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WORLD ANTHROPOLOGICAL UNION

CONGRESS 2024​

Paper

Doing fieldwork in South America from a multilocal, multitemporal and digital perspective

presenters

    Silvia Hirsch

    Nationality: Argentina

    Residence: Buenos Aires

    Universidad Nacional de San Martin

    Presence:Face to Face/ On Site

Conducting fieldwork in the context of lack of funding, the pandemic and other restrictions, involves a flexible approach, which incorporates digital technologies and techniques, a multilocal perspective and a multitemporal framework. The purpose of this paper is to present the case of my own fieldwork conducted over a three decade period among indigenous peoples who live in border areas in Argentina, but have also migrated to urban centers. A multitemporal approach involves conducting fieldwork not only from a longitudinal perspective, but also involves conducting research for brief periods, which might include a few days visit as a researcher, friend, or teacher. An involvement which generates a diversity of access to data and different types of collaborations The shifting dynamics of fieldwork, not only because of the lockdown caused by the pandemic, but by the limitations of access to funding, and possibilities of travel, enhances digital fieldwork, which has also become feasible as native people become users of smartphones and computers. Hence, I will discuss how these different forms of fieldwork, ranging from multitemporal, to multilocal and digital, enrich observations and data gathering, but providing a plethora of insights into the shifting dynamics of the lives of indigenous peoples living in different nation-states and territories.

Keywords:

fieldwork, multitemporal, digital technologies, multilocal