how his house still held the association that he lived there is indicative of his influence on Tamil Nadu, and goes of show that a good anthropologist is one who can maintain that delicate balance between outsider and insider so as to glean the most ethnographic information about the people's that they are studying. 

Ciara Williams