This is a paperback of a 1979 hardback which broke new ground in social investigation. There have, since, been other books on the experience of fieldwork, but this remains a much cited work. The eighteen essays in the volume describe the experiences of field research mainly in rural and urban India, and in complex organizations such as a hospital, a factory and a trade union. There are also accounts of work in Japan, Sri Lanka and New Mexico. This is an informative and helpful guide to those about to embark on their own field research.

• Preface; Introduction


• Part 1: Rural India


• 1: The Fieldworker and the Field: A Village in Kamchatka


• 2: studying the Present and the Past: a Village in Gujarat


• 3: Experiences of an encapsulated Observer: a Village in Rajasthan


• 4: On Tracks and Tracts in My fieldwork: Rural Kerala


• 5: Fieldwork Experience Relived and Reconsidered: Rural Uttar Pradesh


• Part 2: Urban India


• 6: Travails of a Woman Fieldworker: a Small town in Uttar Pradesh


• 7: A Woman's encounter with Arya Samaj and Untouchables: A Slum in Jullundur


• 8: The Bottom View Up,Some Cognitive Categories: Slums in Madras


• 9: Objective Appreciation Through Subjective Involvement: A Slum in Kapoor


• 10: Making My Way Through Caste Images: Untouchables in Poona


• Part 3: Complex Organisation in India


• 11: Trial and Error in a New Field: a Factory in Gujarat


• 12: Being where the Action Was: Trade Unions in Coimbatore


• 13: Walking on the Edge of Factionalism: An Industrial Cooperative in Rural Maharashtra


• 14: Varied Roles in the Field: a Hospital in Delhi


• 15: An Apprenticeship Marked by Frustrations: College students in Mysore


• Part 4: Societies outside India


• 16: Selecting a Representative Village: a Village in Japan


• 17: The Anthropologist-Informant Relationship: The Navajo and Zuni in america and the Thauru in India


• 18: Problems of Entry: Sri Lanka, Zambia and Australia


• Details of Contributors; Index