Frontier Ethnographies - by Nafay Choudhury & Annika Schmeding (Hardcover)

About the Book

"Ethnography destabilizes the notion of the frontier as merely a geographic space and conveys its limitations-that lead researchers to reflect on their methodological approaches. Frontier Ethnographies explores the ethnographic edges of contemporary anthropological inquiry in Afghanistan and Pakistan by assembling voices of emerging scholars who have conducted field research within the region in the past two decades. Through examining moments of insecurity, vulnerability, doubt, fear, failure, and daydreaming, researchers reflect on their own experiences of field research and how-faced with frontiers-they have been forced to reimagine or reconstruct their understanding of the social world"--

Book Synopsis

Frontier Ethnographies explores the ethnographic edges of contemporary anthropological inquiry in Afghanistan and Pakistan. Through examining moments of insecurity, vulnerability, doubt, fear, failure, and daydreaming, the volume reflects on the researchers' experiences and challenges of doing field research in frontier settings.

Review Quotes

"There is a great deal to commend this volume ... there is no other collection of essays by fieldworkers who have worked in the region that addresses the dynamics of conducting ethnographic fieldwork in Pakistan and Afghanistan." - Magnus Marsden, University of Sussex

"I think this volume is one of the first groundbreaking editions to question conventional knowledge production based on 'ethnographies'." - Katja Mielke, Bonn International Centre for Conflict Studies

About the Author

Nafay Choudhury is Assistant Professor of Law at the London School of Economics and Political Sciences. He has won several international prizes for his writings on legal pluralism and private governance, including the Socio-Legal Studies Association Article Prize and the Asian Law and Society Association Article Award.